Jewell Loyd Leads Storm Over Fever 89-77

Loyd scored a season-high 34 points in front of a sold out crowd.

(Seattle, WA) - Caitlin Clark brought the crowd but Jewell Loyd is the one that put on a show. Loyd finished with a season-high 34 points in front of 18,343 fans. It was Seattle’s second win in a row and 11th on the season. They improved their record to 11-6 and currently hold the 4th best record in the WNBA. Their 11 wins matches the entire season total from 2023 where they finished 11-29. I’m pretty confident they will exceed that number this year.

Loyd broke out of her shooting slump and made 10-15 FG including 6-9 FG from beyond the arc. She was also a perfect 8-8 from the FT line. Her hot shooting was even more impressive because she took a shot to her left eye in the first quarter and was down on the floor in pain for several minutes.

When asked what the keys were to get out of her shooting slump, Loyd had this to say.

“I mean, I slept in my own bed for more than one hour, one day. Got some treatment. And honestly, a lot of it comes from just teammates continuing to just tell me to keep shooting. I feel good. I felt good before. It's just sometimes they just don't go in. So besides just shooting, I know I'm able to do other things. And that's what I lean on, is just being able to defend, rebound, whatever it is. But I think it was probably just being able to be home and know the comfort of that and shots coming.” Jewell said.

Coach Noelle Quinn talked about Loyd getting out of her shooting slump as well.

“I mean, I've played with Jewell. I'm now coaching her. And I've seen it time and time again. And we talk about the law of averages. We talk about someone who continues to work on her craft at a high level and stays the course. We knew it was coming. And when it comes, it comes in a storm; a barrage and you know that she can ride a lot of points. Today I thought that she was reading the game really well and then when she gets in a flow we talked about how she's unstoppable but I've been a part of some great moments with her and its remnants of you know these what I've seen from her time and time again so yeah it's about being patient it's about putting the work in and the game rewards you when you do that.” Quinn said.

In total, three Seattle players scored in double figures. Nneka Ogwumike added a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Ezi Magbegor added 18 points on 7-10 FG.

The Storm outshot the Indiana Fever by a small margin, 46% (32-70 FG) to 45% (29-65 FG). Both teams were sharp from three-point range but the Fever had the slight edge there at 42% (8-19 FG) to 40% (10-25 FG).

Seattle’s defense played a big role in the victory. They forced Indiana into 22 turnovers and scored 27 points off of those mistakes. The Storm protected the ball well only committing eight turnovers themselves. Indiana only scored seven points of of their turnovers. The home team had a huge advantage with steals 14-4.

Coach Quinn was pleased with her team’s effort.

“Forcing 22 turnovers and generating 27 points off of that. Our connectivity, our attention to the detail, the scout being in space with Clark. I know she got some tough shots made, but I thought that a lot of what we did, we made it difficult for them. I liked our focus.” Quinn stated.

Indiana Fever

The Fever had a balanced attack with five players scoring in double figures. Caitlin Clark and Erica Wheeler each led the team with 15 points. Wheeler gave them a huge boost off the bench and helped rally the Fever in the third period.

Aliyah Boston finished with a double-double of 11 points and 14 rebounds. NaLyssa Smith nearly had a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Kelsey Mitchell added 14 points as the 5th player in double figures.

Indiana dominated on the glass out-rebounding the Storm 44-27. That included a 14-5 advantage in offensive rebounds. The Fever’s bench outscored Seattle’s reserves 25-9. On top of Wheeler’s 15 points, Temi Fagbenle returned from injury and added eight points. Fagbenle missed 10 games after injuring her left foot in late May.

Seattle held Clark to just three points in the second half and zero points in the 4th quarter with the game on the line. She took just two shots in the entire second half missing both of them after scoring 12 points in the first half.

Per another Seattle media member, Clark said after the game that Seattle was rushing her with multiple defenders and forcing the ball out of her hands. Coach Quinn confirmed that was part of the gameplan.

“That's the premise of our blitzes, right? It's about making other players be playmakers. But what I thought she was doing really well is giving it up early, and so our blitzes were becoming... obsolete because they're getting us on the backside of things. And so yeah, that's how we started the game, but we had to adjust as the game adjusted and still we played in our space. And because she started off assisting so much or giving up that ball so much, it took away her aggressive level as well.” Quinn said.

Game Breakdown

Ezi Magbegor was able to get to the rim for the game’s first basket but Indiana responded with points from Kelsey Mitchell and Aliyah Boston inside the paint. NaLyssa Smith and Boston scored some easy baskets and Indiana quickly led 8-4. Points from Jewell Loyd and Ezi Magbegor tied the game up.

Two more free throws from Loyd and two three-pointers from Magbegor and Loyd capped off 12-0 run by the Storm. Smith scored in the short corner to end the run. Jewell made two more three-pointers to put the Storm up double-digits at 22-11.

Caitlin Clark knocked down her first three-pointer to a huge eruption from the Storm crowd. Sami Whitcomb responded with a three of her own. Temi Fagbenle, returning from injury, scored on a nice play by Indiana where Clark fed the ball to Boston and Boston found a cutting Fagbenle. Sami made another three-pointer to give Seattle 30 points for the opening quarter. Caitlin Clark was fouled at the end of the period and split the free throws. Seattle led 30-21 at the end of the first.

Clark hit another three-pointer to start off the second quarter. Victoria Vivians knocked down a midrange jumper. Clark set up Erica Wheeler for a three-pointer and then found Katie Lou Samuelson wide open for a fast break layup. The Fever went on an 8-2 run to cut the Storm’s lead down to three at 32-29. Coach Noelle Quinn called a timeout.

Coach Quinn drew up a play for Nneka Ogwumike to get the Storm back on track. Jordan Horston knocked down a midrange jumper. Ezi Magbegor made an AND1 layup to put the Storm back up by 11 at 40-29. Kelsey Mitchell drove through Seattle’s defense for two. Nneka scored on an AND1 and then a jumper on the next play. Fagbenle scored a layup inside but Loyd countered with another three-pointer. Loyd then hit another three-pointer. Caitlin Clark hit a corner three at the end of the first half. The Storm led 53-39 through the first 20 minutes.

Skylar Diggins-Smith found Nneka Ogwumike open under the basket for two. NaLyssa Smith scored on the other end. Jordan Horston then got a steal, led a fast break, and used a no-look pass to feed Ogwumike for the open layup.

Erica Wheeler had a nice drive to the rim for Indiana. Wheeler then got another midrange jumper and a few plays later knocked down a corner three. Jewell and Ezi made four free throws. Jordan Horston was able to score on the fast break. Wheeler hit another three. Fagbenle was able to score in transition and then again from a nice bounce pass from Lexie Hull. Wheeler scored 10 points in the third period. The Fever outscored the Storm 22-17 in the third but Seattle still led 70-61.

Just as she did to start the game, Ezi Magbegor scored on a drive into the paint to start the fourth quarter. Skylar Diggins-Smith was able to penetrate through the defense for a fancy finish at the rim. Nneka Ogwumike then scored in the paint with an assist from SDS. Seattle opened up the final period with a 9-0 run to increase their lead back to 18 points.

Kelsey Mitchell connected on a three-pointer. Aliyah Boston made a nice move inside the paint to cut the Fever’s deficit down to 13. Jewell made a nice reverse layup. Boston made another midrange jumper. Ezi and Kelsey Mitchell swapped points. Skylar Diggins-Smith hit a three and Loyd stole the ball near the timeline and raced to the rim for two.

Seattle outscored Indiana 19-16 in the fourth. Their big run at the beginning of the fourth put the game out of reach. Nika Mühl subbed in for the final 50 seconds to a large cheer from the crowd. I noticed Caitlin Clark gave her a good shove as they went up for a rebound in the final seconds. NaLyssa Smith scored one last time to finish off the game. The Storm walked away with an 89-77 win.

I spoke with Nneka Ogwumike and Coach Quinn about the team’s impressive run to begin the fourth quarter.

“This team isn't the same team that we saw in the beginning of the season. And so we had to make sure that we were always setting, if not exceeding, the tone of the game. And they had moments when they capitalized. They had some really good input from their bench play. And we just needed to make sure that we stopped who we planned to stop and also that others weren't factors and they were able to capitalize on some people coming in and making plays. But I think we did a really good job of continuing to just make every possession a defensive possession, whether it's getting deflections, one stop and go, etc. I think we just really locked in on making it difficult for them to get into their actions ultimately in the end.” Ogwumike said.

“We talked about it at the end of the third and I know I was kind of tight with my timeouts, and I didn't use one because of that in the third to stop that. But we just talked about starting the fourth. We didn't actually get the offensive possession, but just score, stop, score. It didn't end up like that. But what it was, was we executed. I think we were locked in to what we needed to accomplish in that timeframe, knowing that the game could go either way. In Indiana, there was a slight lull in which they made another run. And obviously, our lead was big enough to to have it not affect us. But it's just like in those moments for this team to go from an okay team to a good team, good team to a great team, is those moments that we have to really lock into. And I thought they did an excellent job of that in that run.” Quinn added.

Final Box Score

Additional Analysis

Indiana’s Improvement

The Indiana Fever ended the month of May with a 1-8 record after losing 103-88 to the Seattle Storm. The Fever were forced to play more games than any other WNBA team early on during the season. They had to play 11 games within the first 20 days. I believe the WNBA wanted to feature Caitlin Clark as much as possible early on in the season in order to tout record attendance and viewership numbers. The more games the Indiana Fever and Clark were featured in, the better it looked for the WNBA as a whole.

But by scheduling Indiana to play in so many games early, they weren’t given time to practice at all. This was significantly damaging for a young team whose two best players are a rookie and a second-year player (Boston). In order to figure out how all the pieces would work together, it takes a lot of time. During June, they finally got that time.

The Fever’s scheduled lightened up and allowed them to figure out what was going wrong during their disappointing performances in May. They have been significantly better in June. They won four games in a row and six of their first eight games this month.

While fan bases from both Iowa and South Carolina call for Coach Christie Sides’s job, I think it’s important that people learn patience. Expecting Clark to come in and dominate at the WNBA level from Day 1 was unrealistic and foolish. Expecting the Indiana Fever to be one of the league’s best teams after missing the playoffs for seven consecutive years was also not based in reality. But that doesn’t mean they can’t be an improved team. It doesn’t mean they can’t turn into a playoff team this season if they can build their chemistry and develop enough as the year goes on.

Before their recent losses, the Fever had gone from a team with a 1-8 record to having a record above .500 in June and moving up into the final playoff spot. They will likely be battling with the Chicago Sky and Atlanta Dream for that final playoff spot or two this season.

Home Cooking

Prior to this record-long nine-game homestand, the Storm had played 10 road games and just five home games. That made their 9-6 record a little more impressive. Seattle has won their first two games of this homestand and has an opportunity to either improve their seeding with the top teams or at least create more separation from the bottom-six teams in the league.

Over the next four games, Seattle faces the Dallas Wings twice and the Chicago Sky twice. Those are all games that ideally the Storm should win. They’ll have a couple of tough games against Las Vegas and Minnesota before finishing up against Atlanta. The Storm are currently 2-0 on this homestand and if they can win at least six or seven games out of the nine, they’ll be in great shape.

I spoke with both Jewell Loyd and Coach Noelle Quinn about the benefits of being at home for this long and the importance of taking advantage of all these home games.

“It's very important. I think it's just important for us to just find other ways to rest our bodies. You know, how much traveling kind of taxes that, and if we can get more reps, more practice time, just things like that. But also you want to get some wins before the break right? You want to get into a rhythm and every game is super important. We know how tough it is to win in this league and how important it is to protect home court and so we take that seriously and we want to make sure that we're showing up for our fans correctly; doing the right things and playing to the standard of ourselves.” Loyd said.

“Yeah, I thought the crowd was amazing for the game. They're cheering for Indiana more than us on the intros, but it's great for women's basketball to have new eyes on the game, to have a lot more fans, and we're continuing to grow the game in a major way, and so it's good to play well in front of our fans who support us through the good and the bad. And it feels good to be at home through this stretch. I talked to the team about being at home breeds a little bit of comfort, but it's not about just like acquiescing to the comfort. It's about staying disciplined still, staying focused still, get your regimen in. It's about the efficiency of being at home and not just only the comfort of it. It's a stretch where we know that we can really… all these games are very winnable. And so it's important that we stack days and get better. And because we've been on the road for so long, the adversity that we've had, I think we've grown in a major way and that will continue to help us in this home stretch.” Quinn answered.

Up Next

Seattle welcomes the Dallas Wings to town on Saturday, June 29th, 6:00 PM PDT at Climate Pledge Arena. The Wings (4-13) have really struggled this season due to the injuries of Satou Sabally and Natasha Howard. Howard is back now after breaking a bone in her foot during the first game of the season.

Notes:
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