15 Years Later, Another Seattle Team Refuses to Lose

I have this common experience every time I go to a Seattle Storm game. At some point, I think, "Well, they are going to lose. There's just no reason for them to win this game."

Like last night. The Storm--who have nothing tangible to play for, having clinched home-court advantage through the playoffs--were trailing by 16 to Minnesota, a team needing a win to remain in the playoff race. The refs were taking the night off. Storm point guard Sue Bird was having one of the worst games of her career.

And yet the Storm came back for another victory. Lauren Jackson's three-point shooting kept the team close, and Camille Little and Swin Cash kept the team's spirits up with feisty defense. Strategically, the Storm were able to finally exploit Minnesota's aggressive offensive rebounding by pushing the ball in transition and getting open shots for Jackson.

The Storm clawed back into the game with a 24-point third quarter, then tightened up on defense, holding Minnesota to just two points in the final 4:37. Lauren Jackson found Swin Cash cutting to the basket for the go-ahead basket with just under a minute to go, and the Storm defense held on from there. 68-64 Storm, who move to 26-6 on the year, 16-0 at KeyArena.

It's been 15 years since the '95 Seattle Mariners inspired the motto "Refuse to Lose," winning 24 of their final 35 games. The Storm have refused to lose for the entire season--they have now won 13 times when trailing after three quarters.

The Storm have two regular season games left: Friday at Phoenix and Saturday, back at KeyArena, against Los Angeles, where they can break the WNBA record for home wins. After that, the playoffs commence.

Meanwhile, the 2010 Mariners also deserve the motto of "refuse to lose"--if you mean "refuse" in this sense.