Never have the Seattle Storm probably been happier to come home.
After an 0-3 road trip that culminated in a 78-69 loss to the Chicago Sky on Tuesday night, the Storm make a quick stop back in Seattle to face the San Antonio Silver Stars tonight before this weekend’s all-star break.
For Storm head coach Brian Agler, point guard Sue Bird and forward Swin Cash, it won’t be much of a break. Agler is coaching the Western Conference All-Star’s and Bird and Cash were voted by the fans as starters on the squad.
The Storm fell to 7-7 after Tuesday’s loss. Seattle’s seven losses are more than it had in the regular season and playoffs combined in their championship run of a year ago.
It is the second matchup in a week between San Antonio and Seattle. The Silver Stars won on their home floor last Thursday, 69-66. It was the first loss of the Storm’s three-game road trip, and perhaps their best opportunity to earn a victory.
But rookie Danielle Adams stole the show. Adams scored 23 points and the Storm had no answer for her inside-outside game.
The Storm are a different team at home. Seattle is just 2-6 away from KeyArena, but 5-1 at home.
Agler said the Storm are going to keep working, despite their struggles – a win today would keep the Storm from going into the all-star break with a sub .500 record.
“We aren’t sitting here feeling sorry for ourselves,” Agler said after the loss to Chicago. “We have a lot of season to be played, and hey, we are going to keep working on it and get ready for the next one.”
The Storm have been reliant offensively on Bird, who continues to put up scoring number that she hasn’t had since her rookie season. Bird scored a season-high 26 points against Chicago, but it wasn’t enough.
A good sign for the Storm is the recent play of center Ashley Robinson. Before the season, Agler predicted that Robinson would win the WNBA’s Most Improved Player Award. It appears that Robinson is beginning to make that prophecy look more like a reality.
Robinson started her first game of the season on Tuesday, scoring a career-high 14 points, grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking three shots. The Storm will need Robinson to keep up that effort to take some of the offensive pressure off of Bird and Cash.
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