Balanced attack leads the Storm past the Mercury 82-75
Epiphanny Prince and Katie Lou Samuelson combined for 29 points to lead Seattle over Phoenix.
(Everett, WA) - After a difficult loss on Friday in Phoenix 85-77, the Seattle Storm responded well on Sunday defeating the Mercury 82-75. The victory gave Seattle their 16th win of the season as they improved to a WNBA league-best 16-5 as the team has finished off their pre-Olympic break schedule this season.
The All-Star game will take place on Wednesday, July 14th and then Seattle’s five Olympians are off to Tokyo. Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, and Sue Bird will represent Team USA in the Olympic games. Stephanie Talbot and Ezi Magbegor will represent the Australian National Team in the Olympics. And Katie Lou Samuelson will participate in the 3x3 Basketball tournament representing the United States. Seattle’s ownership honored the Olympians from both teams with flowers prior to the tip-off on Sunday.
Once the game got started, the long-time rivals battled back and forth in an exciting contest with Seattle coming out on top. The Storm really got contributions from everyone that played in this game. This was desperately needed as Breanna Stewart (13 points) and Jewell Loyd (8 points) combined for just 21 points in this game which is normally what Stewie averages by herself.
Epiphanny Prince led Seattle in scoring with 15 points off the bench. Prince finished 4-6 FG, including 3-5 from beyond the arc. Prince was also a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line. This was a much-needed sight as Seattle’s stars were struggling and Prince did not shoot the ball well on Friday against Phoenix, finishing that game 0-7.
Seattle’s reserves outscored Phoenix’s 26-2 with Jordin Canada adding seven points and Kennedy Burke contributing four more. Canada had five rebounds, including getting one away from Brittney Griner, and three assists in the game. Coach Quinn praised her bench after the game.
“First and foremost, Cedes with her defense grabbing 10 rebounds, Piph coming off the bench—and I know a lot of times I have to understand that she won't go over a lot—and then she comes and bounces it back for 15 points. Kennedy Burke had some great minutes and great moments, and then Jordin’s energy, you know. As an entirety, our bench provided a lot and gave us a lift. And then, our starters kind of finished out the game. And understanding Stewie and Jewell carry the load, the bulk of our points, but games like this where we have to kind of push through and fight through some fatigue, whether it's mental or physical, it's important for everyone to contribute and as a collective, we did that.” Coach Quinn said.
After scoring a career-high 14 points on Friday against Phoenix, Katie Lou Samuelson was able to match her career-high with another 14 points on Sunday afternoon. Samuelson scored eight of her 14 points in the first quarter and really gave Seattle a huge boost in the opening quarter when Seattle’s star players were struggling. Samuelson also finished with four rebounds and two steals in the game.
I asked Katie Lou how her success overseas in Spain has impacted her game in the WNBA this season.
“I think just playing free and getting me a little more confidence is what came from that (her time overseas in Spain). You know I’m just trying to play free and do whatever I can to help the team.” Samuelson said after the game.
Sue Bird had 13 points including eight in the second half that helped Seattle extend their lead. And Mercedes Russell finished with a near double-double scoring eight points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Russell also did an excellent job limiting Brittney Griner who finished with 16 points and nine rebounds in this game.
While Griner still had a strong game overall, she wasn’t nearly as dominant as she was on Friday where she put up 29 points and had 15 rebounds. Seattle sent double and even triple teams at Griner in this game forcing her to pass the ball out of the traps or take contested shots with multiple hands in her face.
The Storm defense also did a better job on Skylar Diggins-Smith, which was a priority for Seattle according to Coach Noelle Quinn when she spoke to media prior to the tip. Diggins-Smith had 26 points on Friday but was held in check scoring 17 points in Seattle on Sunday. In total, Seattle limited Griner and Diggins-Smith to 33 points which was 22 points better than the game before (55-33).
Coach Quinn praised her team’s adjustments between the first game on Friday and Sunday’s contest against Phoenix.
“Mercedes Russell just kind of doing her work early on Griner, being active with her and where we were coming from, where we're sending our help and our rotations. And the biggest thing is our communication. I thought that a lot of times down in Phoenix, two players were going towards one and we weren't talking about rotating. But today we had fewer possessions with hesitancy and fewer possessions of miscommunication, so I think that's the biggest thing with Griner. And then with Diggins, just kind of being in her space a little bit more. She got ten free throws, but I just thought we were more attentive to detail with those two.” Quinn said.
If it wasn’t for the red-hot shooting of Kia Nurse, the Storm would have been able to cruise to the victory. Nurse scored a game-high 28 points including drilling 7-14 three-pointers. Her clutch three-point shooting allowed the Mercury to recover from an 18-point 2nd half deficit and keep the game competitive late into the 4th quarter.
Game Breakdown
After scoring a career-high 14 points in Friday’s game in Phoenix, Katie Lou Samuelson was aggressive to start this game scoring six of Seattle’s eight points to begin the game.
The Storm led 13-12 when the Mercury went on an 8-0 run. Skylar Diggins-Smith forced a foul at the three-point line against Jewell Loyd where Loyd was crushed into Brittney Griner’s shoulder. Loyd lay on the floor holding her nose/face for a few moments. Kia Nurse drained a three and Brittney Griner scored an easy reverse layup down low to put the Mercury up seven at 20-13.
Jordin Canada snapped the 8-0 Phoenix run by drawing a foul after aggressively attacking the basket. Canada sank both free throws. Katie Lou Samuelson got a nice layup after some fancy footwork and Epiphanny Prince sank a mid-range jumper to cut the Mercury’s lead to one at 20-19.
Kia Nurse hit another triple and then Prince closed the quarter with a nice move in the paint that drew the third foul against Brianna Turner. Prince sank both free throws to cut the Mercury’s lead to just two points after one, 23-21.
It was impressive that Seattle was within just two as both Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd were held scoreless in the quarter. Katie Lou was fantastic in the opening frame leading Seattle with eight points on 4-5 FG shooting. Bird added five and Prince added four more.
The Storm started the 2nd quarter on a 9-0 run. Prince hit a three and got fouled on a layup that had Skylar Diggins-Smith hopping mad at the call. Mercedes had a nice driving layup down the middle and Kennedy Burke capped it off with a steal at midcourt racing down the other way for two more. With Seattle leading 30-23 the Phoenix Mercury were forced to call timeout.
The home team would make it an 11-0 run before Phoenix scored five quick points with a three by Diggins-Smith and an offensive put-back by Griner.
Stewart scored her first points of the game more than three minutes into the second period. Jewell Loyd didn’t score her first points until five minutes into the 2nd quarter. Despite that Seattle had actually opened up a double-digit lead over Phoenix.
Seattle’s bench was a big reason for this as Epiphanny Prince scored nine points, Jordin Canada and Kennedy Burke each added four apiece off the bench in the first half.
Seattle led 44-39 after two quarters of play. Prince led the team with nine points while Katie Lou Samuelson added eight (all in the first quarter). Griner led Phoenix with 10 points. Skylar Diggins-Smith had nine-point and Kia Nurse added eight.
The Storm shot the ball better between the two teams in the first half shooting 51% (18-35) compared to 42% (15-36) for the Mercury. Seattle had a slight 19-17 edge in rebounding, while Phoenix held the 12-10 edge in assists.
Jewell Loyd knocked down a three and Sue Bird followed that up with two more to give Seattle a 9-2 start to the third period. Katie Lou was aggressive scoring some in the paint and drawing fouls. Breanna Stewart then hit another three, Seattle’s fourth of the period (within five minutes) to push their lead to 18 points at 59-41 (Part of a 15-2 run).
The Mercury went on an 8-0 run, including two triples from Nurse and a turnaround jumper near the baseline by Griner. This cut the Storm’s lead back to 10 at 61-51. Phoenix finished the quarter on a 13-2 run before Epiphanny Prince knocked down another three for Seattle in the final seconds of the third.
Seattle entered the fourth quarter leading 66-56. Prince led the team with 12 points. Samuelson and Sue Bird were the next leading scorers with 11. Kia Nurse led the Mercury with 17 points. Griner added 14 more and Diggins-Smith had 11.
Nurse opened up the fourth quarter scoring five more points on another three-ball and getting to the foul line for two more. Stewie and Prince equaled that on the other end to make it 71-61 two minutes into the final period.
Samuelson missed two free throws and then Diggins-Smith converted a layup on the other end to cut the Storm’s lead back down to nine at 72-63.
Nurse connected on another three, her sixth of the game to cut Seattle’s lead to just six points at 72-66. Samuelson responded with another three to put Seattle back up nine, but then was late coming over for help defense against Diggins-Smith and fouled her. Diggins-Smith completed the AND1 opportunity.
Jewell Loyd hit a three-pointer over Brittney Griner that secured the victory for Seattle to push their three-point lead back to six. Sue Bird was then able to connect on a running jumper as the shot clock buzzer expired to put the Storm back up eight.
Diggins-Smith drew a foul before they got the ball inbounds allowing her to go to the foul line for a bonus free throw. She drained that and then Griner quickly hit a turnaround jumper to pull the Mercury within five at 80-75.
Stewart was able to collect an offensive rebound and Phoenix was forced to foul with less than 24 seconds remaining in the game. Stewart connected on both free throws that made the final score 82-75.
Additional Analysis
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Despite losing Alysha Clark, Natasha Howard, and Sami Whitcomb in the offseason the Seattle Storm are the #1 team in the WNBA (16-5) as every team has reached the Olympic break.
I think most people would consider the Storm’s performance to be a major success so far this season. When you go outside the Seattle bubble and look at media and fans from other WNBA cities most people wrote off the Storm as serious contenders this year because of the talent they lost. Many had them out of the Top 3 and I might have seen them as low as sixth or seventh in some people’s predictions.
After Sunday’s victory, I asked Breanna Stewart if the team is playing above expectations or on par with what she expected so far this season.
“I think with all of these new players, it was a huge opportunity. I wouldn’t say things have been better or worse than expected. I would say they’re on par. We knew the people we were bringing in and everyone bought into the system. And we battled! I think the way the first half of this season has gone, there’s been a lot of adversity. There’s been a lot of bumps. A lot of games without players. But to be number one for this break is huge.” Stewart told me.
“What I'm most proud of is our ability to be resilient and bounce back. Our ability to just kind of lock-in and understand we are still getting to know each other as a group. But at this point, we are trending in the right direction. You know, understanding what is successful for this group, understanding that every game kind of has looked different in who's our leading scorer, leading rebounder. But all in all, this gets us through the ups and downs, the lows the highs of our season right now.” Coach Quinn added about the team’s performance through these first 21 games.
“Obviously, we've had players gone and different lineups, but at the end of the day, I think it’s just about bringing energy, playing alongside one another. We're meshing very well and obviously, we're going to go into this break and Stewie is going to come back with a gold medal, Lou is going to come back with a medal. I'm going to the beach, but when we come back, obviously that's the second half of the season, so it's good that we're playing well together now.” Mercedes Russell said.
Life without Diana Taurasi
In two of the last three seasons, Diana Taurasi has dealt with some significant injuries that have caused her to miss a ton of time on the court. In 2018, the Mercury were on their way to the WNBA Finals until an epic 4th quarter performance by Sue Bird eliminated them in Game 5 of the semi-finals series. Since then, the team lost talented All-Star DeWanna Bonner and Taurasi has dealt with multiple injuries.
In 2019, Taurasi played in just six of 34 games averaging a career-low 4.3 PPG on 10% field goal shooting and just 4% from beyond the arc. A major back injury limited her playing time and when she was on the court she was absolutely awful. I honestly thought her career was done.
But like the true warrior she is, she rebounded in 2020 averaging 18.7 PPG and nearly 38% from the three-point range. Only missing three games all season and averaging over 28 MPG.
Unfortunately for Phoenix, Taurasi has been injured a lot again in 2021. First with a cracked sternum and now with an injured hip. DT has played in just seven of the Mercury’s 19 games. She’s averaging 15.6 PPG in those seven games, but her shooting is down again about 4% in both overall FG and 3-PT FG%.
The Mercury are 3-4 in games Taurasi has played and 6-6 in the games without her. I’m not saying they’re better without Taurasi but they are going to have to rebuild around their younger stars soon as I don’t feel Phoenix will be competing for a Championship before Taurasi has to retire.
Phoenix should focus on building around Griner and Diggins-Smith. I think their GM deserves a lot of credit for turning the loss of DeWanna Bonner into multiple draft picks that landed them Skylar Diggins-Smith. While I believe the trio of Taurasi, Griner, and Bonner was a more formidable team than this new trio, I still consider the acquisition of Diggins-Smith to be an excellent move by the franchise.
They were then able to acquire Kia Nurse this past offseason. But it did cost them their first-round1 pick which was sent to New York, then Seattle, and eventually to Minnesota. And they’ll have to make an important decision if they want to sign her to an expensive contract extension after this season.
Nurse is having a decent season averaging 9.7 PPG in 27.3 MPG but is shooting just 33% from the field. She obviously has a lot of potential as she’s been an All-Star and scored a game-high 28 points on Sunday. But her play has been very inconsistent this season. It’ll be interesting to see what they decide to do with her after this season.
The Mercury also declined to pick up the team options to retain Sophie Cunningham and Alanna Smith (two of their draft picks from 2019). Both players will be Unrestricted Free Agents in 2022. Smith has especially been a disappointment after being selected 8th overall.
Phoenix depth has been an issue in the past three seasons but injuries to Taurasi and Bria Hartley have also been problematic. Will they be able to turn this team around and build a legit contender or do they need to start thinking about life without Diana Taurasi?
Jersey Count
The Seattle Storm finished their pre-Olympic schedule with a victory while wearing their Rebel black uniforms. They improved their record to above .500 while wearing the Rebel jerseys (4-3). They also finished the pre-Olympic part of the schedule wearing the Rebel blacks, which is how they started this season when they defeated Las Vegas in the first game this year. Check out the tally below to see how the team has done in each uniform set.
Records per jersey type this season:
Rebel: 4-3
Explorer: 5-1
Heroine: 7-1
Overall Record: 16-5
Up Next
The All-Star Game, the Olympics, and a vacation! Sue Bird, Jewell Loyd, and Breanna Stewart will head to Las Vegas for the WNBA All-Star game and festivities that will take place on Wednesday, July 14th. Loyd will also participate in the three-point shooting competition where she will face off against Allie Quigley, Jonquel Jones, and Sami Whitcomb. After that, Seattle’s six Olympians (Bird, Loyd, Stewart, Magbegor, Talbot, and Samuelson) will head to Tokyo where they will all participate in the 2020/2021 Olympic games. For the rest of the Storm players, it sounds like they will be given at least two weeks off from team activities. Mercedes Russell mentioned she’s headed to the beach during the post-game press conference.
The team will play in the Commissioner’s Cup in Phoenix, Arizona against the Connecticut Sun on August 12th with $500K in prize money on the line. After that, they continue the 2nd half of the WNBA season on August 15th in Chicago against the Sky.
The Storm have 11 games remaining in their regular season and will begin the post-Olympic schedule by playing five games on the road. They then return to Everett on August 27th and will play five of their final six games at home before the playoffs begin.
Editor’s Note: Thank you for your support! If you know any Storm fans that aren’t currently aware of my coverage through Substack and Twitter (@WNBAStormChaser), please let them know. Word of mouth can be super helpful and is greatly appreciated! Photo Credits to Neil Enns/Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography.