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Mercury-Storm Preview

Aug 3, 2009 - 8:16 PM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

Phoenix (15-6) at Seattle (12-7), 10:00 p.m. EDT

Following a positive start, the Phoenix Mercury's longest road trip of the season has turned sour over the last two games.

Beating the Seattle Storm would undoubtedly help the Mercury forget their troubles.

In the conclusion of its five-game trek, Phoenix will try to earn a rare win in Seattle as the Western Conference's top two teams meet Tuesday night.

After their season-best six-game win streak was snapped, the Mercury (15-6) got a boost with Diana Taurasi's return from a suspension for a DUI arrest and won at New York 94-88 on July 26. Two days later, Cappie Pondexter's season-high 29 points led Phoenix to a 95-80 victory at Connecticut.

The Mercury, however, followed with a 106-76 loss Thursday in Atlanta as the two All-Stars were held to a combined 13 points with Pondexter scoring two on 1-of-8 shooting. Although Phoenix bounced back with an 87-74 win at Minnesota on Saturday, it nearly blew a 33-point lead and committed 27 turnovers.

"Today was one of those occasions where you win by 20 and you might as well have lost that game," Taurasi said. "We know as a group we played a terrible basketball game."

The Mercury's performances in Seattle haven't been all that great either as they've dropped four straight and 11 of 12 there since 2002.

After their three-game winning streak was snapped Wednesday at San Antonio, the Storm (12-7) salvaged a split of the home-and-home series with Saturday's 85-82 overtime victory.

Lauren Jackson led the way with 23 points and a season-high 13 rebounds as Seattle won its third straight at home and stayed within two games of Phoenix in the West.

"This is just like how the playoffs are going to be, if we get there," Storm coach Brian Alger said. "This was a good test. I'm excited. I thought our team played well. I'm just really proud of them."

Jackson had one of her best performances of the season June 21 at Phoenix, scoring 25 in a 93-84 victory. All-Star game MVP Swin Cash added 22, and Sue Bird had 21.

The Mercury, however, held all three players under the 20-point mark and snapped a four-game skid to Seattle with a 93-81 home win on July 1. Pondexter and Taurasi each scored 22 points in Phoenix's fifth victory in 17 matchups with the Storm.

Taurasi has averaged 25.7 points in the last six meetings and is third in the league at 20.7 points. Pondexter (19.5) and Jackson (19.1) are fourth and fifth, respectively.

Jackson, the 2003 league MVP, averaged 25.0 points and 10.0 rebounds in Seattle's three wins over the Mercury last season but missed the lone loss while training for the Olympics with the Australian national squad.