Liberty a Level Above, Beat Storm 74-63

The Seattle Storm fall to 1-3 after the latest loss.

(Brooklyn, New York) - The Seattle Storm were playing the second road game in as many nights. They were also short-handed missing both All-Star Nneka Ogwumike and rookie Nika Mühl. They were facing arguably the league’s most talented team. This was not a recipe for success. Seattle trailed 27-15 after the first quarter. The Storm never really threatened after that. The Liberty kept them at bay and ultimately took out the Storm 74-63.

Seattle was out of sorts from the jump. They committed seven of their 17 turnovers in the first period. Their offense continues to struggle to find its rhythm. They finished the game shooting 34% (24-70 FG) from the field.

“It takes time. It takes time. The chemistry, the building that has to happen. Today, there was a lot less live-ball turnovers. Teams are loading up, getting into the paint. We have to find windows where we can drive and kick a little bit more and shift defenses,” Coach Quinn said.

Jewell Loyd led the team in scoring but only had 13 points. She did pull down a team-high nine rebounds. A day after taking 14 free throws, Loyd found some contact against New York but never got the calls. She finished with just three free throws and Seattle as a team only had 14; they had been averaging nearly 25 FTA per game heading into Monday’s contest.

Ezi Magbegor struggled a bit to score against the twin towers of Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones. Magbegor had some good looks but they just didn’t go down. Ezi missed more layups than normal. She finished with 12 points, five rebounds, and two blocks.

Sami Whitcomb had her best game of the season scoring 11 points off the bench, pulling down four rebounds, and dishing out four assists. Victoria Vivians also had a solid game with nine points and seven rebounds. But overall, the team just didn’t get nearly enough from their top players or their bench.

Whitcomb did talk about the team’s offensive struggles.

“I think the more that we flow and get to know each other and play well together, we'll be able to get each other better looks. So I think it's normal that early on, that's where the area of improvement needs to be. I think it's great that defensively we've been able to be as tough most times as we've been so we'll figure that out. We haven't had a lot of training or a lot of time to work through that so we're kind of trying to do that game-to-game within a game and figure it out and obviously we need to do a better job, but you know I thought today we got pretty good looks honestly.”

New York Liberty

Sabrina Ionescu led New York with 20 points and a game-high eight assists. But really it was the starters that did all the damage. Breanna Stewart had the game’s only double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Stewart also was a force on the defensive end with three steals and two blocks. Betnijah Laney added 13 points and Jonquel Jones dominated down low with 16 points and eight rebounds.

Jones was the main factor in why the Liberty were so dominant in the paint. They outscored Seattle 42-24 with points in the paint. They also out-rebounded Seattle slightly 36-34.

I spoke with Coach Quinn after the game about the challenges of limiting Jonquel Jones from getting deep into the low post if the team is only going to run single coverages against her.

“A lot of Jonquel’s deep catches, to me, she was in the paint for a while. It’s difficult. She’s a difficult matchup. To me, Cedes has that same height advantage. And we have had success in the past with just being physical. I thought that some fatigue had set in. Her ability to get deep, and be physical. She was five for nine and had a ton of free throws. I would trust Ezi and Cedes in a different game with some more energy and physicality, and we'll take a look at it. It's a long season, and obviously, we can't play them the same every time. But she was getting deep and we just couldn't combat that.” Quinn responded.

New York just played at a level above Seattle. The game never really felt competitive at all. The Liberty led by as many as 18 points and it felt like they could have pushed that to 25 if they wanted to.

Game Breakdown

Breanna Stewart hit a tough rainbow jumper over Ezi’s outstretched hand to score the game’s first basket. Skylar Diggins-Smith countered with a quick drive to the rim. Sabrina Ionescu and Mercedes Russell swapped made baskets. Then Jonquel Jones hit another high-arching corner three.

Victoria Vivians badly air-balled a three-pointer and then was run over by Jonquel Jones on the other end. The refs could have called a defensive foul or even an offensive foul but they just let the teams play it out.

Seattle had way too many turnovers again in this first period. The Liberty pushed their lead to double-digits on a jumper by Ionescu.

The New York Liberty led the Seattle Storm 27-15 after the opening quarter. Seattle committed seven turnovers and the Liberty scored 10 points off of those. Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart had six points each. Jewell Loyd and Skylar Diggins-Smith led Seattle with four points each in the initial period.

The Storm did a better job defensively to open up the second quarter with some of the Liberty bench players on the court. They held New York scoreless through the first three minutes. Jewell Loyd knocked down the jumper and after a couple of empty possessions, Skylar Diggins-Smith was able to drive past Courtney Vandersloot for a layup off the glass. The brief 4-0 run forced Coach Sandy Brondello to call a timeout.

Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu had a couple of opportunities to score some points. She was fouled hard by Breanna Stewart but missed both free throws. She then had an open layup before the defense got to her but she missed it. Jonquel Jones then punished Seattle down low. She scored on a nice hook over Dulcy and then completed an AND1 layup when she was fouled by Magbegor. That put the Liberty up 13 at 32-19 with just under five minutes to play in the first half.

Seattle got a layup from Magbegor after collecting a couple of offensive rebounds. Diggins-Smith then got a quick steal and kicked it out to Sami Whitcomb that could have been a huge momentum boost for the Storm but the shot rimmed off.

The Storm simply couldn’t buy a basket in the first half. They shot less than 28% (10-36 FG) from the floor. They made just one three-pointer out of 13 attempts. Their offense was in shambles.

Betnijah Laney-Hamilton knocked down a corner three-ball to begin the 2nd half. Then Jonquel Jones got deep post position and easily laid it in. Stewart then scored inside the paint and was fouled for the AND1. Quickly into the third quarter, the Storm found themselves trailing by 16 points at 44-28.

Loyd was able to sink a midrange shot. Magbegor was able to get two at the foul line and then Vivians found Mercedes Russell down low for two to cut the deficit back down to 10.

Jordan found Russell for a layup but then Sabrina Ionescu started to take over. Ionescu scored nine of her 20 points in the third period. She was getting to the rim a lot past Seattle’s initial defenders and the help defense was often late.

Sami Whitcomb hit another three-pointer and then Ezi was fouled as the shot went up. After a review, they called the shot good and Magbegor was able to make the free throw.

Seattle briefly cut the double-digit deficit to nine early in the 4th period. Coach Sandy Brondello wouldn’t mess around anymore once Seattle cut New York’s lead down. Brondello subbed her starters back in. They quickly pushed the Liberty’s lead back to double digits.

Free throws by Jones and an AND1 by Ionescu put New York’s lead right back up to 16 at 69-53. Seattle just couldn’t compete. Whenever they wanted to put the game out of reach, they did.

New York’s lead ballooned to 18 at 73-55 after Jonquel hit two more free throws. Towards the end of the game, Sami Whitcomb and Victoria Vivians knocked down a pair of three-pointers to make the final score a little more respectable cutting it to 11 at 74-63.

Final Box Score

Additional Analysis

Nneka’s Injury

Unfortunately, Nneka Ogwumike missed her second consecutive game on Monday against the New York Liberty. After injuring her ankle in the second overtime period against the Minnesota Lynx on Friday, Ogwumike has been unable to get back on the court against either the Mystics or the Liberty. While the team managed to pick up a win against D.C., Nneka was desperately missed in their battle against New York.

Wednesday will be really interesting to see what happens and if Nneka can return to action. If she does not return later this week, it could spell trouble for the Storm. The team needs another dominant post alongside Ezi Magbegor.

With a 1-3 record, the Storm must right the ship very soon. That becomes much more difficult if they are without Ogwumike for an extended period.

It’s not time to panic but the rest of May becomes critically important. They host the Indiana Fever and Washington Mystics before traveling back on the road against the Chicago Sky and Indiana Fever. They can’t afford to go 0-4 or 1-3 with this next set of four games.

Nika Mühl’s Debut

Through four games or 10% of the season, we have yet to see Rookie Point Guard Nika Mühl play an official game for the Seattle Storm. She’s had Work Visa issues that have been held up which has prevented her from participating in the games.

I later learned that the players don’t officially get paid a salary during the preseason games which explains why she was able to play in the one preseason game in Seattle but hasn’t been able to play in the regular season.

Hopefully, those issues will be resolved soon. Per a report from The Next’s Howard Megdal, that may come as soon as this upcoming Wednesday against the Indiana Fever.

Having Mühl back should help the Storm, a team that is currently dead last in Assists Per game at 14.8. They haven’t had a real consistent backup point guard rotation yet this season. Sometimes Kiana Williams fills that role. Sometimes it’s Sami Whitcomb. I've even seen Jewell bring the ball up a few times in games when Skylar isn’t on the court.

Seattle currently ranks 10th (third-worst) in turnovers per game at 19.8. It’s not a great sign right now that the team is committing more turnovers than creating shot opportunities for teammates.

The main way to fix that is for these players to just get more practice and game experience together. Once they continue to get a better feel out there the turnover numbers should go down. And Mühl potentially can help in that regard by running the second unit.

If Nika does make her debut on Wednesday, we’ll see how her addition affects the team. No one should expect a drastic change but any positive addition will have the team headed in the right direction.

Expectations for Skylar Diggins-Smith

After Skylar Diggins-Smith struggled in this game scoring just eight points on 3-13 FG including 0-4 FG from beyond the arc, another media member asked Coach Quinn if they were getting what they expected from Skylar. And if she’s at where they expect her to be at this point of the season.

I’m not sure if Coach Quinn was irritated by the question or just wanted to take the opportunity to lay out the expectations. But she was very sharp with her response.

“I'm glad you said that because there needs to be respect about the fact that she's had two children and hasn't played in 20 months. So she's not where she will be in game four of the season. But at the end of the day, who she is, is a competitive athlete. She wants to win. She wants to be better for us. And so there's grace in that. She's not going to come overnight and be who she was 20 months ago. And we have to respect that and honor that. And I do as a coach, as an organization, we do. So my grace as a coach is to know she's working her butt off every day. You guys don't see it. Every single day, two children, not one, two, not many can do that. So the respect has to come in the work. The respect has to come as this is a decorated athlete who has done amazing things for this league, for women's basketball, and for the world. Give her some grace.”

I feel Skylar has been doing just fine for not having played against WNBA competition for more than a year and a half. And after having her second child.

Through four games, SDS is currently averaging 14.5 PPG, 5.8 APG, 2.8 RPG, and 1.8 SPG. The one killer is that she is averaging a career-high 5.0 turnovers per game. I fully expect that to improve as the team can develop more chemistry. I don’t expect her to average five turnovers every game throughout the entire season. That would be nearly double her career average.

If Skylar can average 15+ PPG, 5.0+ APG, and reduce those turnovers a bit. Is anyone else seriously expecting more than that?

Up Next

The Seattle Storm return home and will try to regroup. They host the Indiana Fever and Caitlin Clark on Wednesday, May 22nd at 7:00 PM PDT.

Notes:
Photo Credits to Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography
Thanks for all the great support! Please tell other Storm fans about my coverage.
Also, I want to credit Across the Timeline and HerHoopStats as I use their sites frequently for stats and information.

Social Media:
Follow my Twitter (@WNBAStormChaser)
Follow me on Threads (@WNBAStormChasers)
Follow me on BlueSky (@wnbastormchasers.bsky.social)