Atlanta blitzes Seattle from the start, wins 90-76

Cross-country game 36 hours after their last dooms Seattle.

(College Park, Georgia) - By the time the Storm had a chance to blink and I had a chance to drink my morning coffee, the Storm were trailing by double digits. Seattle never led in this game, trailed by 14 points after the first quarter and by as many as 24 points in the 2nd half.

“Atlanta played extremely well. They came out guns blazing. They shot the ball at a high clip. They punched first and we were never able to recover. We made a couple of runs, cut it close. But at the end of the day, I think their physicality, their aggressiveness, and athleticism bothered us and we could never get into a groove.” Coach Noelle Quinn said in her opening statement after the game.

Breanna Stewart was the only Storm player to reach double figures with 19 points. Loyd was the next leading scorer with just nine points. Gabby Williams, Briann January, and Jantel Lavender all finished with eight points. One of the primary themes we’ve seen in Seattle’s losses this season is the team’s lack of 3rd and 4th scoring options. And a game like this one, they really didn’t even have a 2nd scorer. The 27 bench points were actually quite good but that also had to do with the fact that the starters were really limited in their playing time (only Stewie was above 25 minutes).

Statistically, Seattle was only better with blocks (4-0) and steals (11-7).

The Atlanta Dream

Unlike Seattle, Atlanta had everything working on offense on Sunday. They had five different players reach double figures with Cheyenne Parker leading the team with 21 points and nine rebounds. Rookie Rhyne Howard played much better in her 2nd game against the Storm, this time tallying 16 points, five rebounds, and three steals. Tiffany Hayes added 10 points as she returns from an injury that’s kept her out of most of the season. Both Aari McDonald and AD Durr added 13 points each off the bench; part of a bench unit that outscored Seattle’s 37-27.

The Dream completely outplayed the Storm. As Mama Loyd said on Twitter, “We didn’t match the intensity - they kicked our ass.”

Atlanta shot the ball better making over 47% (33-70 FG) of their shots while holding Seattle to under 35% (22-63). They out-rebounded the Storm 44-30. They had more assists 24-17. The Dream dominated in the paint with a 42-16 advantage. They out-worked and out-hustled Seattle.

“They came out shooting the ball really well. I thought Cheyenne Parker made her stake in the paint early. She was very physical and that bothered us. I think it was schemes more than KYP (Know Your Personnel). We weren’t guarding, stay down on ball fakes, play in people’s space, I thought we slipped up on that.” Coach Quinn stated.

Game Breakdown

Atlanta jumped out to a 10-5 lead early. Sue Bird hit a three but then Seattle got extremely careless with the basketball. It was either active hands or Breanna Stewart simply wasn’t paying attention and allowed two passes to go out of her hands and straight to Atlanta.

Cheyenne Parker did most of the damage early on scoring 10 of her points on 5-6 FG in the first period. Rhyne Howard was nearly as good scoring nine points on a perfect 4-4 FG attempts.

Seattle quickly trailed by double digits 18-8 after Tiffany Hayes made another layup. It would only get worse from there as the Dream would finish the quarter with a pair of Kristy Wallace free throws that put them up 14 points (32-18).

Atlanta was red-hot and Seattle’s defense offered little resistance. The Dream shot 77% (13-18 FG) from the floor while holding Seattle to just 37%

Ezi Magbegor talked with me after the game about what Atlanta did to put the pressure on Seattle early in this game.

“I think they just came out with a lot more energy. They were obviously hitting a lot of shots in the first quarter. We did a great job to cut the lead down but then they just never stopped playing with that aggression and that energy. Credit to Atlanta, they played really well today.” Magbegor told me.

I also spoke to Coach Quinn after the game about what a coach can do when their team is so overwhelmed from the very start. Obviously, you don’t have the luxury of restarting the game over so I wanted to know the keys to trying to rally from such a tough early deficit.

“Continue to instill positivity. Understand that it’s one possession at a time. Continue to put them in correct positions and (help) with execution. We look to change up our schemes. Just continue to coach.” Quinn told me.

Jantel Lavender hit a three early in the 2nd quarter but then Seattle immediately gave up a three to AD Durr. Tina Charles then hit one of her patented mid-range jumpers. Aari McDonald scored four straight points for Atlanta drawing a foul and then later getting a layup.

The Dream pushed their lead to 16 points. Seattle did make a small dent into their lead going on a 6-1 run.

Ezi Magbegor hit a three to cut it to 11 points, 46-35. Seattle then got a stop and Stewie was fouled on three consecutive possessions making all six free throws to cut the Dream’s lead to just five points at 46-41 as the teams reached the midway point. Seattle outscored Atlanta 23-14 in the 2nd period led by the seven points (on zero FG attempts) from Stewie. It looked like the Storm had made it a game and could easily steal a win in the 2nd half but that is not what happened at all.

Seattle got a steal that led to a four-on-two fast-break but their spacing wasn’t right and ended up turning the ball over. Gabby got some dribble penetration and kicked it out to Jewell for a three to score their first points of the 2nd half.

Once again the Storm struggled offensively scoring just six points in the first five and a half minutes of the third period. Atlanta was a little better during that time scoring 10 points to push their lead 56-47.

Atlanta used an 11-0 run to extend their lead back up to 18 points at 67-49. In total, the Dream outscored the Storm 26-13 third period. They ballooned their lead up to 19 points and finished the quarter leading 72-54. Parker and Howard once again did the most damage scoring 12 points total; nearly as much as Seattle’s entire team.

Briann January took a nasty elbow/forearm to her face, early in the 4th quarter, resulting in a flagrant foul call. She hit both foul shots and then Epiphanny Prince hit a jumper with her toe on the three-point line. But from there Atlanta went on a quick 8-0 run in the span of about a minute. McDonald and Durr both knocked down three-pointers to essentially ice the game for Atlanta putting them up 22 points with seven minutes left to play.

Atlanta grew their lead to 24 points at 84-60 before some of their reserves took over for the rest of the game. With most of Seattle’s bench players playing, they did finish the final five minutes on a nice 16-6 run. Gabby Williams scored seven points in the final frame and Jantel Lavender added five more. They outscored Atlanta 22-18 in the final period but it wasn’t enough as the Storm lost 90-76.

Additional Analysis

Tanisha Wright for COY

I have been so impressed with former Storm great and Atlanta’s new coach Tanisha Wright and the job she’s done in her first year as a head coach with the Dream. I really don’t think anyone seriously predicted they would be a competitive playoff team this year. And yet, she currently has Atlanta as the 6th overall seed in the standings.

While they are currently one game under .500 with their record (10-11) and no coach has ever won Coach of the Year without being above .500 at the end of the season, I truly believe Tanisha Wright should win Coach of the Year; especially if Atlanta does indeed make the playoffs. Looking around the league, I feel she’s done more than any other coach based on the expectations heading into the season.

I spoke with Breanna Stewart and Coach Noelle Quinn after the game about the job Wright has done so far with her team.

“I think Tanisha, she came in and made sure that when the Dream are playing, they’re playing her system. They’ve all obviously bought in. They understand what they’re trying to do. They want to play fast in transition. It’s non-stop moving. It’s hard to guard. It wears you down. Obviously, we were fatigued today. It’s tough when you never stop. She just brought that style of play to Atlanta.” Stewie told me.

“She talks about it all the time, culture. She hand-picked the players she wanted to have. To build on what she felt was needed in Atlanta, a culture shift. Hard-working, professional, very attentive to all of the details. I think she’s done an amazing job. Also, establishing how she wants to play and who she wants to be. It’s not just about basketball. You can tell the energy in the building what they’ve done as an organization. From top to bottom, I think they’ve done an amazing job.” Coach Quinn added.

I’m sure Becky Hammon will get a lot of attention because she is returning to the league from the NBA and through the first half of the season her team had the best record in the league. However, they’ve lost four of their last six games and the Aces have so many All-Stars and so much talent, especially in their starting five that they were always expected to be a top team. If not number one overall, certainly Top 4. Las Vegas was the #1 overall seed in 2020 and the #2 overall seed in 2021. They’ve been one of the league’s elite teams for a while now. I do think Becky has done a great job overall, especially improving their pace and modernizing their offense but I also haven’t seen them take significant improvements compared to recent years. Atlanta finished with the second-worst record in the entire league last year (8-24) and they’ve already won more games this year with nearly half the season to play.

Teams like Minnesota, New York, Phoenix, and even Dallas (as of late) have all disappointed this season. They are playing worse than many, myself included, would have predicted entering the 2022 season. That would rule out all four of those teams and their coaches for Coach of the Year honors.

Connecticut, Seattle, Washington, and even Los Angeles have essentially played up to expectations this year. The Sun finished with the best record in the WNBA last season and currently hold the third-best record. Seattle finished 4th last year and is currently 4th this year. The Sparks and Mystics currently have had better seasons than last year but that was also expected when looking at the improvements to their rosters in 2022 and in the Mystics’ case - getting players back from injuries.

That really leaves the Chicago Sky who finished 6th overall in the standings but got hot in the playoffs and ended up winning the championship. While the improvement from 6th overall to first is really impressive. No one expected them to be a below-average team this year. The defending champs, if anything, appeared to get even stronger by adding players like Emma Meesseman and Julie Allemand in the offseason.

I think right now Coach James Wade has the second-best claim to the Coach of the Year award but I personally would still give it to Tanisha Wright; assuming Atlanta does make the playoffs at the end of the year. Sadly, I don’t have a media vote this year but if I did she’d get my vote.

Thanks for Nothing Schedule Makers

Breanna Stewart spoke about fatigue after the game which is interesting because after blowing out Indiana all the starters were able to get significant rest with none playing more than 24 minutes. But really, I think it’s a different type of fatigue and exhaustion. The WNBA schedule makers decided to have the team play late Friday night in Seattle, then fly 5+ hours to Atlanta on Saturday, before playing at noon Seattle time on Sunday. Basically, around 36 hours in between games plus a cross-country flight in between. Certainly not ideal.

“Sometimes we have points in our season where fatigue creeps up. No excuses, but we just played a game on Friday then came to the east coast for an early game. There are other factors that can contribute to that. In that stretch (the 3rd quarter), I don’t know if we were clean in our execution, we had a possible layup and it went out of bounds. We weren’t executing as well. Our depth comes into play, especially in games like this. Trying to find combinations that work. But overall, I didn’t think we were very comfortable and we just weren’t playing how we’ve been playing.”Coach Quinn added.

Part of this is simply the problem with being a professional sports team that plays in Seattle. Especially, when several opponents are up and down the East Coast. But you’d really like to see them have more than one day in between games if they’re playing Friday night in Seattle and Sunday morning/early afternoon across the country on the East Coast.

It does remind me that the WNBA schedule is not always fair or balanced at certain times of the season. I remember through the first week and a half (9-10 days) the Indiana Fever had already played five games total while the Connecticut Sun only had played two games. That certainly doesn’t seem fair. It’s just a weird schedule that isn’t always balanced.

Ultimately, Atlanta was ready and energized to play this game and Seattle was not. The WNBA is far too talented to not be on your game and still expect to win. Seattle found that out just recently when the team unexpectedly lost to the LA Sparks a few games ago. And then experienced it again on Sunday against Atlanta.

As Coach Quinn states, “Don’t get bored with being great.” It’s a reminder that everyone has to work hard and come prepared if they want to win in this league.

Don’t Overreact

Maybe it’s just because I’m so tied to social media and have a large following on Twitter but it felt like a lot of fans were overreacting to this loss. There’s no sugar-coating it. It was a bad loss. The Storm were completely outplayed and looked like the far inferior team for good portions of the game.

But let’s not pretend that Seattle didn’t easily defeat Atlanta earlier this year while holding them to just 60 points. Let’s also not ignore the fact that Seattle had just won eight of their last ten games including double-digit wins against two Top 5 opponents in the Washington Mystics and Las Vegas Aces.

With that said, they need to bring much better intensity through the rest of this road trip. If they can pick up wins in Indiana and Los Angeles and finish this trip with a 2-1 record that is very solid and the team would still be on a great pace to finish with a Top 4 record.

Jersey Count

The Storm were in their “Heroine” Green and White jerseys on Sunday against Atlanta. After losing this game, they fall to 6-3 on the season in those. They’re still winning at a 2:1 clip in this uniform combination. With the loss, Seattle was not able to gain any ground and stays as the 4th overall seed in the WNBA standings. The Chicago Sky (15-5) move into the #1 seed after the Aces lost to Minnesota. Las Vegas falls to 15-6 and have lost four out of their last six games. The Connecticut Sun were impressive rallying in OT to beat the Washington Mystics to improve to 14-7. With the loss, Washington (13-10) is unable to gain ground on the losing Storm.

Records per jersey type this season:
Rebel: 6-2
Explorer: 1-3
Heroine: 6-3
Overall Record: 13-8

Up Next

The Storm will look to get things right as they rematch with the Indiana Fever for the 2nd time in the past three games. They head to Indiana to play on Tuesday before traveling back to the West Coast for a game against the Los Angeles Sparks on Thursday.

Notes:
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Photo Credits to Neil Enns/Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography Team
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