SB Nation Seattle - Seattle Storm Finish Road Trip With 78-61 Loss To Indiana Feverhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/48997/seattle-fave.png2011-07-05T18:33:45-07:00http://seattle.sbnation.com/rss/stream/20240492011-07-05T18:33:45-07:002011-07-05T18:33:45-07:00Seattle Storm End Road Trip With 78-61 Loss To Indiana Fever
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<p>Despite the final score, the Seattle Storm did manage to get within single digits of the Indiana Fever tonight.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, after closing to within two possessions in the third quarter, they allowed the Fever to shoot 80 percent in the fourth quarter and suffered <a target="_blank" href="http://sports.yahoo.com/wnba/boxscore?gid=20110705013&old_bs=1">a 78-61 loss</a> to finish their road trip at 1-2.</p>
<p>The Fever were led by center Jessica Davenport's 15 points, seven rebounds, and four blocks. Part of what made the Fever so difficult to contain inside was that they established a 3-point threat early to spread the court and seemed to drop one at timely moments just to maintain the threat with 42.9 percent shooting. Fever forward Tamika Catchings was one of four players to hit a three and she finished with a typically well-rounded game of 11 points, six rebounds, four steals, and three assists.</p>
<p>In contrast to the Fever's balanced inside-outside attack, the Storm's bid to make this a game in the second half was all about point guard Sue Bird. Bird was as aggressive as ever scoring 21 of the Storm's 61 points along with five assists, both game highs. Bird led a much more potent 3-point attack than usual this season, hitting 5-for-6 as the Storm shot 36 percent. But the bigger problem than balanced scoring throughout the game was turnovers, which made for inconsistent offensive performance.</p>
<p>The Storm had 19 turnovers for the game, which is a higher rate than usual and made it difficult for them to find a flow in their offense. That combined with a lack of free throw shooting (2-for-4 for the game) and shooting 25 threes is the mark of an offense that isn't particularly fluid.</p>
<p>The Storm's next game is on Saturday at KeyArena against the Los Angeles Sparks at 7 p.m. PST.</p>
https://seattle.sbnation.com/seattle-storm/2011/7/5/2261576/seattle-storm-end-road-trip-with-78-61-loss-to-indiana-feverNate P.2011-07-05T17:10:52-07:002011-07-05T17:10:52-07:00Seattle Storm Vs. Indiana Fever Halftime Score: Storm Down 42-27
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<p>The Seattle Storm know as well as anyone that when a starter goes down, someone has to fill their spot and multiple people have to step up.</p>
<p>In today's game, it has been the Indiana Fever that have players stepping up to fill the shoes of their injured starting point guard Briann January and it has helped them build a commanding 42-27 halftime lead over the Storm at Conseco Fieldhouse.</p>
<p>Reserve point guard Shannon Bobbitt has eight points on 3-for-3 shooting including two 3-point shots while starter Erin Phillips has five points and two steals. Storm point guard Sue Bird leads the Storm with eight points, but ironically it has been the Storm who have been hurt by poor ball control.</p>
<p>The Storm committed 11 first half turnovers compared to the Fever's four while shooting 3-for-13 from the 3-point line. The picture the statistics paint is exactly what viewers are seeing - a stagnant offense that is struggling to find consistent scoring opportunities. Meanwhile, the Fever are shooting 51.6 percent.</p>
https://seattle.sbnation.com/seattle-storm/2011/7/5/2260445/seattle-storm-vs-indiana-fever-halftime-score-storm-down-42-27Nate P.2011-07-05T14:35:08-07:002011-07-05T14:35:08-07:00Seattle Storm Finish Road Trip Against Indiana Fever
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<p>After struggling to hit shots for the majority of the season, one can hope that the Seattle Storm are finally turning a corner after <a target="_blank" href="http://www.swishappeal.com/2011/7/4/2258464/seattle-storm-washington-mystics-wnba">Sunday's win against the Washington Mystics</a>.</p>
<p>As notable as their 47.4 percent shooting was, more notable was how balanced their scoring was and that's something they'll need more of as they move forward without Lauren Jackson, as described by WNBA.com's Frank Della Femina.</p>
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<p><a href="http://www.wnba.com/news/weekend_week5_2011.html" target="_blank">WNBA.com: Weekend Recap: Storm Getting By Without Lauren Jackson</a><br>Three-point shooting aside, if you glance over Seattle's leading scorers from the last three games you'll see a stronger team effort taking shape. Or, if anything, the notion that any player can go off for 20 points or so on any given night.</p>
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<p>Forward Swin Cash earned WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week honors the way last week with a a season-high 25 points in their 75-70 loss at Connecticut on July 1. She followed that with 19 points, seven boards and two assists to lead Seattle in a 73-63 victory at Washington.</p>
<p>But in addition to just scoring, it's the way that Cash got her points that was most important to a team that's been struggling to knock down shots - she went 12-for-12 against the Sun and 16-for-18 over the two games for 88.88 percent shooting. Continuing to attack the basket and<a target="_blank" href="http://www.swishappeal.com/2011/7/4/2258464/seattle-storm-washington-mystics-wnba"> getting high percentage shots for themselves</a> will be the key for this team to continue their success, particularly against the Fever today.</p>
<p><b>Three keys for the Seattle Storm:</b></p>
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<b>Continuing to attack the basket and find high percentage shots: </b>Shooting 26.1 percent from the 3-point line this season (11th), the Storm can beat themselves if they start settling for long jumpers and 3-point shots - the Fever are third in the WNBA in 3-point defense meaning this is not likely to be the game when the Storm find their shooting rhythm.</li>
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<b>Post defense: </b>Without Jackson in the post, defending the post was a chore against <a target="_blank" href="http://www.swishappeal.com/2011/7/5/2260036/tina-charles-swin-cash-win-player-of-the-week">Eastern Conference Player of the Week</a> Tina Charles in Connecticut. 6-foot-5 Fever center Jessica Davenport is not Charles, but in Fever wins she's been shooting 62.3 percent with great positioning and touch around the basket. Since the Storm held her to seven points on 2-for-7 shooting on June 17, she has scored 18 points or more three times in the last five games, including a career-high 25 in their last game against the Phoenix Mercury. Seattle has been much better at defending the paint than Phoenix, but it's certainly a concern for the Storm.<b><br></b>
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<b>Capitalizing on second chance scoring opportunities: </b>Neither team has been an exceptional rebounding team this season, but Indiana allows their opponents 13.10 second chance points per game (10th in the WNBA). Both winning the rebounding battle and taking advantage of those high percentage opportunities will be key to the Storm's success. </li>
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https://seattle.sbnation.com/2011/7/5/2337510/seattle-storm-finish-road-trip-against-indiana-feverNate P.