San Antonio looking for more offense, more rebounds in today's rematch

It's Hoops and Hounds Day at AT&T Center in San Antonio. A good day for dog-watching and to win a game if you are the home team.

The Silver Stars, 2-9 in the month of August, need to turn it around if they are going to make the playoffs. They are still in fourth place, the final playoff spot, but Los Angeles is only 1-1/2 games back.

"We've got to be able to, offensively, become a little more efficient than we had [been]," San Antonio coach Dan Hughes said. "Even though defensively we had some troubles, it was caused mostly be rebounding. We've got to be a solid rebounding team."

The Silver Stars (13-14) lost 85-75 to the Lynx on Friday at Target Center and were outrebounded 37-23. The Lynx led only by four points until starting the fourth quarter with a 17-1 run.

"[The Lynx] came out swinging" in the fourth quarter, Silver Stars guard Danielle Robinson said. "They had a couple rebounds that gave them some life and they just took that and ran away."

"But the other thing is getting back to points off the bench and that type of thing," Hughes said. "We got 39" from reserves on Friday.

"For us to be successful, we're gonna have to be a team that gets some mileage out of its bench," Hughes said, "and you could see it's possible [Friday] with some of the play we got. Quite honestly, we've got to head home. We've got five out of seven [at home] to close the year. ... We've got to make our mark at home."

"We wanted to get her in and out, and we did," Hughes said. "It's good to have her back. She helps us a lot. ... But it's going to take a little bit of time to acclimate her. It's good seeing her back. She's definitely going to help down the stretch run and we really needed that."

Said Adams, "I just felt that my foot was getting better and just wanted to get out there and help my team out. The trainers made the decision, the doctors made it and coach just put me in."

"We battled, we had a little trouble on the glass [Friday]," Hughes said. "Their ability to get second shots was probably the story of the day. It was like we hit a wall at the start of the fourth quarter. It took a very close game, a back and forth game and then there was separation and we had to regroup a little bit.

"We were really able to defend some things, but then their ability to get on the glass as the game got really physical. The game became about second shots."

Said Adams about the Lynx, "They just have more offensive threats now and they're just crashing the boards. They just have those go-to people now."

San Antonio has a four-game homestand this week. After playing the Lynx, they face Connecticut on Tuesday, Phoenix on Thursday and Seattle on Saturday.

Next week, they play at Los Angles on Sept. 6, return home to play Washington on Sept. 10 and finish at Tulsa on Sept. 11.