In her weekly interview for the Seattle Times, Jayda Evans talks with Storm center Ashley Robinson about the race for Most Improved Player in the WNBA and more.

Robinson: When you look at my career and my season? Definitely most improved. Honestly, I played like no minutes last year. You go from no minutes to getting to play important minutes for the defending champs? I could make an argument for myself and I know the Storm Crazies are making an argument. But I’m never mad for other people’s success.

Aaron Lommers scouts tonight’s rematch with the Sparks for the Everett Herald.

After Sunday’s victory, Bird talked about playing the Sparks twice in three days.

“We’ll just try to learn from this game,” Bird said. “It was tough. We had opportunities to go up 10 and maybe extend that lead and I think they were able to get back into the game. Hopefully we can learn from this, see what worked, see what didn’t, and I know they’re going to be doing the same thing. I think it is going to be another battle.”

In the process of breaking down Sunday’s game for Swish Appeal, Nate Parham highlights how Lauren Jackson’s return has helped the Storm take care of the basketball.

Part of the reason that the turnovers are going down is not only that Jackson is present, but also that she’s playing much, much better than she was early in the season, accounting for an average of 26.78% of the team’s overall statistical production; that’s MVP-caliber production, even if it’s still not Jackson at her best. With Jackson both demanding more attention from the defense and balancing the court with an interior threat, things have started to open up for the Storm meaning they haven’t had to force things nearly as much to create scoring opportunities.

WNBA.com’s Brian Marin takes a look at the playoff race.

Seattle (17-12) sits in second place – a full six games behind Minnesota – and holds just a half-game lead over Phoenix (16-12). This matchup is essentially a lock to happen in the first round, as neither team can catch the Lynx and they’re unlikely to be caught by San Antonio (13-15) or Los Angeles (12-17).

The league has also confirmed that the Storm can clinch tonight with a San Antonio loss.

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