Sports - NBA - Storm

POSTED: Monday, Sep. 22, 2008

WNBA: Bird, Swoopes keep Storm alive with win over Sparks

With the reigning league most valuable player still sidelined with a sore ankle, the Seattle Storm turned to a former MVP and rallied behind a stingy defense to pull even with Los Angeles in its WNBA Western Conference first-round playoffs matchup.

Sheryl Swoopes, playing her second game back after missing three games with a concussion, scored 16 points, and Sue Bird added in a game-high 20 points as the Storm, despite playing without the services of Lauren Jackson, held the Sparks to a franchise-playoff low point total in a 64-50 victory over L.A. Sunday at KeyArena.

The third and deciding game is on Tuesday at 6 p.m. in Seattle. The Storm, which has been knocked out of the playoffs in the first round three consecutive seasons, is a league-best 17-1 at home this season and has not lost in Seattle since June 16.

“We’ve been knocked out of the first round way too much – three times in a row,” Bird said. “That’s not a good feeling. Right now, we’re in a good spot. Game 3 will be hard, but the one thing we do have is we’ll be on our home floor.”

L.A. coach Michael Cooper had anticipated Jackson suiting up, and he wasn’t that far off as it turned out.

Jackson was planning on playing, but the decision was made two hours before tipoff against it after the two-time MVP had swelling and complained of pain in her right ankle. Jackson practiced on Saturday for the first time since having surgery three weeks ago to have a bone spur removed from the ankle.

As it turned out her presence wasn’t required, especially on the defensive end where the Storm limited the Sparks to just 15 first-half points, holding Lisa Leslie and rookie sensation Candance Parker to a combined three points on 1-of-9 shooting in the first half.

“That was a very well-played game by Seattle,” Cooper said. “They did everything they wanted to do and made it very difficult for us to get anything on the inside, and we definitely have to have that.”

An Ashley Robinson free throw with 31 seconds remaining closed out the first-half scoring and gave Seattle a comfortable 26-15 advantage at the break.

“It’s just team defense,” said Bird of the Storm’s first-half performance. “All five people getting involved, trying to confuse them a little. Trap, no trap. Just all five people working.”

Swoopes, a four-time league MVP while playing at Houston, suffered a concussion on Sept. 6 in a win over Minnesota. She made her return in Friday’s 77-69 Game 1 loss to the Sparks in L.A., missing five of her seven attempts from the field and scoring seven points.

Game 2 was a different story as Swoopes looked rejuvenated on both ends of the court, hitting five of 10 shots from the field, including two of three from 3-point territory, and adding in a game-high four steals. Her 16 points were one off her season-high of 17.

Swoopes scored seven points, helping the Storm to an 18-7 lead early in the second quarter, and banked in a 3-pointer on her first shot in the second half to push Seattle’s advantage to 29-15, then added a pair of free throws to make it 32-15 with 7 minutes, 40 seconds to play in the third.

Camille Little, who finished with 13 points, followed up Bird’s third 3-pointer with two free throws, giving Seattle its largest lead of the game at 50-29 at the end of the third.

Defensively, Bird praised the inside play of Yolanda Griffith on Leslie.

“Yo is always going to give you that,” Bird said. “She is so tough defensively in terms of rebounding and she is always guarding the other team’s best player. She puts in work down there and she’s tough to go against.”

L.A. wasn’t finished, however, and roared back behind the play of Parker and Leslie.

Parker came up with two field goals and Leslie chipped in a 3-point play during a 13-2 fourth-quarter run by the Sparks, which was capped by a Shannon Bobbitt bucket, cutting the deficit to 52-42 with 5 1/2 minutes to play.

A Bobbitt 3 trimmed Seattle’s lead to seven with 3:06 left at 55-48, but Bird answered by scoring six of her team’s next seven points to put the game out of reach.

Leslie finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds. The Sparks also received 11 points from DeLisha Milton-Jones and 10 from Parker.