Struggle in Seattle
SEATTLE – With two new starters and a revamped lineup, coach Anne Donovan could accept the bumps in May and early June. But not in July, and not with the defending WNBA champs barely playing .500-ball.
In a league where parity is the rule this season – nine of 13 teams at the All-Star break were at or above .500 – Seattle was the shocking exception.
“It’s very frustrating for everybody, not just for me, but every player … to realize that we’re not living up to potential,” Donovan said. “At some point, you feel like a broken record.”
“We’re not helping each other out and we’re not playing Storm basketball,” All-Star Lauren Jackson said. “I don’t know what it’s going to take.”
Seattle is integrating five new players into the seven holdovers from the team that put together a remarkable playoff run last year to win the WNBA title, the city’s first professional sports crown since 1979.
Seattle started strong, winning four of its first five. Things changed June 7 in Connecticut, when All-Star guard Sue Bird broke her nose.
Bird missed four games, and while her absence gave rookie Francesca Zara an opportunity to gain experience, it came at a difficult time.
Jackson was still recovering from offseason ankle surgery. She struggled early to find her shooting touch and get in shape. Australian reserve Suzy Batkovic didn’t join the team until early June, and forward Iziane Castro Marques and center Janell Burse were learning their roles in the starting lineup.
Those factors, combined with a brutal June road schedule, sent Seattle spiraling.
“Personally, it makes me mad when people compare it to last season,” said Bird, who now plays with a protective mask. “We don’t have the same team back. This is a new team with new goals. We have the talent in this room, we’re just not putting it together the way we should.”
Donovan firmly believes Seattle’s problems lie at the defensive end, and many of the numbers back her argument.
“That’s the only way we’re going to get back into the hunt, if we start defending better,” Donovan said.
Causes for the slump weren’t limited to the defensive end. Seattle’s 3-point shooting hovered just above 30 percent, after the team led the league last year.
“Jackson scored 21 points, Bird had 14 and Betty Lennox added 10, leading the Storm to a 74-71 win Saturday over the Detroit Shock in a meeting between the last two WNBA champions in Seattle.
Jackson started and wore a brace on her right ankle, four days after re-injuring the same ankle she had surgically repaired before the season.
Deanna Nolan scored 22 points for Detroit, which has lost 10 of its last 12 games. Cheryl Ford added 15 points and 16 rebounds.
The Storm couldn’t protect a 24-12 lead midway through the first half, but used a 7-0 scoring run late in the second half to build a 67-63 lead with 4:19 to play. A free throw by Ruth Riley tied the game at 71, but Lennox scored the last three points.
Sparks 69, Comets 59: At Houston, Tamika Whitmore scored 20 points to lead Los Angeles in a game that featured technicals on Olympians Lisa Leslie and Sheryl Swoopes after a scuffle. Houston trailed 66-52 after Swoopes’ layup with 5:30 left. She then bumped Leslie under the basket, and Leslie responded by shoving Swoopes in the back.
Fever 63, Sting 46: At Charlotte, N.C., Ebony Hoffman and Jurgita Streimikyte each scored 13 points and Indiana held Charlotte to a season-worst 27 percent shooting. The Fever won for the fifth time in six games. Tammy Sutton-Brown had 13 points and Sheri Sam added 10 points for the last-place Sting, who lost their sixth straight game.
Mercury 66, Silver Stars 49: At San Antonio, Penny Taylor scored 22 points and Kamila Vodichkova added 19 in place of the injured Diana Taurasi as Phoenix defeated San Antonio. Taurasi left 11 minutes into the game with a bruised right knee. She chased a loose ball, and her momentum carried her out of bounds, causing her to fall on a courtside chair.