Aces show their dominance in lopsided 105-64 victory over the Storm

The first game of the 2023 WNBA season was unfortunately not very competitive as Seattle loses by 41 points.

(Seattle, WA) - The first game of the 2023 WNBA season was certainly one to forget if you’re a Seattle Storm fan. An electric crowd of over 11,000 came to support this young, new-look team. Through the first period, the home team hung in there trailing by only four points but it was all downhill from there. Seattle was outscored 87-50 over the final three quarters of the basketball game. Ultimately, falling to the defending champions by a final score of 105-64.

“That’s tough against the defending champs. They’re a well-oiled machine. I thought we had some good things happen in the first quarter and some slippage after that. What can’t slip is how hard we work. I think this was the first game and not the end of the season. We aren’t where we want to be. We take this one, look at the film, grow, and get better. I thought it was a great crowd today.” Coach Noelle Quinn said in her opening statement.

As expected, Jewell Loyd led the team in scoring with 22 points. However, she needed 25 shots to get there (7-25 FG). Unfortunately for Seattle, she was the only Storm player to score in double figures. By contrast, the Aces had six players reach the double-digit mark.

Honestly, Seattle’s bench played fairly well. It was one of the lone bright spots of the game from Seattle’s perspective. The bench unit mostly consists of rookies and players with only a couple of years of WNBA experience combined to score 25 points. They actually outscored the Aces’ bench 25-20. Rookie Jordan Horston, led the way off the bench with eight points.

Outside of Loyd, the rest of Seattle’s starters combined for just 17 points. We knew coming into this season, that other players were going to have to help Jewell out in a big way. Sadly, no one stepped up. Mercedes Russell was solid with six points and nine rebounds. Ezi Magbegor added seven points and five rebounds. Starting point guard Yvonne Turner had just four points and zero assists and Kia Nurse didn’t score at all. Nurse, surprisingly only played around 10 minutes including just three in the second half. I asked Coach Quinn if she was on a minutes restriction but that apparently was not the case.

Seattle shot just 32% (25-78 FG) from the floor and 24% (5-21) from beyond the three-point arc. While lacking post players, the Storm were outrebounded 50-32. The home team did collect 12 steals which doubled Las Vegas (6).

The Las Vegas Aces

Speaking of the Aces, Las Vegas looked every bit the Super Team they’ve been called. All five of their starters reached double figures. Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum led the team with 23 points each. They each added five rebounds and Plum dished out five assists. A’ja Wilson was the only player with a double-double adding 13 points and 13 rebounds.

Candace Parker added 12 points, five assists, and four rebounds in her Las Vegas debut. Chelsea Gray, who continues to haunt Storm fans with her performance from last year’s playoffs, scored 14 points and dished out a game-high six assists. Alysha Clark was the 6th player in double figures with 10 points.

After a somewhat slow start, Las Vegas was red-hot throughout the game connecting on 55% (40-73 FG) of their shots and an outrageous 61% (11-18 FG) from beyond the arc. They dominated the inside as well outscoring Seattle 52-34 inside the paint. As mentioned above, they also outrebounded the Storm by 18.

Game Breakdown

Yvonne Turner got the scoring underway with a nice pull-up midrange jumper. Kesley Plum responded on the other end for the Aces. Candace Parker scored the first points of her Las Vegas career on a broken play that had Ezi Magbegor and A’ja Wilson scrambling on the floor for a loose ball. That gave the Aces their first lead of the game at 6-4. Turner and Russell got back-to-back baskets inside the paint.

With the Aces trailing 8-6, Las Vegas would go on an 8-0 run to take a 14-8 lead with just a little over three minutes to go in the first quarter. That would prompt Coach Noelle Quinn to call her first timeout of the game. Jackie Young scored six of those eight points.

Ivana Dojkic became the first Storm rookie to score this season by stealing the ball near midcourt and racing down the other way for the easy layin. On the very next possession, Jordan Horston was able to get out in transition and scored with a short jumper in the paint to tie the game up at 14-14. Kelsey Plum scored on the Aces’ final two possessions including drawing a foul with one second left in the period.

Las Vegas quickly scored seven points to begin the second quarter. Kiah Stokes got a putback layup. Candace Parker buried a triple and then Chelsea Gray connected on an open jumper. Magbegor temporarily stopped the bleeding.

With the score tied 14-14 late in the first period the Aces would go on an 18-2 run to take full control of the game extending their lead to 32-16. Jewell Loyd made her first basket of the game at the 5:33 mark of the second quarter after starting the game shooting 0-8 FG.

Loyd finally started to turn things around scoring 10 points in the second quarter. Unfortunately, she just wasn’t getting much help from the rest of her teammates.

Jordan Horston had a nice up-and-under move past A’ja Wilson. It was the best play of the first half for the Storm. Seattle trailed 43-28 at the midway point.

A’ja Wilson scored a transition basket to begin the third quarter. Loyd responded by knocking down a three-pointer on the next possession. Unfortunately for Seattle, the Storm would commit multiple turnovers over the next few possessions resulting in easier baskets for Aces on the other end of the court.

After Candace Parker stole the ball and strolled down the court for another easy two Coach Quinn was forced to call a timeout. On the very next possession, the Storm turned the ball over once again and Jackie Young scored another easy layup in transition to put Las Vegas up 20 (53-33).

The Aces made everything look so easy, scoring at will whenever they wanted. A’ja Wilson bullied her way down low for another layup.

The Storm showed a little bit of life as Ivana Dojkic knocked down a three and then Ezi was able to score a basket. Arella Guirantes knocked down her first triple of the game but it was immediately answered by Jackie Young. Young then buried another three-pointer to cap off a 31-point third period by the Las Vegas Aces. At the end of three, Las Vegas lead 74-48.

Las Vegas continued to score at will on almost every possession. A combination of finding mismatches against smaller Storm defenders or just excellent perimeter plays by the Aces’ players. Jackie Young, Chelsea Gray, and Kelsey Plum all took turns lighting Seattle up throughout the game.

A basket by Plum put Vegas ahead by thirty points by a score of 80-50. Russell had a nice post move in the paint and Loyd followed that up with a three-pointer to give the Storm a small rally.

Las Vegas refused to relent. Continuing to strike first to a downed opponent as if they were trying to impress Sensei Kreese from Cobra Kai.

Plum continued to score over and over again tallying 12 of her 23 points in the 4th quarter. Eventually putting the Aces ahead by more than 40 points. At the final buzzer, the Storm had lost by 41 points (105-64). It was the Storm’s worst defeat in franchise history.

After the game, Ezi Magbegor and Jewell Loyd spoke with the media about the disappointing performance.

“The first game, we are obviously a new team. It was great that everyone was able to get out on the floor and play our first real game together. Another positive is that we have so much to work on. That’s not us obviously. We have to go back and get to the drawing board to work on our strengths as a team.” Magbegor told the media.

I asked Jewell what the message was from Coach Quinn after a game like this.

“No one wants to lose and no one wants to lose this bad. We understand that. As professional athletes, you have to come up with some pride and integrity. I think we had a lot of new people that were shocked. For us, it’s a good test for us to play the defending champions. It helps us see what it takes to get to that level. I think it’s a good experience for us. We just have to stay encouraged, learn from, and get better.” Loyd told me.

I then asked Jewell about what adjustments they could make and learn from this to limit the number of Aces’ big runs throughout the game.

“We could play defense!” Loyd quipped. “That’s certainly an adjustment. They didn’t feel us. They have a team who is together and understands how to win. They’re really good in transition. We have to play some kind of defense and we weren’t there. That’s something we could fix. A lot of the mistakes we had tonight, it’s on us. Vegas didn’t really do a lot to bother us. Our turnovers were bad. Communicating, not being in the i (defensive position), that’s comforting knowing that’s something we can fix.”

I asked Coach Quinn the same thing.

“A couple of things. Getting to 50/50 balls. The intangibles to me. Finishing possessions with rebounds. A lot of what we did offensively, didn’t help our defense. Whether that was the shot selection or not being efficient. Honestly, for the majority of the game, it felt like we were in plays but then as those runs happened our principles were out the window. We didn’t have help (defense). We aren’t in our scheme coverage. That’s a sign of a team that needs some work. We are young! We’re going to learn and grow.” Quinn answered.

Additional Analysis

One True Super Team

While I imagine this will change as the season progresses, after this first weekend of WNBA action, there is truly only ONE Super Team in the league right now and they aren’t located in New York. The defending champions look like a legit threat to repeat as champions. Something that hasn’t been done since the Los Angeles Sparks did it in 2001-2002.

The Las Vegas Aces were a well-oiled machine dismantling the Storm. They couldn’t be stopped on the offensive end. Vegas is the only team to reach 100+ points in their first game.

Seattle even did a solid job in limiting Candace Parker and A’ja Wilson. They combined for just 25 points total. I think in most cases, you would take that every game. But it didn’t even matter because Young, Plum, and Gray combined for an additional 60 points. The three guards/wings nearly outscored Seattle by themselves.

That’s what is going to make this Aces team so dangerous. They have so much offensive firepower that most opposing teams won’t be able to keep up. It’s going to be fascinating to see how the season plays out and if any team is able to actually slow them down. I’ll keep an eye out for when the Mystics face off against Las Vegas. Defensively, they’re the one team that might be able to slow down the Aces.

Meanwhile, the other “Super Team” in Brooklyn looked awful in their first game together. Obviously, it should have been expected that they wouldn’t look nearly as good as Las Vegas to start the season but it was a little alarming how poorly they played against the Washington Mystics.

The Liberty fell to the Mystics 80-64 in D.C. Jonquel Jones really struggled with just five points in 19 minutes on 2-6 FG shooting. Stewie was only a little better with 12 points on 3-10 FG shooting including 0-5 FG from three-point range. They also got just 11 points off their bench.

Admittedly, it’s way too early, but the Liberty have a ton of work to do if they truly want to be compared to the Las Vegas Aces as a legit Super Team in the WNBA.

Rookie Report

Two of Seattle’s rookies didn’t play at all during the first half. Rookies Jade Melbourne and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu were the only two players not to log minutes for the Storm throughout the first two quarters.

I wasn’t completely shocked that Jade didn’t play the backup point guard role in this game and instead that went to Ivana Dojkic. Dojkic must have impressed the coaches and staff enough to make the final roster. She showed some promise with a solid game in her debut. Dojkic finished with seven points on 3-4 FG shooting. I’ll be interested to see if she or Jade Melbourne can push Yvonne Turner for the starting job as the season progresses. That’s something to keep an eye on.

“She obviously came late into training camp but from Day 1 she did a great job of picking up the plays and learning how to play with all of us. She did a great job coming off the bench, getting in lanes, pushing the ball. We love having Ivy (Ivana) on the team and that’s going to continue throughout the season.” Magbegor told the media.

Jordan Horston had a very solid debut. She finished the game with eight points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals. She was not the most efficient, making just 4-13 FG attempts. But I liked seeing her be aggressive and look to score. Someone needs to step up and Jordan did her best.

With Kia Nurse playing just 11 minutes and scoring zero points in this game, I do wonder if Jordan can work her way into the starting lineup sooner than later. Obviously, the hope is that Nurse can provide some scoring for the Storm. But if she’s not able to, Horston may be able to work her way into the starting lineup.

I talked with Coach Quinn about Horston’s performance after the game.

“I thought she had great energy. I thought she was aggressive. A couple of young mistakes but she’s well aware of those which is good. I thought her athletic ability and her capability to guard Candace and A’ja at some point was good to see. Her ability to rebound and get out in transition was good. She’s learning and growing. I’m going to keep her in that pocket of growth and see what happens.” Quinn stated.

Is Gabby Williams on the Way?

Percy Allen of the Seattle Times reported that Gabby Williams terminated her contract with her French team prior to the WNBA deadline. There is now some thought that she might be joining the Storm in a couple of weeks as long as they can work out a deal and get approval through the league. Coach Quinn said she’s more optimistic about a deal happening now than she was a few days ago.

If Williams does sign with Seattle, that means at least one and possibly two players from the current roster would need to be cut. Per Richard Cohen of Her Hoops Stats, he stated that if Gabby’s new contract is worth $180,000 or less then the Storm should be able to afford to keep 12 players. However, if they pay her above that threshold, then Seattle will have to cut two additional players and keep just 11.

Adding Williams would certainly help the Storm on both ends of the court. However, the team in general is going to need to improve significantly from this first game if they truly want to compete against some of these WNBA teams.

Up Next

The Seattle Storm (0-1) will host the Dallas Wings (1-0) next Friday, May 26th at 7:00 PM at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. The Wings defeated the Atlanta Dream (0-1) on Saturday morning by a final score of 85-78.

Notes:
Follow my Twitter (@WNBAStormChaser)
Photo Credits to Neil Enns/Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography
Thanks for all the great support! Please tell other Storm fans about my coverage.