Sports

Lynx: Seattle beatable -- even at KeyArena

Seattle won the WNBA title last season, but the Lynx gave the Storm plenty of problems.

By Roman Augustoviz

June 9, 2011 at 12:11PM

Seattle’s Lauren Jackson, left (MCT/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

So Seattle was 17-0 at home last season during the regular season and 4-0 in the playoffs and then beat Phoenix at KeyArena on Saturday. That's 22 consecutive wins on its home court.

Their last loss at KeyArena was on Sept. 20, 2009 when Los Angeles beat the Storm 75-64 in the deciding game of a Western Conference best-of-three semifinal series.

But the Lynx still have a chance to beat the Storm. Just look at their season series last year. Seattle won three of four games but the winning margin was four points or fewer. These teams seem to match up well.

"Seattle is going to be a tough match," Lynx guard Seimone Augustus said after the Lynx beat Tulsa 75-65 on Tuesday. "Facing them is like the championship game. If you want to get there, you got to go through them. This will be a great test for us.

"But we are going to go in and fight hard as we have been."

Here are the scores last year:

May 19 at Seattle, Storm 79, Lynx 76 ... Seattle rallied in the fourth quarter to win. Swin Cash led the Storm with 24 points. Monica Wright had 19 points and Lindsay Whalen 17 for the Lynx who led much of the game.

July 17 at Target Center, Storm 73, Lynx 71 .... Lauren Jackson scored 14 of her 26 points in the fourth quarter to lead Seattle. Teammate Tanisha Wright made a big three-pointer late in the game. Rebekkah Brunson of the Lynx had 19 points and nine rebounds.

Aug. 1 at Target Center, Lynx 72, Storm 71 .... Seimone Augustus scored 24 points as the Lynx broke Seattle's 13-game winning streak this season. Nicky Anosike, now with Washington, made a free throw with 5.5 seconds for the winning point. Sue Bird had 16 points and 10 assists for the Storm.

Aug. 17 at Seattle, Storm 68, Lnyx 64 ... Jackson scored 24 points while Cash made the go-ahead layup with a minute left. Whalen had 20 points and five assists for the Lynx.

THE MAYA WATCH

June 2, Los Angeles 82, Lynx 74/ Maya Moore scored a game-high 21 points and had four rebounds and four assists

June 5, Lynx 86, Los Angles 69/ Moore scored 16 points, 14 in the second hald and had three rebounds.

June 7, Lynx 75, Tulsa 65/ moore scored only seven points, making just 2 of 10 shots from the filed. Does have seven rebounds, three assists and three steals.

DOUBLE-DOUBLE

Rebekkah Brunson averaged a double-double last season (11.3 points and 10.3 rebounds) and is on a pace to duplicate that.

June 2/ 10 pts., 12 rebs.

June 5/ 10 pts., 15 rebs.

June 7/ 17 pts., 15 rebs.

The seven other players who have averaged a double-double: Lisa Leslie, Yolanda Griffith, Natalie Williams, Chamique Holdsclaw, Cheryl Ford, Cindy Brown and Tina Charles.

Set club record of five double-doubles vs. L.A. last season on June 13

FASTBREAK DOMINANCE

Lynx had 18-2 advantage in fastbreak points vs. L.A. in second game

And 21-5 cushion in transition points vs. Tulsa in third game

Shock coach Nolan Richardson on the big difference: "They were pushing the ball right down and they were attacking the glass. Any time you've got a team that's mature and as polished with players such as the Maya Moores, Seimones. Wright. You can go on and on with their players.

"They don't any player that are kind of learning the game. They've been there and done that. So it didn't surprise me that they were able to get that many fastbreak points."

BABY SHAQ?

Elizabeth Cambage, the 6-8 rookie center from Australia, has impressed Richardson so far.

"I love this kid," he said. "This kid had a chance to be one of the bright stars of the WNBA. The way that she's taking punishment at times, and she just keeps fighting back.

" She's 19 years old. To me, she's going to be incredible by the time she reaches 22. She's going to be a monster. They're going to have a hard time dealing with her."