Loyd outscores Stewart but Liberty beat Storm 86-78

Seattle remains winless on the season as Stewart returned to lead the Liberty over the Storm.

(Seattle, WA) - Breanna Stewart made her first return to Seattle after signing with the New York Liberty this past offseason. For Stewart, it was a successful trip back to the Emerald City as her new team walked away with an 86-78 win. New York’s third win in a row after a season-opening loss to the Washington Mystics. Stewart led her new team with 25 points, 11 rebounds, two blocks, and two steals.

The Storm were led by Jewell Loyd who had a game-high 26 points. Outscoring her former teammate by one point. Loyd also had her most efficient game of the season connecting on 9-16 FG good for 56% from the floor. She was also a perfect 6-6 from the free throw line.

Ezi Magbegor had another double-double. Her second in as many games played. She finished with 12 points and 14 rebounds. Ezi wasn’t as efficient connecting on 5-16 FG. The 16 field goal attempts were a season-high by a wide margin. Magbegor also added three blocks and two steals. She talked about the importance to be great on both ends of the court.

“My role is different this season. I think I’ve been consistent defensively, but my focus this year is to be more of a two-way player. Be more aggressive offensively. That includes taking more shots. Shot selection is still important. You obviously want to be efficient and make good plays. Any way I can do to help my team, being aggressive is one way I can do that.” Magbegor answered.

I also asked Jewell and Coach Quinn about Ezi’s aggressive mindset.

“We need her to be aggressive. We need another scorer. She has worked on her game tremendously. Getting the rebound and pushing the ball up the court. I will continue to empower her to take good looks and be aggressive. When she’s playing at a high level it’s better for us.” Quinn stated.

“That’s who she is now. She played a different role last year and the year before that. She’s a big part of our success here in Seattle. Her being aggressive, getting downhill, taking shots, that’s what she’s been training to do. She has the confidence to do that. She has the green light. We all believe in her to be able to take those shots. It’s not a fluke or by accident that she’s taking that many shot attempts. It’s something we’ve been telling her to do since she’s been here. I’m excited for her growth and it’s only the beginning for her!” Loyd added.

In total, the Storm had four players score in double figures. Mercedes Russell reached double-digits for the first time this season with 10 points. “Point Center” Cedes led the team with four assists. Sami Whitcomb had another strong game off the bench with 11 points including 3-5 FG from beyond the arc.

Overall, Seattle’s offense continues to struggle. The team shot 38% (28-73 FG) and 33% (6-18 FG) from three-point range. They did out-rebound New York 35-32 which Coach Quinn was pleased with. They also held a small advantage in fast-break points (6-3) but neither team did enough of that. Another bright spot for this young team was that they committed just eight turnovers total and forced New York into 13.

“I thought from our group it was a great effort. I thought from the start we were locked into our schemes. We pushed the pace and got some good looks. For the majority of the game, I was just super proud of our fight and how hard we played. I thought it was a great effort by a very, very good team.” Coach Quinn said in her opening statement.

When asked how she projects the team a month from now.

“Better! We’ve gotten better. We are three games in with a young, new group. Every single game we’ve learned even more. We kept our turnovers low today. We out-rebounded them today. We shot a little better last game but once we put together the defense and the offense. The chemistry and the synergy. A month from now we will be a lot better. As long as we compete and play hard and hold the standard to those things I think good things will happen.” She added.

I don’t think it’s any revelation to state this but if Breanna Stewart was playing for the Storm on Tuesday night, Seattle wins this game. One player can make a huge difference and shift the balance of power of the teams in the league. The Storm have been competitive in their past two games but haven’t been able to find the win column.

The New York Liberty

Beyond Stewart’s team-high 25 points, it was Sabrina Ionesco that did the most damage against Seattle. The University of Oregon standout returned to her PNW roots and put on a show for her fans. Ionesco finished the game with 20 points, six rebounds, and three assists. She was deadly from beyond the arc connecting on 6-10 FG from deep. Stefanie Dolson finished with 10 points and five assists off the bench as the only other player to reach double figures. Courtney Vandersloot didn’t score at all but dished out a game-high 11 assists. She was also credited with three blocked shots.

The Liberty were more efficient in their shooting connecting on 49% (28-57 FG) and 38% (9-24 FG) from deep. They held a 23-16 edge in assists and 34-32 with points in the paint. They had several rejections against Seattle’s players and finished with 11 blocks total.

Game Breakdown

Betnijah Laney got the scoring going by knocking down her first jumper. Breanna Stewart missed her first shot attempt. Then Kia Nurse was able to score on the other end to give Seattle their first points of the game. Ezi Magbegor briefly put Seattle ahead 4-2 but Stewart evened things up with a pair of free throws.

Jonquel Jones did the heavy damage early in this game, scoring seven of her nine points in the opening frame. Jones was able to find mismatches down in the low post for easy buckets.

Sabrina Ionescu buried a corner three to put the Liberty up six to make it 14-8 for the visiting team.

Jade Melbourne checked in and immediately made a positive impact. She found Loyd cutting for an assist and then knocked down a deep jumper on the next possession. Another rookie, Jordan Horston made a nice jumper as well to help cut into the Liberty’s lead down to three (23-20).

New York took advantage of Seattle’s smaller size and switching defense that led to two consecutive fouls by Jade Melbourne against much larger post players. The second foul resulted in Stephanie Dolson getting two free throws where she connected on both.

Dolson then found Nyara Sabally cutting into the paint to score the quarter’s final points. New York led 27-21 after one period of play.

Early into the 2nd quarter, Yvonne Turner was able to draw a foul by driving aggressively to the rim. She sank both free throws. Loyd was then able to force Courtney Vandersloot into a traveling turnover. Jewell then sank a jumper coming off a screen on Seattle’s next possession. This forced Liberty Coach Sandy Brondello to call a timeout.

Sami Whitcomb had a nice drive to the rim after the defense made an aggressive closeout with Whitcomb out on the three-point line. A couple of plays later Jewell Loyd was able to knock down another jumper. Then Seattle got another stop on defense and found Jordan Horston in transition for a layup. That score put the Storm ahead by one at 35-34 and forced Coach Brondello into another timeout.

Immediately out of the timeout, the Liberty found Stewart the ball and she went to work. Quickly drawing a foul and getting to the free throw line for two easy points. New York got the stop against Mercedes Russell on the other end and quickly found Ionesco in transition for another three-ball. This forced Seattle into a quick timeout.

Out of Seattle’s timeout, New York continued to extend their lead. Nyara Sabally and Kayla Thorton were each fouled and made all four free throws pushing the Liberty’s run to 9-0.

New York would ultimately finish the second quarter on a 12-4 run. Loyd made some free throws and Courtney Vandersloot made a beautiful pass to Kayla Thorton for an easy layup with just a few seconds remaining in the half.

Seattle got off to a good start to begin the 2nd half with a quick 6-3 spurt to begin the third before New York battled back. Ezi made a nice play on a drive to the rim with the shot clock winding down. She finished at the rim and was fouled by Jonquel Jones. Magbegor sank the free throw to complete the AND1 three-point play.

Loyd was able to catch the ball for a nice short turnaround jumper over Vandersloot to cut the Liberty’s lead down to three at 53-50. Stewart was able to capitalize on an offensive rebound to make her own jumper in the paint. Stewart then scored again in transition after the refs decided to swallow their whistle on what appeared to be a blatant foul by Stefanie Dolson on a driving Jordan Horston.

A three by Kia Nurse cut the lead down to four but the Liberty then quickly went on a second 9-0 run to extend their lead to 13 points. Loyd knocked down a triple but then Dolson finished at the rim for two more. At the end of the quarter New York led by a dozen points at 68-56. They outscored Seattle 22-17 in the third period.

Jade made a nice step-back jumper to open the fourth quarter scoring. Then Whitcomb and Ionescu swapped three-pointers. Once Ionescu made that shot the Storm wouldn’t whittle the lead down to single digits until the final thirty seconds.

Dolson gave the Liberty their largest lead of the game up 15 at 82-67 on a pair of free throws. Whitcomb was able to knock down a couple more three-pointers in the quarter but there wasn’t enough offense from the rest of the team.

Seattle did outscore New York 22-18 during the last period but that wasn’t enough to overcome the 12-point deficit they faced entering the final ten minutes. Ultimately, New York was able to dribble out the clock with a final score of 86-78. Loyd and Stewart immediately embraced at the buzzer.

Additional Analysis

Rookie Report

For the second game in a row, Seattle played just two of their four rookies. However, this time Jade Melbourne got to see a lot of action while Ivana Dojkic and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu did not receive any playing time.

Melbourne looked good overall during her 15 minutes off the bench. She was one of the first substitutions off the bench and got a fair amount of run as the team’s point guard in this game. She finished the game with four points, three assists, and two rebounds. Modest numbers but she had some really nice plays including this step-back jumper.

https://twitter.com/seattlestorm/status/1663741254495260674

Coach Quinn gave some praise to Melbourne after the game.

“I wanted to see Jade early. You guys can see what she can do. She can pass. She pushes the pace. She’s very smart… she’s done a very good job in training camp. I trusted her in Game 1 but it’s just us trying to find some synergy and chemistry with some other pieces that may have impacted that. But I have been very confident in her, especially after training camp. Understanding her mind and how she works and her growth process. We’re going to see more of her.” Coach Quinn stated.

Hopefully, we will continue to see more of Jade on the court as the season progresses.

First-round pick Jordan Horston has been the rookie getting the most playing time up to this point and that continued in this game. Horston finished the game playing 18 minutes. She had four points, five rebounds, and two assists. The shooting efficiency isn’t there right now but that’s fine. Horston had the third-most field goal attempts for the team in this game and I am 100% fine with seeing that. The shots will start to fall more frequently the more comfortable Jordan gets out there.

Outside of Jewell and Ezi, I think the next highest-volume shooters on the team should be Jordan and Kia Nurse. Horston took 11 shots and Nurse shot nine in this game. That works for me with what the Storm are trying to get done this season.

Horston is being put in difficult situations having to play out of position often at the Power Forward spot. The way the team’s roster is set up this season, I think that’s going to continue for now.

Having her guard and be defended by the likes of A’ja Wilson, Candace Parker, Natasha Howard, and Breanna Stewart is about as intense of a “Welcome to the League, kid!” moment there can be. It’s going to come with struggles. But this season is all about development. And when you’re going up against the best, you will only get better over time. Even if it can be difficult to see in the moment of growing pains.

New Rotations

Coach Quinn continues to change up the rotations as the team is trying to build chemistry and find the most productive players in this group. Kaila Charles was the first player off the bench in the season opener against Las Vegas. On Tuesday night, she almost didn’t get into the game at all. Charles had a late substitution into the game at the end of the first half (the final 30 seconds). Other than that, she didn’t play at all.

Arella Guirantes also didn’t play very much on Tuesday. Guirantes played 12 minutes in the opener against Las Vegas (admittedly, a blowout may have affected this). She then saw six minutes of action on Friday against Dallas. Her minutes were reduced even further to just three minutes against the Liberty. Like Charles, all three of her minutes came in the second quarter.

Ivana Dojkic was the other player to see her playing time removed. She’s gone from 17 minutes in the first game against Las Vegas to six minutes against Dallas. On Tuesday, she didn’t play at all. With Melbourne not playing at all against Dallas and then seeing time against New York, it might be a scenario where Coach Quinn is just giving the rookies certain games to get their feet wet.

I honestly don’t think that’s a terrible idea. I think you can do a better job evaluating a player if you give them more time. Even though the team isn’t expected to compete for championships this season, they are still going to try to win games. For every game that isn’t a complete blowout like the first game against Las Vegas was; Coach Quinn likely wants to keep a standard rotation of around eight or nine players. That means all four rookies won’t be able to play in every single game.

I think it’s easier to evaluate players if you give them 10-20 minutes in a game as opposed to playing everyone for 3-5 minutes. It’s really difficult to find your rhythm if you’re playing only a couple of minutes. As evident during Tuesday’s game, Charles and Guirantes weren’t able to get anything done in their few minutes of action.

That may explain the rotation process Coach Quinn is using right now. It’ll be interesting to see how the team’s rotations look in these next two games against the Los Angeles Sparks.

Defensive Discussion

One thing that really stood out to me, especially in the first half was New York’s focus on attacking Seattle’s smaller lineup. The Storm were switching defensive assignments any time the Liberty went to set screens. This did allow New York to capitalize by finding their post players like Jonquel Jones, Breanna Stewart, and Stefanie Dolson inside the paint against smaller guards like Jewell Loyd and Jade Melbourne. This led to Jonquel Jones scoring all nine of her points in the first half.

Seattle did seem to do a better job in the second half with this. However, that might have just been because Jones played just six minutes in the final two quarters. Jonquel is apparently still dealing with a stress fracture in her foot that she suffered at the end of last season in the playoffs. Likely the cause for her suboptimal performance with the Liberty this season.

I spoke with Jewell Loyd on the challenges of switching on every screen when it comes to guards having to defend larger post players.

”I think our switches were good. We made them take different looks. We slowed them down a little bit. For guards, it’s very important to switch under, be physical, we’re taught to sit on their knees, try to push them out - things like that. We fought! We had Jade, the rookie down there, banging and fighting and you just want to make it difficult. You obviously want to give up a two and not a three. That was our plan. With all that, there is still growth for our defense to learn how to do that. It’s something some of us have never done before. We got better at it and it’s something we will definitely use going forward.” Loyd told me.

I also wanted to learn more from Coach Quinn regarding their defensive strategies.

“The key for us today with switching was to get them out of rhythm. What happens when you switch you get tunnel vision on the switch. Obviously, we can scram out of those situations and keep size at the rim. But what happens when you scram is you give up backside threes. We didn’t want to give up those threes in rotations. We’re hanging our hat on our guards fighting and New York looking for isolations in the post. Then that takes Stewie out of her open threes and other players out of their open threes. That’s what happened when we were locked into those schemes. If JJ or Dolson got a two that’s a three that Stewie did not get. Slow them down a little bit offensively. Overall, I thought we were OK.” Quinn told me.

Up Next

The Seattle Storm (0-3) will have a few days off before they head to Los Angeles to play the Sparks (1-2). They will face LA on Saturday, June 3rd at 7:00 PM. Before returning to Seattle to play the Sparks again in Seattle on Tuesday, June 6th. Both games will be a part of the Commissioner’s Cup tournament standings.

Notes:
When Coach Quinn used the term: “Scram” (Switch) - That refers to an off-ball switch (especially in the post) to mitigate the mismatch caused by an earlier switch. The first switch puts a guard on defense against a post player. The scram switch then sees a 2nd post player off the ball, come to defend the larger post player allowing the guard to find a wing player to defend instead of being stuck in the paint against a much taller post player.

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