Storm home winning streak ends at 23 games

After everything that the Seattle Storm have accomplished over the last season-plus, it is no wonder the Storm might have had a little attitude when answering questions about one regular season loss at home. It is also no wonder that those questions had to be asked after more than a full season of p

erfect dominance at KeyArena.

“Thank God that we lose at home and the season doesn’t get canceled,” point guard Sue Bird said.

After the Storm’s 81-74 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Thursday, we know a little bit more about both teams. And both teams should know a little bit more about themselves.

The Lynx are good – really good. The Storm are good, but they have to get better – Minnesota exposed that on Thursday.

Like the veterans that they are, Bird and head coach Brian Agler seemed to keep the loss in perspective — while still showing their disappointment.

“The world didn’t end, I will get up tomorrow, we all will and that is the beauty of this season,” Bird said.

“We have got good character in that locker room, so this isn’t the end of the world,” Agler said.

The game could have been viewed as a measuring stick for the young Lynx, who were voted as the most improved team in the WNBA by its general managers going into the season. The Lynx seemed to view it more as an opportunity to make a statement — one that they made loud and clear, to the Storm and the rest of the WNBA.

As of right now, the Lynx are the measuring stick.

Minnesota (3-1) started the game on a 22-0 run. Yeah, that’s right, 22-0. The Storm (1-1) seemed as stunned as anyone. The Lynx looked like that was exactly what they had in mind.

“I remember when the ball finally went in the basket (to end the run) I said ‘well at least we aren’t going to set a record for no points in a quarter,’” Bird said. “I don’t know what to say, it was embarrassing, there are a lot of adjectives I could use right now about how I’m feeling, I will keep them to myself.”

“Rarely do you see something like that,” Agler said of Minnesota’s run to start the game.

The Storm defense was absent, falling behind 28-8 after one quarter. Lynx forward Rebekkah Brunson outscored the Storm on her own in the first period, scoring 11 points on 5-for-6 from the field. Point guard Lindsay Whalen wasn’t far behind, scoring seven in the first stanza.

Storm head coach Brian Agler called two early timeouts, but to no avail. Minnesota just kept piling it on. The Lynx shot 13-for-20 as a team, to the Storm’s 3-for-15 in the first quarter.

“We dug ourselves a huge hole and that was probably the worst quarter of basketball that I have seen since I have been in this franchise,” Bird said. “I think 50 percent of it has to do with what they were doing, and the other half is us. We did not play well.”

The world may not have ended when the final buzzer sounded, but you could forgive some from thinking it might the way the Storm had won games during this streak. They won close games, they won blowouts, they won with key shots, they won games they should have won and they won games that they shouldn’t have.

Even on Thursday, they nearly did it again.

Seattle trailed 64-39 entering the fourth quarter, but a quick 18-5 run to start the period got them back into it. Bird scored 16 points in the fourth and Lauren Jackson, who had been MIA most of the game, scored seven of her nine as the Storm cut the deficit to six, 75-69.

“I think that is something that we have seen from this team year in and year out, you know, we don’t give up,” Bird said. “The first quarter is obviously what troubles us. But obviously, clearly it’s not about what happened in the fourth quarter, it’s about digging ourselves a hole. You can’t spot a team in this league 20 points, maybe even more at one point, and expect to win.”

Despite outscoring the Lynx 35-17 in the fourth quarter, time had run out on Seattle and its streak.

“Sometimes you need games like this, you need wake up calls, you need reminders as to how hard it is to win in this league and that’s what this was. I’m confident that we have a group of women in here that are mature enough to realize that and build from this. Sometimes you need a loss and sometimes those losses can be the biggest wins of the year, so let’s hope that is the case here,” Bird said.

Now that the Storm have lost, maybe the 2011 season can finally become its own. Maybe the perfect run that the Storm had a year ago can remain in the history books and this team can focus on the present.

If they forget about the egg that they laid in the first quarter and focus on the way they played in the fourth quarter, this team will be just fine.

Speaking of eggs, Agler had a simple comment about Jackson’s performance and what it means going forward.

“I think we’ll put our eggs in her basket,” Agler said.

It’s worked before.

Note: The Storm weren’t the only WNBA finalist from a year ago to lose at home on Thursday night. The Atlanta Dream fell to the Washington Mystics 98-90 in overtime. Atlanta star Angel McCoughtry returned from a knee injury, but played just three minutes, scoring two points in the loss. Washington’s Crystal Langhorne scored 30 points on 11-for-17 shooting for the Mystics.