Storm is facing elimination

A decade.

That's how long Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi has been winning championships over Storm center Ashley Robinson. Although today's game between the pair of close friends won't be for a title, it would be the final step for the Mercury to advance to the Western Conference finals.

Phoenix easily dissected Seattle in a 17-point Game 1 win at KeyArena on Friday and needs just one more victory to sweep the best-of-three opening round series. Game 2 is set for 4 p.m. today on ESPN2 at US Airways Center. Game 3, if needed, is slated for Tuesday in Phoenix.

Robinson, a 25-year-old starting center, reflected all the way back to AAU basketball where she first met Taurasi at a Florida tournament. . They faced off on youth All-Star teams and in two NCAA championship games in the uniforms of Tennessee (Robinson) and Connecticut (Taurasi), with Taurasi the victor each time.

It's something Robinson has never been able to forget, even as the pair became closer friends during their 2004 rookie season in Phoenix.

"We're both crazy, like to have fun and love what we do," said Robinson of what drew the two together. "But you have to go out there and compete and know with her, she's going to compete so you have to go extra hard."

Robinson's play inside will be crucial if the Storm is going to remain alive in the series. The center had an impressive showing in her second postseason stint, finishing with five rebounds and four blocks in 24 minutes.

But the Mercury was able to outscore the Storm 38-24 in the paint and matched Seattle's rebounds with 36. Plus, Storm go-to player Lauren Jackson was crowded and there was little help getting her free when she did try to cut through the paint to get open.

The Storm made some offensive adjustments in practice on Saturday, yet when the team reviewed tape of the game, there were times perimeter players could have fed Jackson inside. The lack of offensive success led to defensive breakdowns and Storm coach Anne Donovan trying odd rotations early to generate a spark.

"There are looks against the zone and against the box-and-one, we just need to play basketball and take them," Donovan said. "Defensively, you can't give up 101 points. It doesn't matter what we do offensively, we can't give up 101 points and win the series. The buckets that hurt us were their buckets in transition off our turnovers. If we can take care of the transition game and limit our turnovers, then defensively we'll be all right.

"I feel good about [Game 2]. You look at the opportunities we had — to control the things we can control, like our defense, we should be in a pretty good position to clean some things up. We just have to stay focused, whether we try to take them out early or try to win it at the end, it doesn't really matter."

Jackson described herself as "melancholy" following Saturday's practice. She had frustration fouls in the loss, racking up four before being pulled from the game with 2:36 remaining. Taurasi, who led the double and sometimes quadruple teams against the Australian star, finished the game with just two fouls.

"Friday was pretty much our season," she said. "There were great moments and then there were bad ones. You never know what team is going to show up. We need to make the extra pass because you never know how it's going to open up the rest of the floor. We don't think enough. We're not smart enough offensively."

Seattle is expecting the same defensive strategy and hopes it can attack it better today.

"I won't be disappointed if we don't win, I'll be furious," said Jackson, whose team faces a possible third consecutive first-round exit. "Only because it could very well be my last season here and we put in a lot of hard work this year."

Phoenix can say the same and, as Robinson will tell you, that normally ends in a championship for Taurasi.

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com