Seattle Storm Outlast Washington Mystics, 79-71: Bird, Cash Combine For 42

Even with the Seattle Storm shooting 54.5 percent from the field in the fourth quarter, they struggled to create much more space between themselves and the Washington Mystics than the 79-71 final score suggests.

A large part of that was the performance of Mystics guard Matee Ajavon.

Despite questionable shot selection that led to 4-for-14 shooting, the Storm struggled to defend Ajavon's speed on the perimeter, allowing her to sneak into the paint for layups or kick outs to shooters. Ajavon ended up tying Tanisha Wright for a game-high seven assists to go with 13 points while forward Marissa Coleman was a beneficiary of her baseline drives with 16 points on 6-for-9 shooting.

But it was a play early in the fourth quarter with the Storm up 61-59 that probably defines what separate the young Mystics from the veteran Storm.

"We had our opportunities to take the lead, and we settled on some jump shots and missed some shots down the stretch," said Mystics coach Trudi Lacey. "That made the difference in the game."

With a chance to tie the game, but forced to execute with the pressure of the game on their shoulders, the Mystics tried to get a play going into the post but a pass sailed off Nicky Anosike's hand out of bounds. The Storm in turn capitalized as Tanisha Wright found a cutting Swin Cash for a layup plus a foul and made free throw to give the Storm a bit more breathing room with a 64-59 advantage with 7:53 left.

The game kept going back and forth with the Mystics threatening and the Storm re-establishing breathing room, but ultimately the Storm came up with more plays when they needed them to win the game.

"It was maybe three possessions where we could have taken the lead, and we were unable to execute," Ajavon said of the fourth quarter. "Our effort was there, we were aggressive, but it didn't work."

Most importantly, the Storm managed to hold the Mystics to only eight offensive boards, one above a season-low. In keeping the league's best offensive rebounding team off the glass, the Storm held the Mystics without a second-chance point all game. So in addition to execution, holding the Mystics off the boards was particularly critical in the fourth quarter as Washington only shot 29.4 percent with their best second chance scoring opportunities coming at the very end of the game.

But through all that, the Storm kept clicking.

Swin Cash remained steady throughout the game with 20 points while Sue Bird finished with a game-high 22 points while to combine for 42 of the team's 79 points. Meanwhile, Wright was responsible for more of the ball handling and tied Ajavon for a game-high seven assists.

It was certainly not the Storm's best effort in terms of their inability to pull away from a team that was clearly off their game - they didn't get quite the type of balance they had against the Sparks and had a number of defensive lapses.

The Storm head to San Antonio for a 6 p.m. PST game on Thursday on ESPN2 that should have playoff implications.

Seattle Storm Vs. Washington Mystics Halftime Score: Storm Hold 43-37 Lead

The Seattle Storm raced out to an early 17-7 lead on the Washington Mystics at KeyArena, seemingly clicking on all cylinders.

But credit the Mystics for, once again, not giving up and playing the Storm close to go into halftime only down 43-37.

Most impressive is that the Mystics have kept this game close without even relying heavily on their rebounding strength - the Storm are winning the offensive rebounding battle five to three and held the Mystics without an offensive rebound in the second quarter. Instead the Mystics beat the Storm at their own game in the second quarter by getting up and down the court and getting shots early in the shot clock or moving the ball to get the ball inside to center Crystal Langhorne.

In her return to the court after struggling with back pain, Langhorne finished the half with eight points, but uncharacteristically without a rebound. Meanwhile, Marissa Coleman had a game-high five rebounds and six points. Their play inside was complemented by 5-for-10 3-point shooting, led by Coleman's two threes.

But the story of the game was once again Sue Bird, who hit a variety of pull-up and set jumpers playing more off the ball to score a game-high 15 first half points. Tanisha Wright complemented Bird's scoring with four assists. The combination resulted in 53.6 percent first half shooting, showing ongoing improvement in their shooting.

Seattle Storm Host Struggling Washington Mystics At Noon On NBA TV

After arguably their best game of the season against the Los Angeles Sparks, the Seattle Storm (6-4) have an opportunity to build some momentum before embarking upon a difficult road trip against the two best teams in the Western Conference.

The 2-8 Washington Mystics come to town sitting in last place in the Eastern Conference, struck by a rash of injuries including the last-minute loss of center Crystal Langhorne due to back pain just prior to their 73-63 loss to the Storm in D.C. on July 3. They enter today's game on a three game losing streak, while the Storm appear to be improving by the game.

Although Storm point guard Sue Bird won WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week for some outstanding point guard play last week, the Storm were far more balanced and efficient against the Sparks than they have been at almost any other point in this season.

So against a limping Mystics team, the focus has to be on keeping up the things that were working against the Sparks.

Three keys for the Seattle Storm against the Washington Mystics:

• Continue to attack the basket on offense: The thing that stood out most about the Storm's victory against the Sparks on Saturday was their persistence in attacking the basket. With Bird running the offense as beautifully as one could hope for from a point guard, her teammates did an excellent job finding gaps in a porous Sparks defense to get easy baskets and free throws. With the Sparks focusing more attention on the various points of attack on the interior and in transition, the Storm found open shooters on the perimeter and they capitalized with 52.9 percent 3-point shooting.
• Rebound to prevent second-chance scoring opportunities for the Mystics: In D.C. the Mystics didn't shoot well at all but beat the Storm badly on the offensive boards in the first half (12-3) to avoid getting blown out. That's significant for the Mystics because they aren't a particularly efficient offensive team, but are second in the league in second chance points (14.10 per game) while Seattle allows the second fewest second chance points (10 per game). Based on the results of last game, this will be a challenge with or without Langhorne.
  
• Find some scoring from the bench: The Storm finally got some bench scoring against the Sparks, but it could be a difference-maker against the Mystics: the Mystics and Storm are last (11.50 bench points per game) and second-to-last (11.80 points per game) in bench scoring.