The Storm closed its schedule for the month undefeated with Friday’s win over Chicago. Here’s how the stories read.

Storm routs Sky, 80-60 – Jayda Evans, Seattle Times

“We talked amongst ourselves that we’ve lost to Chicago the last three times and we wanted to have a good start,” Storm forward Camille Little said. “We played well in the first half and we just tried to keep it rolling in the second.”

Just well?

With Seattle leading 12-8 with 4:18 left in the first quarter, a short jump shot by Jackson ignited a 12-0 run that probably still has the Sky players’ heads spinning. Storm coach Brian Agler put his entire front line on the 6-foot-6 Fowles, sending double and triple teams at Chicago’s go-to player until she turned the ball over while looking for her secondary options.

Storm Off to Best Start in Seattle Sports History at 22-2 with 80-60 Win – Nate Parham, SB Nation Seattle

The difference-maker in the game was that while the Storm were hitting three pointers in the first half, the Sky were missing long two point jumpers. The Storm were scorching hot from the three point line in the first half, hitting 8-14 3 pointers and outshooting the Sky 57.9% to 35.7% from the field overall. 10 of the Storm’s 11 second quarter shots were assisted, making for a simply beautiful first half performance that helped the Storm mount a 55-31 lead that the Sky were never really able to recover from.

“When you have a player like Lauren (Jackson), there’s a tendency for teams to really focus on her, to double team her and to constantly be in help in the situations where she catches the ball low,” said Storm point guard Sue Bird, who finished with 11 points and team-high 8 assists. “So for us, to have people who can spot up from the outside, they have to pick their poison with that. When we’re hitting our shots, we’re a really tough team to play against.”

Svetlana Abrosimova joined Paul Silvi of KING5 to talk about the Storm’s season:

Didn’t get a chance to update yesterday morning, so here are stories from throughout the day yesterday.

Lauren Jackson scores 33 as Storm clinches West’s top playoff spot – Jayda Evans, Seattle Times

An uncharacteristic Seattle crew faced its largest halftime deficit of the season against the WNBA’s most potent team. But after a calm halftime discussion, the Storm promptly went on a 31-7 run, leading to a 91-85 win at KeyArena.

Wednesday dribble: power rankings, Obama, & summer reads – Jayda Evans, seattletimes.com Women’s Hoops Blog

PRESIDENTIAL VISIT: It took some quick planning, but the Storm finagled a way for F Le’coe Willingham to make it to the White House to be honored by President Barack Obama on July 19 for winning the 2009 WNBA title. Willingham said she had to buy an outfit on the road and was in-and-out to make her team’s game in San Antonio on Tuesday.

“I ended up finding a really pretty dress and it was on sale,” Willingham said. “It was definitely surreal and very special. Being a kid and being with my grandmothers so much, they’re both deceased, but I tend to think about times with them and the things that I’ve learned from them and the differences in both of my grandmothers. Not just with the White House visit, but everything that I’ve accomplished in my life, sometimes I have a quiet moment and think about how blessed I am. That’s something they would have loved to be a part of, but it’s something I’m doing for them.”

Storm’s Intensity Meets the Challenge of a Playoff Atmosphere at KeyArena – Nate Parham, SB Nation Seattle

“Our fans played a big role once they started getting into it,” said Storm forward Swin Cash, who finished with 10 points and 6 rebounds, all 6 of which came in the second half. “The first half, they were looking at each other like, ‘What is going on?’ Then the second half, you make a bit of a run and everybody gets into it. That momentum really helps us. You have to give them some credit as well.”

When the poised Storm came out of the locker room in the second half in front of an eager crowd that has been unconditionally supportive all season, it didn’t take much to turn around the entire atmosphere in KeyArena.

Storm vs. Mercury Statistical Summary: “Money Time Comes Later, True Money Time” – Q McCall, SwishAppeal.com

It wasn’t just that the Storm were down at halftime — that’s happened before. They’d faced halftime deficits at home four times this season against the Indiana Fever, Minnesota Lynx, New York Liberty and Washington Mystics. However, the difference is that in those four games, it seemed like the deficit could be attributed to poor shooting from the Storm or physicality from the opponent that led to sloppy play rather than a matter of X’s and O’s. Last night might have been the first time a team established exactly what they wanted to do and maintained it for an entire half of play.

Storm Go All Category 5 on Phoenix, Move to 21-2 - Seth Kolloen, TheSunbreak.com

You aren’t supposed to win when you’re down 18 points at halftime. “I don’t know how we did it,” Lauren Jackson told an overjoyed KeyArena crowd after the game. Here’s how, Lauren: Your offense was your best defense.

In the first half, the Storm couldn’t hit a shot. The errant attempts, many by the team’s lesser players, resulted in multiple Phoenix fast breaks, letting the Mercury drop 56 points in the first half. In half two, Storm stars got greedy, and their shots began to find the basket. Forced to inbound from the baseline, Phoenix couldn’t streak down the court. They went ice cold.

Talking Western Conference rivalry and the pursuit of history as the Storm prepares to face the Phoenix Mercury tonight at KeyArena.

Hot Taurasi-led Mercury ready for Storm rematch – Jayda Evans, Seattle Times

When recalling Taurasi’s quote, the Storm’s Swin Cash’s head swiveled like a hawk looking for prey as she scanned teammates after practice at KeyArena.

“Who’s believing what (she’s) saying?’ ” Cash asked rhetorically of her former college teammate at Connecticut. “She’s the master of blowing smoke. She’s so crazy.

Storm aim to keep historical season going – Christopher Wells, seattlepi.com

So far in the season series, Seattle has been perfect with three straight wins over Phoenix, including a historic three overtime victory on July 14.

Lauren Jackson has powered the Storm with an average of 24 points over the course of the three wins. She also has averaged 10.7 rebounds.

Storm vs. Phoenix Preview: Can the Mercury Mount a Challenge Against the Storm? – Q McCall, SwishAppeal.com

As a basketball fan, I confess to being unreasonably excited about tonight’s Phoenix Mercury – Seattle Storm game.

In fact — albeit easily pleased by basketball — I haven’t been quite as excited about a Storm game since the then-6-0 Atlanta Dream came to town.

Is This Year’s Storm the Best Team Ever? – Petrel, SwishAppeal.com

That’s some pretty impressive company.  So where would the 2010 Seattle Storm be if the season ended today?  They’d be at 2.050 standard deviations above .500, putting them as the 4th greatest WNBA team of all time.  And the season has 12 games to go in Seattle!  If Seattle sweeps the table, this will undoubtedly nudge the Storm even further up the ladder.  The Storm aren’t the greatest team of all time – now – but have a shot at it if they keep the engine finely tuned throught the season.

High-scoring Mercury back on track – Mechelle Voepel, ESPN.com

Ha! Two hundred and fifty points? For two games? How could even my math be that bad? I guess I need a calculator just to add two lousy numbers.

(Pause.)

OK, you might not believe this, but … the calculator says the Mercury really did score 250 points in their past two games. And 753 in their last seven. That’s right, the average Mercury point total in July, 107.6, tops even Phoenix’s average daily high temperature for this month, which historically has been about 105.

5 Things I Think I Know – Ben York, SlamOnline.com

I think I know who will be in the Western Conference Finals, but I’m still unsure about the East.

Clearly, the Seattle Storm and Phoenix Mercury have proven to be the best teams in the West; and unless something drastic changes I feel confident that’s how it will be as the season winds down. If Phoenix locks itself in the 2 or 3 seed, I just don’t see a scenario where they won’t be in the Western Conference Finals. Similarly, Seattle is playing too good to be knocked out in the first round.

Storm Can Top Sonics for Best Pro Hoops Start Tonight – Seth Kolloen, TheSunbreak.com

Your local hoops team is off to a 20-2 start and play tonight against Phoenix at Seattle Center. It could be today, or it could be December 23, 1993. Then, the team was the Sonics, the opponent was the Phoenix Suns. Tonight it’s the Storm facing the Phoenix Mercury.

The Sonics lost game #23 (Thunder Dan Majerle went off for seven threes). So with a win against Phoenix tonight, the Storm can claim the best start in Seattle pro hoops history.

Two types of coverage today – recaps of last night’s win over Tulsa focusing on the historical significance as the Storm has now tied the best 22-game start in WBNA history as well as feature-type stories from the weekend.

Storm equals WNBA record for best start – Jayda Evans, Seattle Times

No one was serving up borscht or fine vodka, but KeyArena was like home to Storm guard Svetlana Abrosimova on Sunday.

She strutted off the bench after not having played there since July 6 and started popping three-pointers in a 75-59 win against Tulsa as the Storm (20-2) equaled the WNBA record for the best start after 22 games.

Abrosimova nailed four consecutive three-pointers to turn a two-point deficit into a 30-26 lead with 5:18 remaining in the second quarter. The Storm opened the third quarter on a 14-0 run, burying the Shock before a sellout crowd of 9,686 that was giddy to celebrate the return of Seattle’s only winning professional sports team.

Storm blasts Tulsa, stays in pursuit of history – Todd Dybas, seattlepi.com

Most of the Storm is keeping the history books closed at this point. Coach Brian Agler said it’s easy to push aside the approaching marks because the team doesn’t talk about it.

Sue Bird? Same thing. Non-issue.

Statistical Summary of the Storm’s Milestone Victory – Q McCall, SwishAppeal.com

Storm key player: Le’coe Willingham

The Shock were simply overwhelmed inside and during that stretch of time when Abrosimova was hot, Willingham was helping her do some damage — she controlled the defensive glass with 3 defensive rebounds during 4 second quarter minutes, had a block, and a put back off an offensive rebound. When you talk about balance for the Storm this year, the bench contributions of both Abrosimova and Willingham (and increasingly Jana Vesela) are a large part of that equation.

Balance Should Define the Storm’s Success Moreso Than Records – Nate Parham, SB Nation Seattle

While the majority of national media attention on the Storm gets directed primarily at their trio of All-Stars — Sue Bird, Swin Cash, and of course Lauren Jackson — what we can learn about the Storm from last night’s big win is that beyond any records they’re breaking the key to their success is that once opponents commit to taking one thing away, they’ll find another way to hurt them.

“I don’t think they really were concentrating on me as being the only one shooter on this team,” said Abrosimova. “It’s hard to play against us. Everyone can hit threes. Lauren hit some, Swin and Tanisha (Wright). That’s why it’s not easy. You have to guard everybody and you have to sometimes sacrifice certain players.”

Storm trying to match Comets’ record – Jayda Evans, Seattle Times

“(Coach) Van Chancellor did a good job of putting them in good positions to play to their strengths,” said Storm assistant coach Nancy Darsch, whose New York team lost to Houston for the 1997 title. “Nobody knew who Janeth (Arcain) was and here she comes off the bench. And they were stacked when they got Tina (Thompson) as the No. 1 pick. They really were a strong team and very competitive defensively.”

Sound familiar?

2010 Storm vs. 1998 Houston Comets – Bill Reader, Seattle Times

A victory Sunday against Tulsa would make the Storm 20-2, tying the 1998 Houston Comets for the best record in the WNBA after 22 games. The Comets finished that season 27-3, the best regular-season record in WNBA history, then won the league title, their second of four straight.

Queens of the court – Dave Boling, The News Tribune

Coach Brian Agler had given his Seattle Storm team a little break after a lengthy road swing, so when the players reconvened for practice Friday, he worked them hard.

After all, he had seen a number of areas that needed correction and improvement on that trip. Such as?

“Offense and defense,” he said.

Apparently, warm-up drills had been satisfactory.

A light day as the Storm took a second day off from practice, but another great national feature on the Storm.

Little does a lot for the Storm – Mechelle Voepel, ESPN.com

Little now plays an essential role for the running-away-with-the-West Storm. But it’s certainly not as an “enforcer,” the one who needs to remind everyone else to be serious. She doesn’t think in those terms on a team that has players who’ve won NCAA, WNBA and Olympic titles.

“At this level, there are more people like that,” Little said regarding her taskmaster personality. “But at the same time, in my fourth year [in the WNBA], I’m not considered a veteran. I would say that it helps to have people who believe the same things you do as strongly as you do. I’m the same person I was in college, and I still push my teammates. But I set examples more with how I play than anything I say.”

Storm clinch a playoff berth: Who would they want as a first round opponent – Q McCall, SwishAppeal.com

Next up: the Western Conference regular season title with four more wins.

So moving to the next matter of uncertainty: who would the Storm want as a first round matchup? Or does it even matter?

Brian Agler was on KJR 950 AM last night with host Brian Abker. Download the interview here or click here to stream it.