Storm Starts Preparing for Lynx
An hour after the end of Monday's team meeting, several Seattle Storm players were using their day off from practice to work on their game. Notably, MVP forward Lauren Jackson was working out with Coach Anne Donovan, polishing her post moves during an extensive session that would be expected in May, not September.
 The Lynx has had success defending Jackson this season. Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty |
While the Storm has known for a week that it would be in the playoffs, there was still regular-season business to be taken care of with home games against Phoenix and Los Angeles. With those out of the way, and the Storm's playoff matchup - the Minnesota Lynx - determined Sunday, it's time to get to business.
The Storm will practice in Seattle Tuesday and Wednesday before departing for the Land of a Thousand Lakes early Thursday morning. The Storm will then practice in Minneapolis Friday before taking on the Lynx on NBA TV Saturday afternoon local time, morning Seattle time.
To many observers, the Lynx were a favorable playoff matchup because they have struggled at times since losing leading scorer Katie Smith to a knee injury suffered while playing for the U.S. Olympic Team. After winning three of their first four games without Smith, the Lynx won just two times in their last seven games (including a meaningless loss at Sacramento yesterday). However, those two wins - against the Storm and the Los Angeles Sparks - should give Minnesota doubters pause.
Rest assured that Donovan is certainly not taking the Lynx lightly.
"For us, recognizing that this team is a whole lot more than Katie Smith, respecting that, respecting the individual talent that they have and making sure that we have the correct mindset for that is key," Donovan explained. "This team is not just happy to be in the playoffs. This is a team that beat us the last time we played in Minnesota."
"All along, I've said that Minnesota and Sacramento were going to be in the playoffs, so it doesn't surprise me," Donovan later added. "Where anybody was going to finish was a guess. It does not surprise me that they're in there. They're a very talented team."
Another effect of Smith's injury was to leave Minnesota light on experience, particularly off the bench. The Lynx's 10-player rotation includes four rookies and no players with more than three years of WNBA experience (though second-year guard Teresa Edwards, a veteran of five Olympics, is hardly inexperienced). By contrast, veteran Tully Bevilaqua is the only Storm regular making her playoffs debut and six of the Storm's nine regulars have at least four years of experience.
"I think it's huge that we have experience, that most of these players have experienced the postseason before and that they understand the importance of it," said Donovan. "A great example is Sheri (Sam), and how well she played (Saturday) night going into the postseason (scoring a season-high 21 points).
"This is why we made the trade we did, so that we'd have this experience coming down the stretch. Hopefully it really comes into play for us."
Ah, the trade. By the time this series tips off on Saturday, surely players and coaches on both sides will be sick and tired of discussing the pre-draft trade that saw Minnesota send Sam and center Janell Burse to the Storm for Amanda Lassiter and the sixth pick in this year's draft, which became the Lynx's leading scorer in Smith's absence, Nicole Ohlde.
"Nicole would have been great, but there still would have been a huge hole in the starting lineup at the three," said Donovan, who has been one of Ohlde's biggest backers all season long, considering a scenario without the trade. "All along I would have loved to have Nicole Ohlde. I think she's going to be a great post player in this league. But it would not have solved our problems at the three.
"I think if you talked with their management, they'd say the same thing (about the importance of the trade)."
The Storm's 64-61 loss at Minnesota a week and a half ago is still fresh in Donovan's memory.
"That game really sticks in my craw," Donovan said. "We lost Kamila (Vodichkova) with 1:26 left on a questionable call … horrendous call. That gave her her sixth foul. We were up one, could have gone ahead by three. Gave them possession, they score on that possession. That call changed a lot in that game. That game still sticks with me. We need to go back to Minnesota, and I'm glad we have that matchup again."
At the same time, the Lynx did a lot of things well to win that game. Since surrendering 31 points to Jackson in the opener, Minnesota has defended her as aggressively as any team in the WNBA, holding her to 23 points on 9-for-27 shooting in two matchups in Minneapolis, possibly one of the reasons Jackson was looking for a little extra work.
"Against us, they try to make Sheri and Betty (Lennox) and Kamila beat them," Donovan explained. "They sag in the paint on Lauren, they make sure they take care of Sue, try to frustrate her as much as possible, and then they sag in. It's up to Sheri to have the kind of night she had against L.A. or Kamila to step up and get things done."
Another key factor in that game was Edwards' performance. The 40-year-old guard scored a (WNBA - important qualifier) career-high 18 points in the game, the second time this season she'd set her career high for scoring against the Storm. In total, Edwards averaged 14.0 points on 57.7% shooting in three games against the Storm.
"Teresa's a competitor. She's an absolute competitor," said Donovan, who teamed with Edwards in the Olympics and coached her in the ABL. "When she looks at Betty and sees youth and energy and Rookie of the Year, she's going at that to try to prove that 40 years of experience counts for something."
