Going around the Web the day after the Storm suffered consecutive losses for the first time all season, losing 84-75 in Tulsa to match the largest margin of defeat of the year.

Storm loses second straight game, falls 84-75 to the Shock – Duane DaPron, special to the Seattle Times

Meanwhile, the win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Shock and a string of nine consecutive home losses. Before Tuesday night, Tulsa had not won at home since June 4 in a 92-79 victory against Minnesota.

“One thing I have learned in this league is that the hungrier team generally wins,” Agler said.

“We went a long stretch of being hungry. Now, for whatever reason, we have lost that.”

Statistical summary: Turnovers calm the Storm in Tulsa – Q McCall, SwishAppeal.com

Key stat: Turnover percentage

Against the Lynx, the differential in turnover percentage (22.58% to 18.47%) was a significant reason for the Storm’s loss. Against the Shock the turnover differential of 30.38% to 20.73% was again a huge reason for the loss. The Storm normally take care of the ball better than any team in the league but have struggled with pressure in their losses, especially against the Indiana Fever, Lynx, and Shock. What’s interesting is that the biggest culprits tonight were the Storm’s frontcourt players — Swin Cash and Camille Little each had turnover percentages over 35% and Lauren Jackson had five turnovers for a percentage of 28.53%. Perhaps it’s safe to say now that forcing turnovers is the key to beating the Storm, but even that can be difficult to do with a point guard like Sue Bird running the offense and it is very likely their frontcourt will turn the ball over like that with any sort of regularity. Nevertheless, there’s undeniably a clear pattern to their losses

Shock beats Seattle Storm, league’s top team – Lynn Jacobsen, Tulsa World

Tulsa pulled off the biggest upset this season in the WNBA on the birthday of Nolan Richardson’s daughter Yvonne, who died at the age of 15 from leukemia.

“Rose (Richardson’s wife) and I have spent the last 23 years in El Paso celebrating our daughter’s life,” the Shock coach said. “Obviously, we are here tonight. It was an emotional game for me. This was something wonderful for me to be coaching the women and to have lost a daughter that loved the game so much. My wife and I will always cherish this win.”

Bird talks to Mechelle Voepel about the Storm’s back-to-back losses:

Shootaround with Storm star Lauren Jackson – Seattle Times

Q: I’ve heard someone you pretty know well (coach Brian Agler) will be overseeing that exam. True?

LJ: It’s weird, definitely weird. You need to have someone in authority and someone that’s trustworthy. He’s my coach. I said, “Brian, can you watch me do my exam?” He said, “Sure, what do I have to do? I was like, “Well, you just have to sit there for two hours and make sure I don’t cheat.” And that was the conversation.

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