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Lauren Jackson has had subpar shooting games whenever the Seattle Storm have had a chance to reach seven straight wins. She won't get a chance to make up for past struggles. With Jackson off to Australia to train for the Olympics, the Storm will try to set a franchise record for consecutive victories when they visit the Indiana Fever on Friday night. Thanks to six straight wins, Seattle (14-7) is one game behind first-place San Antonio in the Western Conference. The Storm, though, will be without their leading scorer for the next five games. Jackson, averaging 20.2 points, is training with the Australian national team in preparation for the Olympics. In her last game, the two-time league MVP had 14 points, five rebounds and five blocks as Seattle beat Los Angeles 70-52 on Saturday night. Ashley Robinson and Camille Little are candidates to replace Jackson at forward in the starting lineup.

The Phoenix Mercury were hovering around .500 at this point in 2007, before going on an end-of-the-season tear that culminated in their first WNBA title. They'd love to make a similar run this season, but their recent play hasn't left much reason to believe they can.The Mercury will look to avoid dropping their fourth straight game on Thursday when they conclude their season series with the visiting Los Angeles Sparks. Phoenix (9-12) was 12-10 last season before winning 11 of its final 12 games and eventually taking home its first league championship. The Mercury have the league's two leading scorers, Diana Taurasi (23.6 points per game) and Cappie Pondexter (23.3 ppg), but they're also far and away the WNBA's worst defensive team, allowing opponents to score an average of 90.1 points. Defense has been Phoenix's downfall during a three-game losing streak that's left it tied with Houston for last place in the West. The Mercury are giving up 97.0 points per game during the slide, including a 97-87 loss to conference-leading San Antonio on Tuesday.

The Detroit Shock clamped down on the New York Liberty when the arch-rivals met for the first time this season. It was the Liberty who stifled the Shock, though, in the teams' last game at Madison Square Garden. Detroit returns to New York for the first time since last year's playoffs as it looks to end a three-game road slide Saturday.

The Liberty (9-9) and Shock have already played once this season, a 72-62 win for the Shock on May 25. Detroit built a 54-29 lead through three quarters over New York, which shot 30.8 percent (20-of-65) overall and used a 33-point outburst in the fourth quarter to make the final score more respectable.