Seattle Storm Can't Keep Up With Minnesota Lynx in Road Loss

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Seattle Storm Vs. Minnesota Lynx Halftime Score: Storm Down 49-30

Once again, turnovers are killing the Seattle Storm through one half of play.

Six first quarter turnovers helped fuel an extended Minnesota Lynx run and they used the momentum to take a 49-30 lead into halftime.

With the Storm's offense stalled due to turnovers, they reverted to settling for jumpers and made rushed decisions, which only made matters worse. Further compounding the problem was missed layups and mental lapses on defense, which led to 15 Lynx free throws. The Storm finished the half with 11 turnovers.

Although Swin Cash led the Storm with a game-high 12 points, no other starter had more than two points. Maya Moore and Seimone Augustus chipped in 10 points apiece for the Lynx, who shot 56.3 percent in the second quarter.

It wouldn't be uncharacteristic of for the Storm to stage a second half come back, but they'll have to do a better job of controlling the ball and not giving the Lynx easy points.

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Seattle Storm Vs. Minnesota Lynx: Three Keys To Beating The WNBA's Best

As described in yesterday's SBN Seattle feature, the Seattle Storm's game against the Minnesota Lynx tonight marks the 17th game of their season and the final game of the regular season series between the two teams making it an ideal time to take stock of the Storm's season and how they have measured up against the team with the WNBA's best record.

Three patterns from the Storm's season are present - and starkly so in some cases - in the series, which the Lynx lead coming into tonight.

• The Storm have relied more on point guard Sue Bird than any team has relied on their point guard. On a number of occasions, Bird has carried the Storm. However, it's worth noting that Bird has been more of a distributor in wins (14.3 points, 6.4 assists per game) than in losses, when she has been forced to assume more of the team's scoring burden (17.0 points, 3.9 assists). 
• Consistent with the Bird theme, the Storm have struggled to find balanced production from their unit as a whole with star center Lauren Jackson essentially being a non-factor this season, but players like center Ashley Robinson, guard Katie Smith, and guard Tanisha Wright have been stepping up lately.  Robinson's defensive and interior scoring presence, Smith's improved shooting, and Wright's aggression in attacking the basket have all been critical improvements for the Storm lately.
  
• The Storm have struggled to find consistency on the road, as their win against the Phoenix Mercury on Tuesday brought them to only 3-6 on the season with the other two road wins coming against cellar dwellers in the Tulsa Shock and Washington Mystics.

However, for all of that, another defining characteristic of the Storm's season was left out of that analysis: turnovers. And if the Storm intend to leave Minneapolis tonight with this series even at two, ball control has to be a focal point.

Three keys for the Storm against the Lynx:

• Winning the turnover battle: In the first 12 quarters of this series - eight in Seattle, four in Minneapolis - the team that has turned the ball over on less possessions has won 11 of 12 quarters. In the other quarter (the second quarter in Minnesota on July 16), the two teams had two turnovers apiece leaving them about even. It might sound trite to say that, but turnovers have been a much bigger problem for the Storm this season - while the Storm tend to turn the ball over more often than opponents, the Lynx are winning the turnover battle by the biggest margin in the Western Conference. Part of that certainly comes down to the point guard battle between Bird and Whalen, arguably their respective team's MVP to date. But another part is an increasingly obvious scouting report for the Storm.
• Handling defensive pressure when initiating the offense: In light of the turnover problem, the formula for beating the Storm has become quite clear now and everyone from the Indiana Fever to the struggling Washington Mystics has utilized it to great effect. We saw it in the first quarter of the Mercury game on Tuesday as well: the Storm have struggled to respond to teams that pressure their guards and force them into traps along the sidelines before they can even make more than one pass to initiate the offense. In many cases, trapping defensive schemes have forced the Storm to scramble and without any offensive rhythm Bird is the player saddled with creating shots herself instead of facilitating for others.
  
• Boxing out Rebekkah Brunson: Another major key to both the Storm's win against the Lynx and their second half comeback in the first meeting between the two has been keeping Lynx All-Star forward Rebekkah Brunson from rebounding. The Lynx's most significant strength relative to opponents has been offensive rebounding and Brunson's case for team MVP begins with anchoring that strength. Brunson has been a dominant rebounder on both ends this season, but her offensive rebounding in particular has helped the Lynx stay at the top of the conference in second chance points this season while the Storm have been last in the league. Rebounding is about effort and the Storm have proven that they can own the boards when necessary. Tonight they'll need that.

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Seattle Storm Vs. Minnesota Lynx: A Key Game Featuring The WNBA's Top Point Guards

Elite Athletes rarely want to admit that a single game is bigger than any other, but it's difficult to understate the significance of the Seattle Storm's (9-7) game against the Minnesota Lynx (11-4) tonight.

After beating the second-place San Antonio Silver Stars and the third-place Phoenix Mercury in consecutive games, the Storm have a chance to move within 1.5 games of the top spot in the Western Conference by beating the first place Lynx. With a trip to Oklahoma to face the 1-16 Tulsa Shock on the horizon for tomorrow night, the Storm have a big opportunity in Minnesota tonight to move improve their position in the standings.

Tonight's game presents the Storm with an opportunity to build some momentum by winning three in a row with a good chance of building some confidence on the road tomorrow. But of symbolic importance, they have an opportunity to beat the three best teams in the conference in consecutive games and send a message that they're still a contender despite a rough first half of the season.

And yet for all of that significance in the standings, what might be most compelling for the basketball purists among us is the point guard battle between Storm point guard Sue Bird and Lynx counterpart Lindsay Whalen, a Minnesota native in her second year with her home team after spending her first six seasons with the Connecticut Sun.

As Kevin Pelton of StormBasketball.com describes, that matchup of lead ball handlers is the key matchup of the game. Of course, there will rarely truly be a "winner" in a battle of point guards and that might be especially true this season for Bird and Whalen - it's fair to say that the two canceled each other out in their first three meetings.

STORM: Insider Preview - Storm at Minnesota
Both had their best head-to-head effort in the first matchup, when Sue Bird scored 24 points to lead a Storm comeback and Whalen had a double-double of 13 points and 10 assists. Since then, Whalen has combined for 23 points and six assists in the last two meetings. Bird handed out eight assists in the Storm's lone victory.

So far this season, these two are illustrating that there's no one way to play the position as their teams demand two very different things from them.

Bird leads the Storm in assists (5.3), minutes (34.0), points (15.5) and steals (1.63) per game and has literally carried the Storm on multiple occasions this season, including a phenomenal 16-point fourth quarter effort against the Lynx in their first meeting at KeyArena. No point guard in the league carries a larger burden for their team's success than Bird.

In contrast, the strength of Whalen's game is in subtlety and facilitating the offense for a star-laden team. On many occasions she'll take a couple of dribbles and pass to the open player or make a quick pass to the wing to initiate the offense after crossing halfcourt. She is not only the most efficient starting point guard in the league to date, but the most decisive in simply wasting no motion. Nevertheless, Whalen is still second on her team in field goal percentage (54.4 percent), points (14.1) and steals (1.27) per game while leading the Lynx in assists (6.0). 

While Bird might be more of a focal point for her team than any team in the league, Whalen is by far the most well-rounded point guard in the league. Determining who's better is not only difficult, but almost entirely dependent on their respective systems, taste, and what their teams demand of them.

And that's a large part of what makes it such an exciting matchup to watch, particularly given the stakes as teams jockey for playoff position.