Storm hopes to get past first round of WNBA playoffs

Van Chancellor broke into a Cheshire cat grin the minute he walked into KeyArena.

Chancellor, the current Louisiana State coach, is three years removed from coaching his last WNBA game. As he settled in to watch the Storm defeat Connecticut in August, looking around the arena, all Chancellor remembered was his Houston Comets swiping two postseason games from the Storm in 2005.

"I'm not trying to gloat," Chancellor said. "But I replayed those two games over and over and over because those were games that nobody, including me, thought we were going to win."

And the Storm hasn't been the same since.

Since winning the WNBA championship in 2004, Seattle has lost in the opening round four consecutive times. There are worse streaks in the WNBA, like Minnesota not even reaching the postseason since Seattle swept the Lynx in the opening round the year the Storm won the title. But the repetitiveness is getting tiring for the Storm.

Especially this season. Seattle, again seeded second, heads into a second straight postseason without leading scorer Lauren Jackson, who is out indefinitely with two stress fractures in her lower back. The Storm (20-14 during the regular season) will again face Los Angeles (18-16), starting the best-of-three series on the road Wednesday at Staples Center.

The Sparks have been the team to end Seattle's season two of the past three years.

Déjà vu?

"I guess in us not having Lauren, we won't be at full strength, again," said Storm coach Brian Agler, who lost Jackson to ankle surgery in 2008. "But it doesn't mean that we can't be successful without her."

Just three players remain from Seattle's championship roster. Guard Tanisha Wright is one of the players who hasn't been on a Seattle team to advance. She was drafted in 2005 and, although much improved, committed two turnovers against Los Angeles last season that prevented the Storm from winning Game 3.

Wright missed the team's season finale due to Achilles tendinitis, but practiced Monday and will start against the Sparks.

"Media brings that stuff up and makes it a big deal," Wright said of the costly bobbles last season. "For me, that's last year and we didn't win last year, so it's not of any importance. Nobody wants to get booted, especially after being able to take them to three games without the best player in the world. It hurts. But if I dwelled on that, I don't know how much better I would have been this year."

The Storm is in the denial phase, dealing with as many first-round exits as the Buffalo Bills have Super Bowl losses. In fact, they aren't even discussing the past.

"Not at all," Storm guard Sue Bird said of talk between players about past playoff games. "Unfortunately we've lost in the first round any way you could. And I understand as a franchise we've gotten knocked out, but as a team — it's never happened to this team."

The Storm was plagued by injures last season, not only to Jackson, but to Swin Cash (back) and Sheryl Swoopes (ankle), and lacked the depth to contend with the Sparks. Agler, who is also director of player personnel, tried to counter that problem this season by adding centers Janell Burse and Suzy Batkovic-Brown and veteran Shannon Johnson to the backcourt.

But Los Angeles strengthened its lineup, starting five Olympians with the additions of Tina Thompson and Australian Kristi Harrower to Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker and DeLisha Milton-Jones. The Sparks also have former Storm star Betty Lennox on the bench.

The teams split their four-game regular-season series, each team winning at home. Still, Los Angeles never had its full roster, missing Lennox and guard Marie Ferdinand-Harris when Leslie and Parker finally returned for a 79-75 overtime win at Staples Center in August.

"It doesn't weigh on anyone; at the moment we're just trying to handle the adversity that we have," Jackson said. "We've got a very talented team, and no matter if I'm playing or not, the girls adjust. Going into the playoffs, everyone is going to have a different mentality and it's not about me. It's about how everyone responds."

Hopefully for the Storm, it's enough to get past the opening round.

"Well, our goals are bigger than that," said Burse, who is expected to start in place of Jackson. "If we advance past the first round, we know we're not turning back. It's not a mental block, it's just something we've got to get done because the ultimate goal is winning the championship."

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