Memorable night ends with the Storm defeating the Lynx 89-77
Seattle dominates Minnesota from the get-go.
(Seattle, WA) - It was a memorable night in Seattle as Lauren Jackson sat courtside and the team honored Sylvia Fowles and Briann January. There were 13,500 fans (considered a sell-out) in the stands and the atmosphere was electric as the Seattle Storm got off to a hot start and never looked back. The final score was much closer than the game turned out to be. In the end, the Seattle Storm defeated the Minnesota Lynx 89-77.
Breanna Stewart put forth an MVP-type performance scoring a season-high 33 points. She also had a game-high eight rebounds. She had five assists and two steals to round out her game.
Jewell Loyd finished with 17 points and five assists. Both Gabby Williams and Sue Bird were the other two players to reach double figures and they both tallied 13 points. Williams finished with six rebounds, four assists, and three steals. Bird finished with four rebounds and a team-high six assists.
“I thought the energy was great in the building. Honoring Bri (January) tonight and having Lauren Jackson and Abby Bishop here. Amazing fans that set the tone for us to come out and play with a lot of energy, a lot of heart, and passion. I think the first four possessions really jump-started us in a major way. It’s good to have a rhythm that way, especially from the three-point line. It’s good that we were sharing the ball; 28 assists, we talked about that yesterday. Just all around, a very good team effort from top to bottom.” Coach Quinn said in her opening statement after the game.
Seattle shot the ball very well making 50% (35-70 FG) of their shots and an extremely impressive 44% (11-25) from beyond the arc. They tied Minnesota in rebounds with 38 apiece. The Storm had a small edge in assists (28-25) and nearly doubled Minnesota’s steals (9-5).
Seattle matched a franchise-high with 30 fast break points. The other time that happened was on 6/4/21 versus the Dallas Wings.
The Minnesota Lynx
Minnesota is in trouble. This is certainly not the final season they envisioned for Sylvia Fowles. After losing to Seattle they are now 12-20 on the season and currently hold the 11th best (or 2nd worst) record in the WNBA. While they technically haven’t been eliminated from the playoffs time is definitely running out with just four games remaining and roughly two games back from the 8th and final playoff spot.
Despite getting blown out by 29 points in the 2nd half, there were a few bright spots for the Lynx. Nikolina Milic finished the game with 13 points and six rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench. Lindsay Allen also played well with 11 points on 4-6 FG shooting and three assists. In total, Minnesota’s reserves outscored Seattle’s 39-10.
Sylvia Fowles was the only starter to reach double figures. She finished with 12 points on 6-10 FG shooting and six rebounds in 22 minutes of action. Jessica Shepard had some nice moments adding eight points and five rebounds.
Game Breakdown
Gabby Williams got the game’s scoring going with a three-ball and then Sue Bird matched her just moments later. Seattle’s defense was sound forcing the Lynx into multiple missed shots early. Tina Charles and Breanna Stewart also knocked down shots from beyond the arc to put the Storm up 12-0 to begin the game.
I spoke with Coach Noelle Quinn after the game about the hot start for her team.
“Especially against Minnesota who is a disruptive team. They’re never going to back down. They’re fighting. Cheryl is firey. That’s who they are. It was important for us to get off to a great start. This game and every single game following matters so much for us! To be playing a good brand of basketball, I think that’s super important for us as well. Those two things - Having the energy, knowing who Minnesota is and who they can be, we stepped on the gas and never let it go which was important tonight.” Quinn told me.
I also got to talk to Stewie after the game about the team’s 30-point first quarter.
“I think it was huge. We wanted to come out and punch first knowing that Minnesota is fighting for a playoff spot. They’re really trying to do whatever they can to get wins during this final stretch. Even though we’re already in the playoffs, we’re also trying to peak at the right moment and collect wins. Make sure we’re in a good place in the standings.” Stewie answered.
Minnesota finally got on the board when Moriah Jefferson knocked down a 15-footer. Kayla McBride followed that up with her own three-pointer to cut the lead to seven at 12-5.
Jewell Loyd got on the board with a nice cut to the rim. Tina Charles was then called for two quick fouls that forced her to the bench.
Jefferson set up Sylvia Fowles with a nice mid-air alley-oop layup. Williams drove into the lane for another short jumper. Then Bird and Stewart hit back-to-back triples again.
Stewart got a steal and raced down the court for an impressive layup. Rachel Banham banked in a three. Which was an impressive back and forth sequence between the two teams. Stewie then found Ezi down low for the layup. Stewart would hit another three
Seattle led 30-18 after one.
Nikolina Milic scored a layup to begin the 2nd quarter. Jantel Lavender and Lindsay Allen exchanged baskets. Stephanie Talbot hit a pair of free throws after taking a hard foul from Milic. Talbot would leave the game with an ankle injury and would not return in the 2nd half.
Loyd’s free throws put the Storm up 40-24. Sylvia Fowles converted a hook down low over Tina Charles. Then Bird hit a mid-range shot and Williams got a steal and took it down the lane past Jefferson for the layup. Jewell hit a three, Stewie a jumper, and Bird drove in for a layup to put the Storm up 51-28 with two minutes remaining in the first half.
Seattle’s big three had the highlight of the game as Stewie tried to outlet a pass to Jewell in the corner but the ball was too high. Loyd leaped into the sky and zipped the pass back to Sue Bird who drilled the three-pointer. The crowd absolutely loved it!
At the end of the first half, the Storm led 56-32. Breanna Stewart led all scorers with 16 points. Sue Bird had a strong first half as well with 13 points. Bird has looked better and more aggressive offensively over the past few games compared to how she was performing during the middle of the season.
Fowles scored the first points of the second half. Williams drove down the lane and, for a moment, I thought she was going to throw down a dunk but she still finished for two at the rim. Gabby gets so high off the ground on her layups and rebounds it really is a marvel to see.
After Stewart made a layup, Minnesota scored five-straight points with Kayla McBride knocking down a three-pointer and Fowles getting another layup.
That’s when things got fancy. On a fast break, Gabby made a behind-the-back pass to Loyd after she had picked up the steal on the defensive end. A couple of plays later, the Storm were on another fast break and Loyd was able to execute an alley-oop pass to Stewart who finished in mid-air.
The Storm led 78-54 as the two teams entered the fourth quarter.
Lindsay Allen was able to draw a foul on Epiphanny Prince to score the first points of the fourth. The Lynx went on an 18-4 run during a five-minute period at the very end of the third and the first four minutes of the 4th period. This happened with mostly the reserves playing.
Stewart was able to convert back-to-back baskets to put her over 30 points for the game. Loyd and Allen swapped three-pointers. Rachel Banham hit one more three to end the game as the Storm won by 12.
Additional Analysis
Honoring Sylvia Fowles and Briann January
Prior to tip-off, the team held nice video tributes for both Sylvia Fowles and Briann January. Each player was given a check to donate to charity from the Seattle Storm organization. January was also given a jersey that had all four teams she’s played for (Indiana, Connecticut, Phoenix, and Seattle) sewn together.
Fowles and January have both had decorated WNBA careers.
The audio quality isn’t the best but I’ve included the tribute videos I took at the arena.
Fowles is the WNBA’s All-Time leader in rebounding at 3965 in her career. She’s also number one overall in Field Goal percentage at 59.95% (roughly 60%) from the floor! Big Syl is also Top 10 (9th) overall in All-Time scoring with 6,368 points in her career. She is a two-time WNBA Champion (2015, 2017), WNBA MVP (2017), two-time Finals MVP, eight-time All-Star, and four-time Defensive Player of the Year!
Fowles is easily one of the greatest Centers in league history and it was great to see her honored at the game.
January has been one of the league’s best defenders throughout her career. She was named All-Defensive First Team five separate times. And an additional two times for Second Team honors. Briann helped lead the Indiana Fever to the 2012 WNBA Championship as their starting point guard. She was also named to the All-Star team in 2014.
“I was thinking I’d have her finish off the game, but to have that moment. Jewell flew off the bench for her to have that. It’s important (to honor January) because it’s not only what she’s done in Seattle thus far. But what she’s done in the league over her entire career. She’s a champion. Her defensive prowess. She’s a leader and an amazing human being. She deserves her flowers and her recognition and I’m glad we were able to honor her in that way.” Coach Quinn added.
Control Their Destiny
The Storm’s schedule in the month of August will not be easy. They have two games against the Las Vegas Aces (home and away) and a road game against the defending champions - the Chicago Sky. But the good news is that Seattle does control their own destiny from here on out.
They defeated the Minnesota Lynx at home to start the final month 1-0. If Seattle wins out they will finish absolutely no worse than 4th in the WNBA standings. They can guarantee themselves homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs by doing so. It’s still possible for them to move up even above the 4th seed but it would require getting some help from other teams to take down the teams above them.
After the game, I spoke with Gabby Williams and Coach Quinn about being in a position to control their own fate late in the season.
“Yesterday, (I) just gave them a visual of where we are and what are games are. The team who were vying for the home court advantage with. They recognize it and understand the magnitude of every single game. That’s all I have to do is touch on it. Like you said, the ball is in our court. We don’t have to look to our left or right to worry about someone winning or losing. We have the ability to control our own destiny. And that involves the way we play every night, the energy, the passion, how we’re locked into our stuff, that matters in this push to get these wins.” Coach Quinn explained.
“Like Stewie said, we’ve already clinched but there’s still a lot of work to do. You know teams are really clawing to get into the playoffs so we’re not going to have any easy games left. We also have other teams fighting for their position. We just have to stay locked in. There are four games left. We just need to catch the right rhythm and keep that momentum in the playoffs.” Williams added.
Showtime in Seattle!
For a few minutes in the third quarter, the Storm were playing so loose and so free that it felt like they were out on the playground. Gabby Williams made the incredible behind-the-back pass to Loyd for the finish.
Tina Charles found Williams on a nice dish. And Jewell Loyd tossed the ball up in the air to Stewie who finished the alley-oop. They all had big grins on their faces after completing those plays.
They talked with the media about those plays after the game.
“It was kind of the easier pass to make. I kinda saw it happen as it was happening from halfcourt. (I told myself) You gotta be real confident right now Gabby. Trusting myself to make the pass and Jewell finished it.” Gabby stated.
I followed that up by asking Gabby about how everyone looked like they were having so much fun and playing loose out there and how that can benefit the team.
“Just this moment, it being Bri Day, a lot of people here to celebrate Sue as well. A sold-out crowd and a lot of celebrities. You just have to embrace that moment. You have to make it fun and enjoy it. I’m young, this is only my 4th year in the WNBA. I haven’t had a lot of moments and opportunities like this. Just trying to have fun with it and make sure it’s a memory I’ll remember in a good way from this night. Also, I think the Entertainment Gods were in the building tonight to make sure this moment happened for Sue, for Bri, and for all of us.” Williams added.
Jersey Count
Seattle was back in their “Explorer” green and gold uniforms and picked up a big win. They improved to 3-4 on the season while playing in this specific jersey combination. Overall, they improved their record to 20-12 on the year. With just a few games remaining, they trail the Chicago Sky (23-8), the Las Vegas Aces (22-9), and the Connecticut Sun (21-10). They remain tied with the Washington Mystics (20-12) but own the tiebreaker.
Records per jersey type this season:
Rebel: 7-2
Explorer: 3-4
Heroine: 10-6
Overall Record: 20-12
Up Next
Sue Bird’s final home game with the Seattle Storm franchise. It takes place on Sunday, August 7th at 12:00 PM against the Las Vegas Aces. It’ll certainly be one of the more emotional games in Seattle Storm franchise history.
Notes:
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Photo Credits to Neil Enns/Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography Team
Credit to Across the Timeline for specific player stats
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