The Seattle Storm have struggled to overcome turnovers on the road all season.
Turnovers, of course, hurt against any opponent, but they have been particularly harmful against the Phoenix Mercury as the Storm find themselves down 43-40 at halftime.
As other teams have done defensively against the Storm, the Mercury have trapped Storm ball handlers when they find themselves along the sideline on the wings. The result is rushed decision-making and poor passes both out of the trap and trying to navigate the floor in avoidance of it.
The Storm committed nine turnovers in the first half, which led to patented Mercury transition points.
But really, the turnover bug has affected both teams as the Mercury committed seven of their own in the second quarter and that is probably a large part of why the Storm aren't down by more.
Despite the turnovers, Bird led the Storm with 10 points and five assists as a bright spot. Diana Taurasi led the Mercury with 13 points and Penny Taylor complemented her with seven.