No Stewart? No Chance! Storm fall to the Mercury 97-77

Short-Handed Storm were unable to keep up with Phoenix.

(Phoenix, Arizona) - Just minutes before the team got on the bus to head to the arena they found out Breanna Stewart was being kept out of the game due to “Health & Safety Protocols”. It had already been announced earlier in the day that reserve shooting guard Epiphanny Prince would also be out for the same reason. With those two out, along with the injured Mercedes Russell, the team was down to just eight healthy players before this game started.

Luckily, they were able to add Raina Perez who participated in training camp this season prior to being cut when final roster decisions had to be made. Apparently, Perez lives in the Phoenix area and was able to pass any health & safety tests and was signed by the Storm earlier today. The convenience of her being in the area already made Perez the easy choice to help fill in for this game (and presumably longer).

Even with Perez added to the team they had just nine healthy players for this game and severely lacked depth in the post.

While the team gave a valiant effort keeping the game within reach until the 4th quarter, they ultimately didn’t have enough to compete with the Mercury’s roster losing the game 97-77.

“(We were) Short-handed, I thought we came out with some good energy and effort. The things that we’ve been talking about as a team, defensively, we need to continue to grow and get better at. Taking care of the ball is one of those things. They scored off almost all of our turnovers and we didn’t shoot the ball well again. I can’t be mad at our effort and the way everyone played, the heart they showed. It was a tough opponent” Coach Quinn told the media after the game.

Seattle’s other big two, Jewell Loyd and Sue Bird led the team. Loyd had 26 points to lead all scorers in this game. She also had five rebounds, two steals, and two assists. Unfortunately, she did have five of the team’s 15 turnovers and that played a big part in allowing the Mercury to blow the game wide open late in the 4th quarter.

With no Breanna Stewart and the team lacking legit scoring options (especially with Prince out too), Bird had to take on more of a scoring role. It’s honestly something that’s always fascinating to see because Sue will often just score 7-10 points per game because she’s always so focused on facilitating the basketball and getting her teammates involved. But she’s always been more than capable of scoring at a higher clip. On Wednesday, she finished with 14 points, connecting on 4-7 FG from beyond the three-point line, and dishing out a team-high six assists.

Unfortunately, Ezi Magbegor was the only other player to score in double figures with 11 points. Jantel Lavender got the start in place of Stewart but scored just two points on 1-5 FG and was limited to just 19 minutes in this game.

The reserves scored 19 points; this wasn’t bad considering they only played four players off the bench and really it was more like three. Perez got just two minutes in very limited action in the 2nd half. Reshanda Gray was the most impressive, scoring eight points in 10 minutes. She did also nearly foul out of the game picking up four fouls during her time on the court. Stephanie Talbot added seven points with a lot of those coming late with the game out of reach.

I asked Coach Quinn after the game what were the positives she could take from this game despite the loss.

“20 assists is amazing. Holding the Mercury to just 16 points in a quarter is amazing. Getting some output from Ezi. Shooting almost 40% from three, those are some good things we can hang our hat on. Holding the Mercury to just eight fastbreak points and only nine second-chance points, I know rebounding has been our Achilles heel but at least (Brianna) Turner didn’t get loose on the offensive boards.” she told me.

The Phoenix Mercury

Phoenix was led by Tina Charles who has had a career of destroying Seattle over the years whether she’s been with the Sun, Liberty, the Mystics, or now the Mercury. It’s one of the reasons I wrote about how the Storm should pursue Charles this past off-season.

If you want to go back and read that article above you can.

Charles led the Mercury with 22 points and 11 rebounds. She was one of five players to score in double figures for Phoenix. The others were Skylar Diggins-Smith (19 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists), Diana Taurasi (15 points), Diamond DeShields (12), and Shey Peddy (10).

Their bench also outscored Seattle’s 27-19. They also had a 44-26 edge with points in the paint. The Mercury shot 57% (36-63) from the floor and an insane 57% (12-21) from beyond the arc while holding the Storm to just 38% (27-71) on their FG attempts.

Game Breakdown

Gabby Williams got the Storm on the board after grabbing an offensive rebound, dribbling out beyond the arc, and draining a triple to put Seattle up 3-0. Unfortunately, that would be about all the offense Williams would provide in this game.

Shey Peddy had a nifty move dribbling from the paint out to the wing which brought Bird with her. She then quickly drove by Sue and the weakside rotational help was late; Peddy was able to complete the layup and get fouled to tie the game up at 4-4.

Jewell Loyd hit a corner three but on the very next possession, she was blind-sighted by an extremely hard screen from Brianna Turner. Jewell dropped to the ground and was writhing in pain midway through the first quarter holding her right shoulder. Loyd had to be helped to the back for treatment on her injured shoulder.

After the timeout, Bird was able to find Reshanda Gray for an open three-ball that she knocked down to put Seattle back up 10-8.

Both teams battled back-and-forth throughout the remainder of the quarter with Jewell Loyd returning at the end of the period to drain a turn-around three at the buzzer to give Seattle the 18-16 edge after one.

Seattle really struggled in the 2nd quarter scoring just 13 points and being outscored 23-13.

Megan Gustafson for Phoenix had a nice drive, completed the layup, and was fouled by Ezi. She missed the free throw but literally, everyone from both teams just sat there thinking she was shooting two free throws. A mental lapse allowed Gustafson to rebound her miss and put up a baby hook for two additional points.

On the other end, Ezi worked hard through contact. Didn’t get the call but managed to get her own offensive rebound and put it back up over Tina Charles.

Skylar Diggins-Smith did a lot of her damage in the quarter scoring eight of her 19 points in the 2nd period. Jewell Loyd led Seattle with five points.

One fun part of this game was the back and forth between Diana Taurasi and Briann January. They were bumping into each other, flopping at times, and really battling with one another.

With Seattle leading 29-26, the Mercury finished the first half on a 13-2 run to take a 39 to 31 lead at the midway point.

Both teams exchanged multiple three-point baskets to begin the third quarter with Diana Taurasi and Sophie Cunningham connecting for Phoenix and Sue Bird and Jewell Loyd knocking them down for Seattle.

Midway through the third quarter, the Mercury had built their largest lead of the game (up to that point) pushing the score to 58-42 on a Diamond DeShields layup.

After trailing by 16 points, the Storm went on an 8-0 run in just a little over one minute of play. It was capped off by a midrange jumper from Stephanie Talbot after Sue Bird was able to steal the ball away from Diggins-Smith.

They were able to cut the Mercury’s lead down to just five points at 68-63 but Tina Charles knocked down a three at the buzzer of the third quarter which really hurt Seattle’s momentum. Charles had 14 of her 26 points in the period.

Shey Peddy hit another triple to begin the 4th quarter to put Phoenix back up by double digits at 74-63.

With about seven minutes left in the game and the Mercury leading 76-69, Phoenix would finish the game on a 21-8 run to blow the game open.

Jewell Loyd had back-to-back bad-pass turnovers midway through the 4th quarter that led to some easy baskets on the other end.

Diggins-Smith led Phoenix in the final period with nine points. Talbot led Seattle with five points but a lot of those were at the very end in “garbage time”.

By the end, it was a 20-point victory for Phoenix 97 to 77 over Seattle.

Additional Analysis

The Season May Depend on the Health of Mercedes

As training camp opened back in April it was reported that Mercedes Russell would be out for an undisclosed amount of time due to an undisclosed non-basketball injury. We don’t know what happened to Russell (it’s a mystery). We know she played in the Athletes Unlimited league in Las Vegas during the offseason instead of traveling overseas. We know she wouldn’t be ready for any of training camp or the start of the regular season in early May. We now know that she’ll be out AT LEAST 3-5 weeks. That means she’s likely to miss a minimum of 7-10 games. If it’s any more than 5 weeks it’s going to be close to half the season.

Health is almost always the biggest factor in a season being a successful one or not. When the Storm won the WNBA Championship in 2018 and 2020 they were able to stay pretty healthy. While it’s true Bird broke her nose in 2018, she only missed part of one game.

Russell factored in heavily to the Storm’s frontcourt this season. With the departure of Natasha Howard after the 2020 season, Russell became Seattle’s starting center in 2021 and had a breakout season averaging 7.3 PPG on 62% FG shooting and 6.1 RPG. Defensively, she became a much better player and really helped Seattle clog up the middle. She also handled defensive duties against the other elite post players of the WNBA. Right now Seattle is really missing her defense and rebounding.

During the Storm’s loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday, the team was out-rebounded 45-30. In fact, Dearica Hamby (19 rebounds) and A’ja Wilson (15 rebounds) out-rebounded Seattle’s entire team by themselves.

I asked Coach during pregame what the team needed to do to clean up the rebounding problems they saw in Vegas.

“We’ve got to hit shots for one. We gave them a lot of rebounds for them to go get because of that. We took a look at that on film and it was just desire to go get rebounds. Those 50-50 balls did not bounce our way, we did not get to them. As a group, we just have to be committed to securing the bag, securing the rebounds, and finishing off plays. If you look at O-Boards they didn’t get a lot of offensive rebounds but it was the timely ones that were there that we didn’t challenge to go get. It’s just effort. There isn’t anything really schematically that needs to improve. You guys know that we’re trapping, I don’t think it’s about guards being on posts and being out of rotation. Everyone just needs to go get one more. Before that game, I challenged everyone to go get one more than their average. If Stewie’s at 8-9 then go get 10. Everyone just needs to do a little more.” Coach Quinn responded.

On Wednesday evening, Seattle was outrebounded once again 37-29.

Ezi Magbegor has had flashes of being an exciting defensive player in this league. In Wednesday’s game, she had two steals and a blocked shot. Against Las Vegas, she had four blocks and a steal. But she still struggles with picking up too many easy fouls. And she also gets bullied a bit down low by older/stronger post players like Sylvia Fowles, Liz Cambage, Tina Charles, etc.

Mercedes is stronger and has had more success keeping those opposing posts from getting too deep in the paint. She’s at least able to slow down their dominance. Which is not something we’ve consistently seen from Ezi or Stewie.

Until Russell returns the rest of the Storm are going to have to collectively do a better job at rebounding and defending the post.

Gabby Williams Offensive Struggles Are Concerning

While I admit it’s far too early to judge anything from this Storm season. The team is currently 1-2 and things don’t look great. But that doesn’t mean they won’t turn the corner and finish as one of the league’s best teams.

Similarly, Williams so far has really struggled offensively. She hasn’t scored more than five points in any of the three games the team has played so far this season. Against the Aces, she was 0-7 FG shooting for zero points in the game. On Wednesday, against the Mercury, she shot 2-11 FG and had five points. Through three games Gabby is shooting 19% (4-21) from the floor.

“She just has to remain aggressive. She’s getting her looks from a variety of different ways, off the dribble, posting her up, etc. I think she’s best in space. She should continue to work through where she can find her success in our offense. Think of us being free-flowing, the way she can cut and her size. It’s early, it’s an adjustment period for her too. I like the aggressiveness at least. Defensively, if she can get some steals that lead to easy buckets, she’ll turn a corner she’ll get more comfortable in our offense.” Coach Quinn said after this game about Gabby’s offensive struggles.

Fresh off her extremely successful season overseas where she helped lead her team to the Euroleague Championship and was named the tournament’s MVP. We have yet to see her scoring really transition to the WNBA game.

I was uncertain if the Storm truly got the better end of their trade with the LA Sparks for Gabby Williams (sending Katie Lou & their 1st round pick to LA) and wrote about that when the trade went down.

The verdict is obviously still out, especially since Katie Lou hasn’t even suited up for the LA Sparks yet this season. But Seattle is really banking on Gabby becoming a better scorer than she has shown so far throughout her WNBA career.

Obviously, a huge part of this trade was to improve the team’s defense. And I think Williams certainly does that. However, the team has given up 85 and 97 points in back-to-back losses so something isn’t working right now.

I spoke to Coach Quinn about that after the game.

“Cedes being out hurts us in a rebounding sense and (defensively) comfort, just knowing our system and schemes. We have four new players and two of which just joined almost a week ago. This is an early sample size of it, if we had our entire team it would look a little bit different. With everyone playing their role that they’re used to playing in, normal rotations, and understanding schemes. I’m not making any excuses but we haven’t seen our full team out there yet.” Quinn told me.

Seattle sacrificed some of their offense by swapping Katie Lou Samuelson and Jordin Canada for Gabby Williams and Briann January. As the season progresses, we will get to find out whether those moves truly made Seattle a better team or not. If they aren’t getting much scoring beyond Jewell and Stewie it’s going to be a struggle this season.

Jersey Count

The Storm dropped their first game this year while wearing the Black “Rebel” uniforms. The team has yet to wear their Green and Gold “Explorer” jerseys so maybe we’ll see them on Saturday.

Records per jersey type this season:
Rebel: 1-1
Explorer: 0-0
Heroine: 0-1
Overall Record: 1-2

Up Next

The Storm will host the Phoenix Mercury on Saturday, May 14th at 12:00 PM as the teams complete a two-game Home and Home series with one another. It isn’t clear if Breanna Stewart or Epiphanny Prince will be eligible to play in this game. I think it’s more likely that they won’t be available so Seattle will really need to plan a new strategy if they want a different outcome than Wednesday’s game. The game will air nationally on ABC.

Notes: Thanks for everyone’s support. Please refer all your friends who love the WNBA and enjoy in-depth coverage of the Storm and the league overall.

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Photo Credits to Neil Enns/Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography Team.