The confines of KeyArena are comfortable for the Seattle Storm. It is a place where all they seem to do is win. When they don’t — like what happened June 9 against Minnesota, it creates chaos for all of us media type.
The players appear to be much more calm. The Storm are a veteran bunch, be
tween them all, there isn’t much that they haven’t seen or heard before.
That could be one reason why many of the Storm players seemed excited after Friday night’s 68-54 victory over Indiana to really get the season going.
Seattle played its first three games at KeyArena, and had an eight day layoff after losing to Minnesota before they played Indiana. The schedule has provided a bit of a sputtering start for the Storm.
But this week things get back to normal. Sunday night, they are on the road for the first time when they face the Sparks. Two days later they are in Tulsa to face the Shock, than they travel home for a rematch against the Lynx on Friday at KeyArena.
For the first time in the season, this resembles a normal work week in the WNBA.
“It was hard, just being off that long of a period,” forward Swin Cash said. “So now it’s good to get back into the flow, we’ll have a couple of games here in the next week or so and just keep getting better.”
The Storm got better on Friday night, specifically on the defensive end. They shut down two of the more potent offensive threats in the WNBA in Indiana’s Katie Douglas and Tamika Catchings. The Storm defense held Douglas, who averaged a league best 21.3 points per game coming into the game, to just 11 points and allowed Catchings just eight.
“I think we started to look like ourselves defensively,” Storm head coach Brian Agler said. “I was very pleased with our focus, the way we came out and the way we played.”
That same kind of defensive intensity will be needed when they face the Sparks on Sunday. The Sparks are a dangerous team on the offensive end with Candace Parker (17.3 ppg) and Tina Thompson (15.7 ppg) leading the way.
“They haven’t played in a while, but they are playing well,” Agler said. “They have a collection of really good veteran players. Candace Parker is healthy. They are going to be a tough team.”
The Sparks last played on June 10 against the Phoenix Mercury, a 98-84 victory. The eight days off for the Sparks matches the layoff the Storm had between the Minnesota and Indiana games.
If there is one concern for the Storm going into Los Angeles, it might be the play of their MVP Lauren Jackson. Through three games, Jackson is averaging just 11 ppg, well below her 20.5 average from a year ago. Jackson shot just 2-for-11 from the field against the Fever, but the Storm did seem to run more of their offense through Jackson, which could be a step toward getting her going offensively.
But for the Storm, things always seem to begin and end with defense.
“Tonight was a game that, I think, is really the epitome of our team. We want everything to start with our defense, and tonight it did,” point guard Sue Bird said after the victory over Indiana.
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