Sparks kick Storm out of the playoffs for the second straight season

The conspiracy theorist will want to peg this on officiating.

With WNBA legend Lisa Leslie playing her final season, the script can't end with her exiting in the opening round of the playoffs, right?

The truth is the Storm didn't compensate with any kind of offense, which was more the reason why Seattle's season ended with a 75-64 loss to Los Angeles at KeyArena in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series.

"It took away from our aggressiveness," said guard Tanisha Wright of the officiating.

Wright had four fouls in the first half and Sparks stars Tina Thompson and Lisa Leslie had three fouls apiece as 29 calls were made by halftime.

"We like to get up, especially on the defensive end," said Wright, who said her foul trouble took away from here aggressiveness. "But LA, they were ready. They came out like they wanted it and they took it."

It's the fifth straight season the Storm (1-2) has dropped an opening-round, best-of-three series. Three of those early exits have been against the Sparks, who also knocked out Seattle in 2002 before doing it again in 2006 and 2008.

The past two times the Storm were without two-time MVP Lauren Jackson, who underwent season-ending right ankle surgery after the Beijing Olympics last year. She was out this postseason due to stress fractures in her lower back.

Yet, Seattle had chances even without its leading scorer (19.2). In the second quarter, the Storm's final field goal was a layup by forward Camille Little with 7:45 remaining to cut Seattle's deficit to 26-19. The Sparks took advantage by going on a 15-6 run to end the half and led 41-25 at the break.

Swin Cash led Seattle with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Sparks forward Candace Parker had 22 points and eight boards.

"How that game started on national television was just embarrassing," said Cash of her team shooting 20 percent in the opening half of the game that was aired on ESPN2. "It threw us out of our rhythm and we were playing catch-up from the tap. We can't have the situation where some of our top people have three fouls, it hurts us. We were just playing catch-up the whole game."

KeyArena might as well have been empty by the fourth quarter as Seattle trailed 65-44 on Betty Lennox's three-pointer with 7:12 left, which seemed void of any playoff feel. The Storm, which shot 32.8 percent for the game, cut the deficit to 73-64 after a short jumper by Sue Bird with 43.3 seconds remaining. Parker ended hope of a Storm miracle similar to Game 2 by making a pair of free throws.

The Sparks advance to play the winner of the Phoenix-San Antonio series, which plays their decisive Game 3 at 7 p.m. tonight on ESPN2. Los Angeles last won a WNBA title in 2002.

"I woke up this morning and I knew I didn't want to end my career here," said Leslie, who finished with 13 points and eight rebounds. "No offense to Seattle — you have a great crowd here, but it's not my home floor. I just kept having this thought of this cannot be my last game."

It was the final game for Storm guard Shannon Johnson, who played 11 WNBA seasons and hoped to win a championship with Seattle. She won two ABL titles with Storm coach Brian Agler when both were part of the defunct Columbus Quest.

Johnson's final bucket was a layin with 3:58 left. She fouled out with 3:09 remaining. Johnson, dubbed "Pee Wee" finished with two points and two assists.

"It's how the game goes sometimes," Johnson said. "It hurts because I wanted to play longer, but that's not God's will. I'm at peace and very happy about my career."

Note

• The official stats crew awarded Tanisha Wright an assist for her pass to Little at the end of Game 2 on Friday. She finished with a double-double with 15 points and 10 assists.

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

LOS ANGELES		fg	ft
min		m-a	m-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Thompson	37:54	4-9	3-4	2-6	5	3	12
Parker	37:02	8-15	6-10	2-8	2	3	22
Leslie	33:04	4-12	5-5	1-8	2	5	13
Quinn	32:27	3-8	2-2	0-4	7	3	9
Milton-Jones	36:20	4-12	1-2	6-9	1	1	11
Lennox	17:42	2-6	2-2	0-2	1	3	8
Harrower	7:33	0-0	0-0	0-0	2	1	0
Wisdom-Hylton	0:58	0-0	0-0	0-1	0	0	0
Totals		25-62	19-25	11-27	20	19	75

Percentages: FG .403, FT .760. Three-point goals: 6-13, .462 (Lennox 2-4, Milton-Jones 2-4, Quinn 1-2, Thompson 1-2, Parker 0-1). Team rebounds: 5. Team turnovers: 14 (8 PTS). Blocked shots: 5 (Parker 3, Leslie, Quinn). Turnovers: 14 (Quinn 4, Leslie 3, Milton-Jones 3, Harrower 2, Lennox, Thompson). Steals: 7 (Lennox 3, Milton-Jones 2, Thompson 2). Technical fouls: Milton-Jones, 6:03 first.

SEATTLE		fg	ft
min		m-a	m-a	or-t	a	pf	pts
Cash	39:23	5-11	10-12	3-10	3	3	21
Little	37:45	4-13	2-2	0-3	0	5	11
Burse	10:31	0-2	0-0	0-1	1	1	0
Bird	36:09	5-12	4-4	0-6	2	1	15
Wright	28:21	3-12	1-1	3-5	2	5	7
Batkovic	25:16	3-10	0-0	0-1	0	4	8
Johnson	12:44	1-2	0-0	0-1	2	6	2
Robinson	8:58	0-2	0-0	1-1	0	0	0
Walker	0:51	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	0
Totals		21-64	17-19	7-28	10	25	64

Percentages: FG .328, FT .895. Three-point goals: 5-18, .278 (Batkovic-Brown 2-6, Bird 1-3, Cash 1-3, Little 1-5, Wright 0-1). Team rebounds: 17. Team turnovers: 17 (20 PTS). Blocked shots: 5 (Batkovic-Brown 2, Cash 2, Little). Turnovers: 15 (Bird 4, Cash 3, Johnson 3, Little 2, Wright 2, Walker). Steals: 7 (Wright 3, Bird, Cash, Johnson, Little). Technical fouls: Team, 3:19 second.

Los Angeles	20	21	19	15 — 75
Seattle	13	12	15	24 — 64

Attendance: 8,159 (17,098). Time: 2:13. Officials: Brooks-Clauser, Gulbeyan, Walker.

Storm in playoffs
How the Storm have fared in the WNBA playoffs since 2004:
Year	Playoffs result	Playoffs W-L
2004	WNBA champions	6-2
2005	Lost in first round	1-2
2006	Lost in first round	1-2
2007	Lost in first round	0-2
2008	Lost in first round	1-2
2009	Lost in first round	1-2