Storm looking for consistency vs. short-rested Sun

While the Connecticut Sun have to make a quick turnaround, the Seattle Storm are shooting for a turnaround of their own from some recent efforts they felt weren’t up to par.

The teams meet Sunday afternoon in Uncasville, Conn., to open a two-game series and an East Coast road swing for Seattle (19-12), which is coming off a 98-85 home loss against the New York Liberty on Friday night.

The Storm were outscored 24-14 in the fourth quarter on Friday and fell to 2-4 since the Olympic break. That inconsistent stretch includes ugly losses to the Atlanta Dream and the Washington Mystics, two teams currently on the outside of the playoff picture.

“In this league, it only gets harder after the break and that’s fine,” Seattle guard Skylar Diggins-Smith said following a 74-72 home loss to Washington on Monday.

“But if we don’t come ready to play from the start, we’re going to lose. In this league, you have to be ready to play or you’ll get beat every night.”

Diggins-Smith is one of four double-figure scorers on the team at 14.2 points and contributes a team-leading 6.5 assists per game. Jewell Loyd paces the scoring attack at 20.4 points per game.

While the Storm search for consistency, Connecticut (23-8) might be hunting down some energy. The Sun will tip off on Sunday roughly 20 hours after their 96-85 win at Washington on Saturday to sweep the teams’ four-game season series.

Connecticut might be without versatile forward Alyssa Thomas, who left Saturday’s game in the second quarter after a collision with the Mystics’ Karlie Samuelson.

Thomas, who logged only seven minutes, was cleared to play after returning to the bench in the third quarter but was held out for the remainder of the game since the Sun maintained a comfortable lead.

Connecticut coach Stephanie White might have had the back-to-back games in mind with her decision to keep Thomas on the bench.

“We’ve been trying to be mindful as a coaching staff in terms of how much we’re on the floor challenging our players,” she said last Sunday, per the Hartford Courant.

Seattle earned a 72-61 home win on June 23 in the teams’ only previous meeting this year.

–Field Level Media