Disappointing Debut, Storm lose 83-70

The Minnesota Lynx beat up Seattle in the home opener.

(Seattle, WA) - Well, that certainly didn’t go according to plan. On Tuesday night, the Seattle Storm debuted their brand new “Core Four” with promising hopes to return to the top of the WNBA landscape. And then reality, and the Minnesota Lynx, smacked them right in the face. Seattle was pushed around, out-muscled, out-hustled, and out-executed during their 2024 season opener. A highly competitive game through three quarters turned into a blowout by the end. Body blow after body blow took its toll on the Storm players and when the final buzzer sounded off they had lost the game 83-70.

It wasn’t all bad despite the loss. Nneka Ogwumike was everything Storm fans could have hoped for when they signed the eight-time WNBA All-Star. She led the team in scoring with 20 points on 10-18 FG shots. She nearly had a double-double finishing with nine rebounds. Ezi Magbegor also had a strong game. She finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, and three blocked shots.

Seattle got decent contributions off the bench. Specifically from Jordan Horston and Mercedes Russell. Russell was a perfect 3-3 on her field goals and finished with seven points. Horston finished with eight points, seven rebounds, three assists, and four steals. Despite some youthful mistakes, Horston’s versatility shined through doing a bit of everything out on the court for Seattle.

Unfortunately, a big reason for the loss was the fact that both Jewell Loyd and Skylar Diggins-Smith struggled with their shooting touch. They each had 10 points but both missed far too many shots. Diggins-Smith finished 4-13 FG (31%). Loyd was even worse connecting on just three of her 19 shots (16%).

When asked after the game why Loyd and Diggins-Smith weren’t able to be effective on offense, Coach Noelle Quinn had this to say.

“I’m not sure. It was our first game together in this atmosphere. I think offensively, we had no flow. We had no ball reversals. We did not make … we made it easy for Minnesota to defend us. So I will start there. Just offensively, we weren’t in sync.” Quinn said.

When pressed further on the lack of offensive production, Quinn added.

“This is a new team. And though, yes, we have excellent players on this roster, it takes time. Thank God that one day doesn’t determine the totality of what a team will be. Thank you. What it showed is we have a lot of work to do. And that will come as we build through games and the adversity that will come, and we will be better.”

SDS did lead the team with six assists but also had a team-high four turnovers. It appeared that she may have worn down a bit towards the end of the game. That might be because the Storm didn’t have Nika Mühl available to play the backup point guard position. Despite the team saying all players would be available for Tuesday’s game, they announced that Mühl would not be eligible to play in the game due to her ongoing Visa issues. Mühl, who is Croatian by birth, was playing at UConn on a student Visa. Now that she is graduated from college, she needs to have a work Visa but apparently that has yet to be finalized.

This was a bit confusing to me as she played in Seattle back on May 7th. The media asked for clarity after the game about that but was not given a direct answer. Hopefully, it is something that Mühl and the team can resolve quickly because ideally they probably don’t want Diggins-Smith to have to play 31 MPG.

Even though it felt like the team was completely out-hustled in the 2nd half of the game, Seattle actually won the rebounding battle 43-39. They also won the offensive rebounding battle 14-7. Both teams committed too many turnovers at 17 apiece. This game came down to shooting and poor offensive execution by the Storm.

The home team finished shooting 37% (29-78 FG) and a surprisingly low 11% (1-9 FG) from beyond the three-point range. I can’t remember the last time a Seattle-led offense took less than 10 three-pointers in a game. They have been one of the pioneers in the WNBA leading the league in three-point makes and attempts for multiple seasons over recent years dating back to the Jenny Boucek era. That was one of the ways Seattle killed Las Vegas in the 2020 WNBA Finals because, under Coach Bill Laimbeer, Vegas did not utilize the three-point shot as a weapon as they do now under Coach Becky Hammon.

Minnesota Lynx

Alanna Smith proved that last season was not a fluke. It took some time but the former 8th overall pick (2019) looked fantastic for Minnesota. She dominated the first half scoring several baskets inside the paint. She muscled her way into multiple AND1 opportunities.

Smith finished with a career-high 22 points. She also had eight rebounds and four blocked shots. I spoke with Coach Quinn after the game about Smith’s performance.

“Yeah, she’s owned us since last year. It’s just energy. It’s want-to and will, and she plays harder than us.”

I asked her if that was disappointing.

“I mean, she’s a pro, so it’s growth for her. She’s living in a space where she knows that certain matchups and certain actions she’s really good at. I don’t ever want anyone to play harder than us, no. I don’t ever want anyone to have more want-to than us and one person impact the game like she did. I don’t want to say I’m disappointed because I don’t want to get too high. It’s the first game. I have grace. I hope you guys do too.”

I also asked Nneka about Alanna Smith’s performance.

“I think she was capitalizing on her moments. When we weren’t as aggressive on our schemes, I think that she found her space. She was ready to knock down her shot. And she was the aggressor. I think that was the story of tonight. I think we were doing a lot of reacting. Even in times when a certain level of play is established. I think we were reacting, not responding, even though you wanna be able to set the tone. And that’s something that she did early on and throughout the game.” Ogwumike added.

Minnesota’s free agency acquisitions paid off immediately in Game 1. Not only did Smith play incredibly but Courtney Williams also had a strong performance. Williams was another spark plug for the Lynx scoring 14 points on 54% FG shooting (7-13 FG). She also had a game-high seven assists and pulled down five rebounds.

Then there was Napheesa Collier. Collier, who is quickly becoming one of the best WNBA players in the entire league, started slow but finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds. She also scored 13 of her 20 points in the 2nd half including seven in the final period to help Minnesota put the game away.

The Lynx were significantly more efficient. They ran a pick-and-roll offense against Seattle and took advantage of the Storm over and over again. I was surprised to see such little adjustments by Seattle because the Lynx continued to score at will off the PnR action. Minnesota finished the game shooting 45% (34-75 FG) and 29% (7-24 FG) from beyond the arc.

I wanted to get Coach Quinn’s thoughts on Minnesota’s pick-and-roll production and talked to her about it after the game.

“We were soft in our pick-and-roll coverages. We did not do scout coverages consistently. That’s what I saw.” Quinn told me.

Game Breakdown

Nneka Ogwumike scored the game’s first basket on Seattle’s second possession on a feed from Ezi Magbegor. Magbegor then drove to the rim and was fouled splitting the pair of free throws. Courtney Williams responded on the other end with a deep two-point jumper. After Magbegor got two more free throws, Alanna Smith knocked down a jumper for the Lynx.

Napheesa Collier scored on an AND1 to cut Seattle’s lead down to one at 8-7. An inside basket by Smith and a transition jumper by Courtney Williams put the Lynx up one at 11-10.

A Smith three-pointer put the Lynx ahead but just briefly and Jewell Loyd was fouled and buried the midrange jumper. Smith responded with another triple from beyond the arc to put Minnesota up one.

Both teams exchanged baskets. Jordan Horston brought good energy off the bench scoring twice in the final minutes of the period. Mercedes Russell was also able to collect a couple of nice passes and finish at the rim. Natisha Hiedeman knocked down a corner three as the Lynx connected on nearly 60% of their three-point attempts in the opening quarter. At the end of the first, Seattle led 28-26.

Ezi scored on a layup to the rim to begin the second period. Horston then had another strong drive where she was able to knock down her jumper. Jordan then got a steal that led to a transition layup for Skylar Diggins-Smith.

Coach Cheryl Reeve called timeout to regroup her team after the Storm went up eight at 34-26. They drew up a nice play for Alanna Smith who scored again at the rim and was fouled. Minnesota then hit Napheesa Collier on a beautiful pick-and-roll for the easy two.

An Alanna Smith AND1 tied the game back up at 38-38. Seattle would go on a quick 6-0 run with Nneka Ogwumike scoring all six of the points. That included a beautiful turnaround jumper. But the Lynx responded quickly with a 7-0 run to end the first half to take a one-point lead (45-44) into the break.

Courtney Williams opened the 2nd half with a midrange jumper to extend Minnesota’s run to 9-0 before Nneka Ogwumike would score again for Seattle. Ogwumike then got a short putback shot to put Seattle ahead. Seattle was able to get a couple of defensive stops and Skylar Diggins-Smith took advantage. First, she knocked down a midrange jumper on the baseline and then scored in transition beating the defense down the floor. That put Seattle up five at 52-47 and forced Coach Reeve to call another timeout.

But as we know, basketball is a game of runs. The Minnesota Lynx quickly regrouped and outscored Seattle 10-2 over the next couple of minutes. Minnesota took command for the rest of the quarter. They were the more physical team and forced Seattle into multiple turnovers. Baskets by Collier, Kayla McBride, and Natisha Hiedeman gave the Lynx a five-point lead at 63-58. Jewell Loyd was able to drive and draw a foul where she sank both free throws. At the end of the third period, the Lynx led 63-60.

Minnesota carried that momentum into the fourth quarter. The Lynx simply were outworking Seattle. They out-hustled them. Their defense was sticky and they didn’t give up anything easy. They were also limiting Seattle to just one shot. Minnesota jumped out to a 10-point lead three minutes into the final period.

The Lynx never looked back from there. Through the first six minutes, they outscored Seattle 16-4. They turned a competitive back-and-forth game into a blowout. At one point, going up by 16 points after a McBride three-pointer and a free throw from Smith. Minnesota led 80-64 with three and a half minutes left.

The game was all but over at that point. A few more baskets by both teams occurred before the final horn. At the end, the Lynx were victorious coming away with an 83-70 victory.

Minnesota outscored Seattle 20-10 in the final period, holding Seattle to single digits until the final seconds. That was a huge adjustment from the beginning of the game where Seattle scored 28 points in the first quarter.

Nneka Ogwumike was asked about the struggles offensively late after the game.

“I think that it was kind of like a culmination of a lot of the moments where we didn’t really have everything all together. And more of those moments kind of stacked on each other in that fourth quarter. They came out more aggressive in that fourth quarter, in my opinion. We were doing a lot of trying to figure out how to change our schemes. I think it’s more about just coming out and doing it aggressively the first time. And so it caused us to get a little bit spread out, and they capitalized on that.”

Final Box Score

Additional Analysis

They’re New But…

Grace is a term used a lot lately. We all should give ourselves and others grace when things don’t go perfectly right because we are all human. We all make mistakes. And so I do think it’s fair to give this new Seattle Storm team some grace. After all, we saw the exact same thing with the New York Liberty “Super Team” back in 2023. Jonquel Jones looked terrible early on. The team wasn’t meshing super well during the first month or so of the season. They even lost their opening game to the Washington Mystics by 16 points (80-64). And we know how that story ended. The more time and game experience they had together, the better they got. They turned a corner in the month of August when they destroyed the Las Vegas Aces in the Commissioner’s Cup Tournament Final. They carried that momentum all the way to the WNBA Finals where they ultimately fell short against that same Aces team.

So yes, the Seattle Storm should get some grace during this opening month. They deserve time to jell and build that chemistry together. But there is one thing that debunks that thought process, at least a little bit.

Do you know who else made several changes to their roster from a year ago, including their starting lineup? The Minnesota Lynx. Minnesota brought in Alanna Smith, Courtney Williams, Natisha Hiedeman, Alissa Pili, and more. In fact, the Lynx carry just three starters and one reserve over from their 2023 roster. Their roster had a larger overhaul than Seattle’s did. I do believe that their roster changes have led to improvements. They should be a better team than what we saw from a year ago which was already a playoff team.

Notably, Minnesota didn’t look like a team with six new players. They were executing their offense at a high level. Their help and team defense was fantastic. The way they clogged the paint in the 2nd half and limited Seattle was impressive. They got blocks, steals, forced turnovers, and found open looks on the offensive side of the ball. They did not come across as a team that had never played together.

So yes, Seattle is a new team that will take time to build chemistry. But Minnesota managed to build that chemistry already during training camp. If they did. Why didn’t Seattle?

Ezi Wasn’t Invisible

On a positive note, entering this game before we had seen the “Core Four” play a single game, I had concerns that Ezi Magbegor might get lost in the shuffle. After being Seattle’s second-leading scorer last year, I felt her impact, at least on the offensive end might be more limited this year as Jewell, Nneka, and Skylar all take more shots. And while it was true that Ezi took the least amount of shots of any of Seattle’s big four. She was not lost out there. She didn’t become invisible.

Ezi did a great job of being active and attacking the rim early in this game. Magbegor was efficient with her shot connecting on 50% (5-10 FG). She was able to draw fouls and get to the free throw line. The refs let these teams be physical and neither team took a lot of foul shots but Magbegor took more than anyone else in this game with six.

Seattle will need Magbegor to continue to score like she did in Tuesday night’s game. It probably won’t be very often that we see the “Core Four” all score 15+ points in a single game. The hope is that if Jewell is having an off-shooting night, then Nneka, Ezi, and Skylar can pick her up. Seeing Ezi put up 15 points in the team’s first game is a positive sign.

Up Next

A three-game road trip begins back in Minnesota where the Storm will once again face the Lynx on Friday at 6:30 PM PDT. We will see if they can turnaround and make quick adjustments to come away with the victory in Game 2.

Notes:
Photo Credits to Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography
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