Griner, Diggins-Smith too much for Seattle as Mercury defeat Storm 85-77
Despite the loss, Seattle will still play for the Commissioner's Cup.
(Phoenix, Arizona) - The Seattle Storm were short-handed without Ezi Magbegor and Stephanie Talbot and couldn’t overcome dominant performances by the Mercury’s Brittney Griner and Skylar Diggins-Smith as Phoenix defeated Seattle 85-77 on Friday night handing the Storm their 5th loss of the season.
“Tough one. We knew coming into this game that BG was playing at a high level as was Diggins-Smith. It was a tough battle, with timely possessions coming down (to the wire) whether it’s both ends of the floor that we need to tighten up in, especially during those crucial moments of the game. We kept our turnovers low. With our group, I thought we played hard, we battled. But we didn’t lock-in. We have them again on Sunday, so it’s about learning from this, growing from this, and figuring things out so we’re on the front foot of things on Sunday.” Coach Quinn said in her opening statement after the game.
Griner finished with a game-high 29 points and 15 rebounds. But Skylar Diggins-Smith was nearly as good scoring 26 points and a game-high six assists. Kia Nurse scored eight points while both Shey Peddy and Megan Walker hit some big shots each scoring eight points off the bench.
“I’m not sure if we were as aggressive as we should have been. You know locking in on our schemes. Skylar was going downhill on us way too much, going to her strong hand. We knew with a limited bench, without Ezi here, that it was going to be tough to guard Griner. I thought that Cedes battled with her. We knew that we’re going to have to throw bodies in different matchups. I think with Diggins, we took the one-on-one match-up, effectively I thought we could have been more effective in our spots. One of the keys was making sure the others didn’t contribute. But Peddy got a couple of O-Boards, gets to the free throw line, Megan Walker hits a three, that kinda affected us as well. Coming in, we knew those two (Griner and Diggins-Smith) were going to do their thing but it was about making sure others didn’t impact the game and they did.” Coach Quinn said.
“You have to always know where BG is. She’s a load when she gets two feet in the paint. And same with Skylar. Trying to make her uncomfortable and I felt tonight she was really comfortable.” Stewart added.
The Storm were led by Jewell Loyd who scored 16 points. Breanna Stewart had 15 points and 13 rebounds. But both players didn’t score as much as they needed to. Loyd was held scoreless in the 4th quarter and Stewart scored just five points in the entire 2nd half.
“I think for myself I should have been more aggressive. I don’t think 13 shots is enough for me. I need to continue to put pressure on the defense that way. I think that’s something I’m looking to do on Sunday is just be aggressive from start to finish the entire game. And I think Jewell’s going to do the same. The shots we took are shots we’re going to continue to take. Obviously, we can make things a little easier on ourselves. But we just need to shoot the ball better.” Stewart told me after the game.
Seattle did get strong contributions from all five of their starters as they all scored in double figures. Katie Lou Samuelson scored a career-high 14 points including all 14 of them coming in the second half. Mercedes Russell added 12 points on 6-6 FG shooting and six rebounds. Lastly, Sue Bird scored 10 points and had a team-high five assists. With those five assists, Bird becomes the first player in WNBA history to have 3,000 assists in regular-season games in her career.
I asked Coach Quinn about Katie Lou’s performance and how important it is for her to remain confident and look to score after she missed her first three shots but finished with a career-high 14 points.
“We just need to instill confidence in her. Continue to support her in any way we can. Night in and night out, it’s not always going to be pretty. You’re not always going to shoot at a high percentage. But how can you impact the game? Tonight she was able to get five rebounds and hit some good shots and get into a little bit of a groove. Understanding we’re playing her at the three and the four and so out in space we have a lot of advantages. She’s valuable. We just have to keep her mind positive and you can see what she can do when she’s able to knock down some shots.” Quinn replied.
Jordin Canada scored six points off the bench but the team clearly missed both Talbot and Magbegor as Seattle’s reserves managed just 10 points and were outscored by the Mercury bench 18-10.
After having a very impressive game against Los Angeles a couple of games ago scoring 18 points, Epiphanny Prince struggled Friday night scoring just two points on 0-7 from the field. Prince did have four rebounds and three assists but her shot just wouldn’t go down in this game.
That was a problem for the entire Seattle team. Only one player shot above 50% in this game and that was Mercedes Russell (6-6). Jewell went 6-18, Stewie 5-13, Bird 4-10, Katie Lou 5-12, and the bench a combined 3-17 from the floor. In total, the Storm shot just 38% (29-76) from the floor and 31% (8-26) from the three-point range.
“We all have to stay confident. We can’t just rely on when you’re shots going in or not. That can’t dictate how you play for the rest of the game. It was good to see (Katie Lou’s) shot go in. I’m sure she was excited to see the ball go in. But I think we have all the confidence with everyone on this team that we’re capable of scoring the ball. So that’s never an issue for us. But it was good for her to stay present and know that she’s capable.” Jewell Loyd said about the team’s poor shooting and Katie Lou’s strong scoring night.
“We can definitely get to the free throw line more. We can definitely do more of that. That’s something where we can’t get baited into just taking contested jump shots. We need to put the pressure on them, to get to the basket, to get into the paint. We need to play fast and just get back to the way we want to play.” Stewart added.
Phoenix was considerably better thanks to Griner and Diggins-Smith who combined to shoot 22-37 (60%). They shot 47% (33-70) as a team but did struggle from three shooting 22% (4-18).
The Mercury also outrebounded Seattle 39-36, had more assists (21-18), and got to the foul line more (15-17 compared to 11-12 for Seattle). All in all, Phoenix was the better team on Friday night. There was nothing fluky about the performance. They just outplayed the Storm. It’ll be really interesting to see what happens in the rematch in Seattle on Sunday and if the Storm can make some adjustments to come out with the victory.
Game Breakdown
Seattle got off to a hot start leading 10-4 early on with a couple of triples from Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart. Phoenix would rally on a 7-0 run to tie the game at 13-13.
Brittney Griner was unstoppable in the first quarter scoring 11 of the Mercury’s 17 points on 5-7 FG shooting. Seattle led 19-17 after one and Stewart had seven points in the opening quarter.
Kia Nurse hit a three to give Phoenix their first lead of the game 30-27 midway through the second quarter.
Epiphanny Prince stole a pass away after Phoenix got the defensive rebound. It resulted in Prince taking a three, she missed but Stewart was right there to clean up the offensive rebound and lay it back in. I absolutely loved this hustle play by Breanna Stewart.
The Mercury were more active through the first two quarters, they were getting into passing lanes and getting steals. They also were aggressive feeding the ball inside to Griner or cutting to the rim. Seattle seemed to be settling for outside shots and were not converting their three-point shots. The Storm finished 3-12 (25%) in the first half from beyond the arc and 36% (13-36) total.
Phoenix shot the ball well thanks to Griner, finishing the first half shooting 46% (16-35). They also did not shoot well from the three-point line connecting on just 17% (2-12) of those shots.
Griner finished the half with 17 points on 8-10 field goal shooting from the floor, leading all scorers. Skylar Diggins-Smith also played well adding 11 points and three steals. Breanna Stewart led Seattle with 10 points and seven rebounds. Jewell Loyd was the next leading scorer for the Storm with nine points and Sue Bird added seven more.
Bad miscommunication on the defensive end by Seattle led to Russell and Samuelson double-teaming the Mercury’s three-point shooter while leaving Griner alone under the basket where she easily coverted the field goal.
Kia Nurse knocked down a corner three to give Phoenix their largest lead of the game 51-43. Seattle would then go on a 7-0 run with Katie Lou Samuelson and Jewell Loyd scoring baskets. Lou followed her miss and got an easy layup and Jewell weaved through traffic. Loyd then sank an open three to cut the Mercury’s lead down to one at 51-50 with four minutes left in the third period.
Griner ended Seattle’s run with another basket in the low post but Sue Bird knocked down a three to tie the game back up 53-53.
Seattle regained the lead 57-56 on a pair of Jordin Canada free throws. It would be the last time the Storm would have the lead in this game. Phoenix would finish the quarter on a 4-0 run to retake the lead 60-57 entering the fourth quarter. The Storm did outscore Phoenix 23-21 in the third, however.
Diggins-Smith scored four quick points for Phoenix to begin the fourth as part of an 8-2 run by the Mercury. Samuelson got to the foul line and Canada hit a jumper to cut the Mercury’s lead down to three again at 64-61.
With Stewie and Jewell not effectively scoring much in the second half, Katie Lou did her best to keep Seattle in the game. Lou scored all of her 14 points in the second half scoring seven points in each of the last two quarters. Samuelson connected on a three that kept Seattle within four at 68-64 with 7:35 left to play.
Stewart did connect on a mid-range jumper and Samuelson converted a layup driving down the lane to cut the Mercury’s lead to two at 70-68. But every time Seattle got it close, Phoenix made another run. This time it was a 6-0 run capped off by a Shey Peddy finger roll down the middle lane.
A three by Megan Walker with 2:20 remaining was the dagger as it put Phoenix up nine with only a couple of minutes remaining.
With Seattle trailing 80-77 and 29 seconds left in the game, the Storm could have opted to play straight-up defense and try to hit a three in the final 3-5 seconds. However, Coach Quinn opted for the team to foul immediately sending Skylar Diggins-Smith to the foul line who sank both free throws. A missed three by Stewie and two more free throws by Diggins-Smith effectively put the game out of reach.
The Mercury would knock down one more free throw to finish the game with an 85-77 victory. Coach Quinn spoke after the game about the decision to foul immediately instead of playing solid defense for the last possession.
“I just wanted to extend the game. I’ve been watching through some games lately and this was a scenario that was playing in my mind. We had three timeouts in order to do that. Understanding where we were at in the game. I hate that it was Cedes who fouled in that moment (fouling out of the game) but just trying to extend the game. Put pressure on them at the free throw line in those pressure moments and having to execute at the end, we just couldn’t connect on a basket.” Quinn said.
Additional Analysis & Commentary
The Storm will play for the Commissioner’s Cup!
Well, this certainly wasn’t the way the Storm wanted to clinch the Commissioner’s Cup appearance (in an 85-77 loss to Phoenix) but that’s exactly what they did after the Minnesota Lynx went into Las Vegas and defeated the Aces 77-67. With Las Vegas (14-6) losing another Cup game they now have four losses in Commissioner Cup play (5-4) and can no longer catch the Seattle Storm (7-2 in Cup games). Even if Seattle loses to Phoenix on Sunday they would finish 7-3 and the best Vegas can now finish is 6-4. No other team in the Western Conference can finish above 7-3.
With the victory, the Lynx actually improve to 6-3 in Cup play and could tie Seattle at 7-3 if the Storm were to lose on Sunday and Minnesota were to defeat the Los Angeles Sparks. However, Seattle already beat Minnesota in both of their cup games so the Storm win all tiebreaker scenarios.
“It’s interesting the way the Commissioner’s Cup makes you have to switch your mindset. It’s really a lot like Eurocup if you guys know. With these 1-1 series and the points (point differential tiebreaker). But yeah, we’re going to be watching (Vegas versus Minnesota), but we would be watching anyway even if there wasn’t a Commissioner’s Cup. Obviously, this game Sunday is important not just for the Commissioner’s Cup but it’s important for the series. That’s really the big thing. We want to make sure we get the series win against as many teams as possible. We’ve already lost it with Vegas so we don’t want to lose it with anyone else.” Breanna Stewart said during the post-game.
As luck would have it, the Connecticut Sun also clinched their spot in the Commissioner’s Cup on Friday night so we know both teams that will be facing off against one another with $500,000 on the line! The Connecticut Sun have been even more impressive in Cup play going 8-1 so far in those games. Their only defeat coming against the Chicago Sky when Jonquel Jones was not playing with the team. The Sun’s final cup game is against the New York Liberty.
The Chicago Sky are 6-3 in Cup games but can not catch Connecticut with just one game remaining in the in-season tournament.
It’s honestly very fitting that Seattle and Connecticut would face off against one another in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship game as the two teams only play one another twice in the regular season. The way this year’s 32-game season works is that every team faces 10 of the 11 other teams three times during the regular season and one other team from the other conference they only play twice. Seattle just happened to be matched with Connecticut as the team that they only face two times. An unexpected benefit for two of the league’s best teams.
Seattle won both games but during the one game where both teams had their full rosters, it went down as arguably the most entertaining game this year with Seattle winning 90-87 in OT despite a monster performance from Jonquel Jones who finished the game with 28 points and 13 rebounds.
If the rest of the regular season plays out as it has more than halfway through, Seattle and Connecticut are likely to meet in either the WNBA Finals or possibly the Semi-Finals.
Jewell Loyd to participate in the 3-point shooting contest
Earlier on Friday, it was announced that Jewell Loyd and former Seattle Storm teammate, Sami Whitcomb will be participating in the WNBA’s 3-point Shooting contest at halftime during the All-Star game! They will also be competing against two-time champion Allie Quigley (who also played for the Storm) and Jonquel Jones, who has never played for the Storm but that would be pretty wonderful if she did.
I think it’s really cool that Jonquel Jones, a 6’6” Center will be competing against the three guards. Jones has knocked down 28 triples in just 14 games played this season while shooting over 44% from beyond the arc. The 28 threes are the 17th most in the WNBA so far this season.
Allie Quigley, who has won the contest two times previously, has connected on 20 made three-pointers this season and is shooting 39% from deep. Quigley’s 20 triples are 32nd best in the league.
Sami Whitcomb leads the entire WNBA with 55 made three-point baskets so far this season in 20 games played. Whitcomb is also connecting at just under 45% from long distance, which is good for 5th best in the league for players that qualify. Seattle’s Stephanie Talbot currently leads the WNBA at 51.4%.
Jewell Loyd has knocked down 38 three-point shots so far this season which is good for the Top 10 (9th overall) in the WNBA. Loyd is shooting just under 37% from beyond the arc.
I asked Jewell about the opportunity after Friday’s game.
“You know it was actually a shock to me that I was actually in it. I got a call from my agent about it, she put my name in. But you know, it’s an opportunity to help some charities that I work with. It’s a big weekend for me and my family, I’m sure my niece and nephew will probably be more excited (about it) than me.” Jewell Loyd answered.
Coaching controversy
Was it a coaching controversy or just a miscommunication? Days before this game between the Phoenix Mercury and Seattle Storm, the media was able to get confirmation from both Stephanie Talbot and Coach Noelle Quinn that both Steph and Ezi were told by Phoenix Mercury’s Coach Sandy Brondello that they wouldn’t be able to play in these two games against Phoenix because they needed to prepare for the Olympics. Apparently, she informed Seattle’s staff in the preseason that this would likely happen. I was told by Steph Talbot and Coach Quinn, that Seattle’s two players wouldn’t play in these games but neither would the Mercury’s Alanna Smith and Coach Sandy Brondello would not be with the team either as they would all be focused on the Opals pre-Olympics training camp.
Much to my surprise, I was confused to see Coach Brondello on the sidelines for this game. That conflicted with the information the Storm had given to me earlier. So was this simply a miscommunication between Phoenix and Seattle or is there a little bit of controversy in play?
Sue Bird also made reference to the controversy during the game which was fantastic.
After Friday’s game I spoke to Coach Noelle Quinn to get her reaction to Brondello being on the sidelines and if she was surprised by that and whether or not they spoke before/during/after Friday’s game.
"I didn't have a conversation today with Sandy. I had one in preseason. I got wind of it (that Brondello would coach) when Steph did as well. She was here, she coached the game. And that's all I have to comment about that." Coach Quinn told me.
To be fair to Brondello, Alanna Smith of the Mercury did not play in Friday’s game. Nor did Liz Cambage play for the Aces despite the fact that the Opals pre-Olympics training camp is taking place in Las Vegas. And Rebecca Allen who plays for the New York Liberty also did not play against Indiana on Friday. This wasn’t just a situation where Seattle had to lose their players and no one else did as well.
But it is a little confusing as to why Brondello wasn’t with her Olympic team. And I also don’t fully understand why the Australian players needed to leave early for the Olympics when all the American players like Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, Sue Bird, Brittney Griner, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and Diana Taurasi are playing through their WNBA games and then heading off to the Olympics.
Climate Pledge Arena delays…?
In a statement mailed to Seattle Kraken season ticket holders and later posted on Twitter, the Kraken announced that they will not be able to play their NHL preseason games at Climate Pledge Arena as the new arena will not quite be ready by that time (September 26th through October 2nd).
If you have been following the arena news and construction updates you know that initially Climate Pledge Arena was supposed to open around May or June of 2021. But due to COVID19 and other construction delays, it was going to be pushed until at least August or September.
With delays continuing to push the opening to the month of October we are now seeing actual Seattle Kraken games get relocated out of Seattle and into nearby cities.
I have been really hopeful that the Seattle Storm would be able to play some of the 2021 season in the new arena. At the very least, that the team would be able to play their playoff games there. But the chances of that happening now are slim to none it seems.
Seattle’s final regular-season game will be Friday, September 17th against the Phoenix Mercury and the WNBA’s regular season officially ends on September 19th. With the first round of the playoffs (single elimination games) happening on September 23rd. That means Round 2 of the playoffs will likely start around September 25th or 26th. If that holds true then the Semi-Finals will start somewhere between September 28th-30th.
According to the WNBA website, the last possible Finals date is October 19th. I’m not clear if that’s referring to Game 5 of the WNBA Finals but I believe it is. Trying to project things out, I think the WNBA Finals this year will likely start sometime between October 5th and October 11th. That will depend on how the semi-finals play out. Do both series go the full five games or is there a sweep?
With the NHL regular season starting up on October 12th, Oak View Group and the Seattle Kraken are promising (for now) that the arena will be ready by then. If the WNBA Finals starting on October 10th and the Storm are playing will the arena be ready by then? I sure hope so but I’d say the odds are less than 50% right now.
Jersey Count
I am sad to report that the Storm finally lost a game while wearing their white and green Heroine jerseys. The team had been a perfect 7-0 while wearing the Heroine uniforms but they’ve finally fallen from the ranks of the unbeaten. It had to happen at some point I suppose and Phoenix proved to be too much on Friday night.
Records per jersey type this season:
Rebel: 3-3
Explorer: 5-1
Heroine: 7-1
Overall Record: 15-5
Up Next
The Storm will try to even the series with the Mercury as they host Phoenix on Sunday, July 11th at 3:00 PM up at Angel of the Winds Arena in Everett, WA. The game will air on CBS Sports Network nationally and JoeTV locally. The Storm will still be without Ezi Magbegor and Stephanie Talbot as they prepare for the Olympics. Diana Taurasi has missed the last two games for Phoenix and we’ll see if she’s ready to go by Sunday.
Editor’s Note: Thank you for your support! If you know any Storm fans that aren’t currently aware of my coverage through Substack and Twitter (@WNBAStormChaser), please let them know. Word of mouth can be super helpful and is greatly appreciated! Photo Credits to Neil Enns/Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography.