The Seattle Storm fell behind early to the San Antonio Silver Stars and never fully recovered losing on the road 80-67.
The loss moves the Storm to 1-6 on the season and the team is off to the worst start in the history of the franchise.
Once again the Storm struggled offensively, shooting just 36.4 percent as a team on 24-for-66 shooting. The Storm had three players reach double figures led by rookie Shekinna Stricklen, who finished with 14 points. Conversely, the Silver Stars shot 46.8 percent as a team and had five players in double figures led by Danielle Adams with 13.
An even worse sign for the Storm was the play of Sue Bird, who had one of the worst shooting night’s of her career. Bird finished with just five points on 1-for-13 shooting. A season ago when forward/center Lauren Jackson missed a good portion of the season with injury, it was Bird who stepped up offensively to help Seattle weather the storm. So far in 2012 with Jackson out again preparing for the Olympics, Bird has been unable to do the same.
“I just think we are not playing very well,” Bird said. “I think it starts with me. We can do a much better job on both sides of the ball, not just offense. We know need to get better. We know we need to get wins. It’s the same story after every loss.”
Bird said that this team can’t rely on what has happened in years past.
“I never really think back to previous seasons,” she said. “If you try to duplicate something the more frustrating it can be. We have a new team and it is a new year. It is up to us to create our own journey. Right now it is definitely not feeling good but at the same time we know we have the pieces in this locker room. We just need to put it together.”
With the Storm off to such a rocky start, head coach Brian Agler said it is time for some soul-searching.
“I’m not saying we’re going to make a wholesale change,” he said. “We’ve got our team and we’re going to look forward, but we’re going to really analyze how we’re doing things; what we’re calling offensively, combinations on the floor, and maybe the process of what we’re playing out there offensively.”
The Storm continue their five-game road trip on Wednesday in Chicago and conclude it on Friday in Tulsa before returning home to face the defending WNBA champion and undefeated Minnesota Lynx next Sunday.
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