Seattle's New Big 3 leads them to a win over Atlanta 72-60

Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, and Ezi Magbegor scored 57 of the team's 72 points in the victory.

(Seattle, WA) - The Storm picked up an important win against the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday night 72-60. Seattle finished off their eight-game homestand with a 5-3 record. It only gets more difficult from here as the team heads out on the road for five straight games.

This was an excellent litmus test to see how each of these two teams stack up compared to the rest of the league. Atlanta entered Tuesday’s contest with an impressive 7-4 record. Seattle had lost two in a row and came into this game 5-5.

Both of these two teams have excelled at defense but have been limited offensively. That held true in this game as the Dream were held to 18 points or less in all four quarters. The Storm had just enough offense primarily from Jewell Loyd and Breanna Stewart to pick up the victory.

“Tanisha has her squad playing hard. Kudos to what’s going on over there. For us, it’s good to finally get to a point where the other team goes on a run and we respond in a big way. We had some good contributions from everyone. Big offensive rebounds from Jewell and Gabby. We shot the ball decently. We defended well enough. Holding a team to 60. These are the things we want to hang our hat on. I just felt there was good energy and good effort. And I’m just happy to be walking away with the win.” Coach Quinn said in her opening statement to the media.

Seattle was led by Jewell Loyd who scored 26 points on 8-17 FG. Loyd talked to the media after the game about her big scoring night.

“I think I was getting good rhythm shots from my teammates getting me open and taking what the defense gave me. Just trying to make the game as simple as possible. Every night defenses, we don’t know what they’re going to do. Regardless, if they double me then I can get the ball to these guys (she gestured to Stewie and Ezi) and we’re in good hands. I got into a rhythm early and it kept going.” Loyd stated.

Breanna Stewart added 19 points and seven rebounds. Ezi Magbegor added 12 points including two three-pointers, seven rebounds, and five blocks!

Ezi has made three-point baskets in two consecutive games. I spoke to Coach Quinn about that and how that can help open up their offense even more moving forward.

“It helps a lot, especially because we thrive on our spacing. When the floor looks a little bit wider for Jewell to attack and get to her spots. It helps tremendously. Obviously, we love the three-ball. We take the most threes in the league or near the top in that. It’s about being efficient in those takes. Ezi works on it. Part of her growth and progression is she’s able, willing, and capable. It allows us to have multiple threats, besides Sue, Jewell, and Stewie. The spacing becomes less compact. Teams will still collapse defensively but now we can take advantage of that.” Quinn told me.

“I think this year I’m having a bigger focus on my defense, helping out my teammates, and being there on the help side. With the threes, that’s something I’m really trying to work on. It creates for other people. The paint isn’t so congested if people are actually guarding me out there. It just creates more opportunities for my teammates.” Ezi told the Seattle media.

Magbegor continues to impress on both ends of the court. She leads the league in blocked shots per game (3.1 BPG). And she’s now averaging double-digit scoring. Ezi is growing into that next big franchise piece for the Seattle Storm.

Defensively Ezi has taken her game to another level this season. I also spoke to Coach Quinn about that and where she sees the most growth.

“It’s the how and the why. She’s getting there because now she knows a lot about our systems. The why to it, why you need to be in help side, why you need to be in low man, or why you need to be in certain principles. The confidence comes from having experience in the system. You think about her athletic ability. You think about her natural talent and gifts. You put that in with now understanding where you should be. She’s plugging holes, she’s aggressive. She’s very active and those are things that we need.” Quinn answered.

With the way Magbegor continues to develop and grow, we could be looking at a new Big 3 in Seattle.

Despite the 12-point victory Seattle only won a few of the statistical categories. Both teams shot poorly but Seattle was better offensively, connecting on 25-61 FG (41%) while holding Atlanta to 25-69 FG (36%). More importantly, the Storm made 8-27 three-point field goals (30%) while the Dream made just 2-19 (11%). Seattle held a small edge in assists (18-15). They also had a 9-2 advantage in blocked shots primarily thanks to Magbegor. Seattle’s efficiency from the foul line was also key. Both teams had a similar amount of attempts but the Storm made 93% of their foul shots compared to just 62% for Atlanta.

The Atlanta Dream

Atlanta had four players score in double figures but their leading scorer was Cheyenne Parker who scored just 13 points. Parker had a double-double as she also grabbed 10 rebounds. Kristy Wallace continues to play well for Atlanta in her rookie season (drafted in 2018). She scored 12 points and led the team in assists with four. Monique Billings provided a spark off the bench with 11 points and nine rebounds. Rookie of the Year hopeful, Rhyne Howard, scored 11 points, grabbed six rebounds, and had three steals but she really had to work for her points. She did not have a great shooting night as Gabby Williams took the primary defensive assignment on her. Howard finished the game shooting 5-17 FG including 0-6 from beyond the arc.

“Guarding a scorer is not just one person’s responsibility, it’s everyone’s. Gabby started off by getting into her, staying with her, and making it a little difficult for her. It was honestly a team effort, everything tonight. All the matchups. We were constantly talking on the flare screens. Our game plan was pretty good.

She’s going to be a great player. She’s put in the work early. You’ve seen her talent. The league’s in good hands. I told her that tonight. She’s going to be amazing. As long as she puts in the work and keeps going she’ll be one of the greats for sure. But for right now she’s learning.” Loyd told me after the game regarding Rhyne Howard.

The Dream did some good things in this game. They held the Storm under 15 points in the 2nd and 4th quarters of the game. They outrebounded Seattle 37-31. Atlanta had a 26-14 edge with points in the paint and a 10-7 advantage in fastbreak points. They also forced Seattle into 19 turnovers and had 12 steals which was really impressive.

I spoke to Coach Quinn about that last bit and asked what they need to do to clean that up.

“They’re scoring off of our turnovers. We aren’t a high turnover team. What it was previously, was (committing) the timely ones when we had low turnovers. But now we’re getting the steals and just throwing the ball away. We’re trying to make homerun passes. In those moments, we just need to focus and be sure. With other turnovers coming with traps and denials. With the controllable ones, we have to limit those. That’s just locking in and just making the short pass and not trying to gamble so much.” Quinn explained.

Game Breakdown

Rhyne Howard scored the game’s first basket. Jewell Loyd was able to respond for Seattle. Loyd had the hot hand early as she scored Seattle’s first seven points.

Ezi was active on the glass picking up three rebounds, including an offensive rebound and putback layup. Atlanta’s Coach Tanisha Wright called timeout three minutes into the game with the Storm leading 9-4.

Breanna Stewart struggled with her shot early in this game missing her first six shots. She would regain her shooting touch as the game moved forward.

Atlanta committed a lot of turnovers in the opening period. The sign of a young and still inexperienced team. Jewell picked off a bad pass and was able to draw a foul on the fastbreak.

Monique Billings had a nice cut to the basket, made the layup, and was fouled for the AND1. It helped Atlanta cut the lead to just five points 17-12 with under two minutes to play in the first quarter.

Stewie ended her scoring drought by hitting a three at the top of the perimeter. Rhyne Howard scored a basket in the final couple of seconds to cut the Storm’s lead to 20-15 after one.

The first quarter was extremely sloppy by both parties. Each team had committed six turnovers for 12 turnovers total.

Cheyenne Parker scored four points to begin the second quarter. One was a real nice reverse layup. It capped off a 12-3 run by Atlanta and forced Coach Noelle Quinn to call a timeout with Seattle’s 10-point lead down to just one at 20-19.

An offensive rebound and putback by Nia Coffey allowed Atlanta to take their first lead 21-20. But back-to-back baskets by Epiphanny Prince and Breanna Stewart put Seattle back up by three.

Jantel Lavender checked into the game with about five minutes left in the second quarter. That’s much later than she has been subbing into the game.

Seattle gave up multiple offensive rebounds that eventually led to a Rhyne Howard offensive rebound. Parker was able to draw another foul on Stewart and converted both free throws.

Sue Bird broke Kristy Wallace’s ankles and drained a jumper.

Seattle Storm @seattlestorm

Sue's breaking ankles! 🔥 @S10Bird x #WNBAAllStar

Rhyne Howard split a pair of free throws and Monique Billings made another shot.

Coach Noelle Quinn finally picked up a technical foul after arguing with the ref after he made a bogus offensive foul call on Stewart. Kristy Wallace was putting her hands all over Stewie so she brushed her hand off of her and the ref called an offensive foul.

Aari McDonald hit the technical free throw to end the first half with Seattle leading 34-33.

Bird got the Storm off to a good start in the 2nd half with a made three-point basket. Nia Coffey then committed a flagrant offensive foul hitting Stewart in the jaw. Stewie made the two free throws to put the Storm up six at 39-33.

Atlanta picked up their 5th team foul in just a little over two minutes of the third quarter. Stewart took advantage making all four of her free throws during that time. Seattle would go on a 14-4 run through the first five and a half minutes of the period to take a 48-37 lead.

Magbegor’s defense continues to shine this season. She’s the league leader in blocks.

Seattle Storm @seattlestorm

"N🚫PE!" - @ezimagbegor #WNBAAllStar

Kristy Wallace hit a three and Rhyne Howard converted an offensive rebound to cut the lead down to three forcing Coach Quinn to call another timeout.

Whatever she said during the timeout worked as the Storm finished the quarter on a 12-2 run. Jewell scored seven of those points including a three at the buzzer. Ezi also made a three during that run. Something Magbegor is getting more and more comfortable with.

Loyd opened the 4th quarter with four additional points. She had totaled 11 points in roughly three minutes between the end of the third and beginning of the 4th quarters. This put Seattle up 17-points at 64-47. That should have been the game right there but it was not.

Atlanta wasn’t ready to give up just yet. They rallied and went on a 13-0 run. Kristy Wallace had seven of those points during their run with Parker, Billings, and McDonald each making a basket.

Stewie ended the 13-0 run with a much-needed three-pointer to put the Storm back up seven points at 67-60.

Gabby Williams came up with a huge offensive rebound. She tossed it out to the top of the perimeter. But then Bird realized no one was guarding her down low and passed the ball back to Williams who converted the layup to put Seattle up nine.

Seattle’s defense was able to get another stop with Breanna Stewart getting a rejection. Then they found Ezi Magbegor in the corner for another three to put the nail in the coffin. The Storm led 72-60 with under a minute to play and that would end up being the final score of the game.

I talked with Stewie after the game about the strong efforts in the first and third periods; the lackluster offense in the 2nd and 4th (scoring just 14 and 12 points in those quarters) and what the differences were there.

“After coming off of two losses, we wanted to come out in that first quarter and be aggressive. We did that. The same in the third. The third is usually having our little lull but I think the fact we held them to 14 (points); we were able to get to the basket, score, and get to the free throw line very early. That’s what we wanted. And yeah, we need to play better in the 2nd and the 4th. I’d say in the 4th quarter the tempo definitely slowed down on both ends but when we needed big shots we got them.” Stewart said.

Additional Analysis

Atlanta Only Beats Bad Teams

Or you could say Atlanta has only lost to the top contenders. Just as I thought the Dallas and Seattle matchup was going to be very interesting because you had the more experienced veteran team in Seattle (the old guard) going up against what I think is one of the more promising young squads in the league. I was just as intrigued by Tuesday’s matchup against Atlanta.

There has been a pretty clear pattern in Atlanta’s 7-4 start to their season heading into Tuesday’s contest against Seattle. Three of their wins came against the league-worst Indiana Fever (3-10). They also have wins against the Minnesota Lynx (3-9), Phoenix Mercury (3-8), and Los Angeles Sparks (5-7).

Through 12 games and seven victories, Atlanta has only beaten one team with a winning record. The Dream’s best victory came in their first game of the season where they defeated the Dallas Wings 66-59 in a game where Dallas was without Satou Sabally.

By contrast, if you take a look at their losses this season. They’ve primarily only lost to the best teams in the league. They’ve lost two games to the Washington Mystics (7-5). They were shellacked by the Las Vegas Aces (10-2) by 23 points. And they lost to the Chicago Sky (7-3).

Now they’ve lost to the Storm (6-5) by 12 points. Had Atlanta come into Seattle and beat the Storm in their own building that would have been a very bad sign for the outlook of this season. It would indicate to me that Seattle is either a bad team or at least a below-average team. If this had happened, Seattle’s record would be below .500 which would underline that fact.

Fortunately, I don’t have to write about that. I can’t say for certain that the Storm are an elite contender. I don’t like what I’ve seen out of their offense through 11 games. They are an elite defensive team. Currently ranked 2nd in the WNBA in Defensive Rating 93.7.

Bench Struggles

What in the world has happened? What is supposed to be a massive strength for this team has become a major liability. Seattle’s bench has really been struggling as of late. To begin this season the bench with Epiphanny Prince, Stephanie Talbot, and Jantel Lavender looked excellent. The reserves had outscored the opponent’s in four of their first six games this season. And the two games they didn’t from that group of games were the two games Breanna Stewart and Epiphanny Prince missed.

But over these last five games, the Storm’s bench has been outscored in every single game! And in three of the five, they’ve been held to single-digit scoring.

Their inability to score in an effective manner as of late has also led to the Storm losing leads they’ve built against the opposition. Most notably in the game against Connecticut but it’s happened elsewhere as well.

You can review the bench scoring per game below.

Game 1: SEA 39 - MN 26
Game 2: SEA 23 - LVA 8
Game 3: PHX 27 - SEA 19
Game 4: PHX 20 - SEA 13
Game 5: SEA 22 - CHI 12
Game 6: SEA 22 - LAS 11
Game 7: NYL 14 - SEA 4
Game 8: NYL 26 - SEA 23
Game 9: DAL 9 - SEA 2
Game 10: CON 33 - 18 SEA 18
Game 11: ATL 19 - SEA 6

Conversely, if you want to take a positive spin from those numbers we can. Seattle’s reserves have scored 20+ points in five of their 11 games this season (nearly 50%). If you drop that number to 18+ points it’s seven of their 11 games. Which is actually quite good. If you can get 15-25 points from your bench per game, you will win a ton of basketball games. The talent is certainly there they just have to be more consistent.

Part of the issue is likely incorporating Mercedes Russell back into the rotation. Russell came back during the Dallas game and has been trying to get back into basketball shape as she returns from injury. So far the results have not been good. Whatever the injury was, it’s certainly caused a lot of problems.

While I know plus/minus isn’t the best stat to use for an individual player, Russell is currently a -35 (negative 35) in the plus/minus category through three games. That means when Cedes is out on the court the Storm have been outscored by 35 points. That is really, really bad.

Obviously, the hope is that her play and experience improve over time. That this pays off in the long run; late in the season and (ideally) in the playoffs, we are seeing more of the 2019 and 2021 Mercedes Russell.

As far as the bench as a unit. The biggest concern is that it is trending in a negative direction with two of their last three games scoring just six points or less per contest. That leads me to my next topic.

Another Roster Move on the Way?

Could the Seattle Storm look to make a move to bring in some more offensive firepower to help the bench? I haven’t had a chance to talk with the salary cap experts so I’m not 100% positive this is even feasible. But if it is, I would have to think Seattle’s General Manager Talisa Rhea could at least be considering making another move.

Assuming it is possible to cut one of the non-guaranteed contracts and sign a different player, in theory, the Storm could cut a player and add a different player to the roster this season.

Since Mercedes Russell returned to the rotation, we’ve seen a major dip in the minutes played for Reshanda Gray. Gray played five minutes against Dallas and has been a DNP (Did Not Play) - Coach’s Decision over the past two games against Connecticut and Atlanta.

Right now from what I’ve seen, the Storm really haven’t gotten nearly enough from their wing positions (Shooting Guard and Small Forward). Gabby Williams has brought a lot of good positives to the team but scoring isn’t one of them. Stephanie Talbot has regressed and I’m sure her catching Covid didn’t help matters. Talbot finished with zero points on Tuesday against Atlanta and had zero points against Dallas the week before.

Epiphanny Prince started the year off great with back-to-back games scoring in double figures. And three of her first four games she had tallied eight points or more. Lately, things have gone downhill. Piph scored just two points total in the two games against New York. She was held scoreless against Dallas and hasn’t scored more than five points in a game in roughly three weeks!

If Gabby, Piph, and Steph aren’t really scoring that is definitely a problem for this team. Because it puts so much pressure on Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd to both be 20+ PPG players. And while they are both certainly capable of that. It doesn’t leave any wiggle room for Jewell to have a game where she only scores 8-12 points. Or Stewie only scores 10-15. And we all know those things will happen throughout the year.

Could GM Talisa Rhea look to bring back Kaela Davis who scored 11 points in her one game with the Storm? What about some other WNBA players that have been cut this season and not yet picked up by anyone else?

There are names out there. Do you take a flyer on Angel McCoughtry if she can pass a physical? What about Te’a Cooper who was surprisingly cut by the Los Angeles Sparks at the end of training camp? Cooper averaged over 8.0 PPG for the Sparks over the past two seasons.

While I would probably look at Davis or Cooper. They could also take a look at some top college players from the 2021 draft that aren’t currently on WNBA teams. Arella Guirantes averaged more than 20.0 PPG during her Junior and Senior years at Rutgers before being drafted by the LA Sparks. She was known for being a prolific scorer. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that she could sign on with Seattle and at some point be a good weapon off the bench when they need points.

What about Rennia Davis out of Tennessee who was drafted by the Minnesota Lynx 9th overall but suffered an injury in 2021? Davis was another strong scorer in college averaging between 15.0 and 18.0 PPG during her Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years. Davis also has good height at 6’2” and averaged roughly 8.0 RPG as well during her NCAA career.

Yes, I understand Davis and Guirantes have yet to prove it at the WNBA level. And there are tons of players that dominate in college and simply don’t transition to the next level. But with that said, I think the team needs to be proactive here.

Seattle already made the mistake of cutting Kennedy Burke. A move that shocked me at the end of training camp. Burke is currently averaging nearly 9.0 PPG with the Washington Mystics. Do you think the Storm could use a player like that on their bench right now?

If the Storm are pretty confident that Mercedes Russell can return to form as the season progresses and if they don’t envision Reshanda Gray getting a lot of playing time as she would be playing behind Stewie, Ezi, Jantel, and Cedes on the depth chart. Then I would seriously consider making a move to bring in another SG/SF that has the potential or proven ability to put up points.

This can be a move for the present and the future. If the team brings in a Te’a Cooper, Rennia Davis, or Arella Guirantes and they show a lot of promise. That can become a really strong depth piece for the 2023 season. Especially, considering the team has just two players under contract for next season.

I’d love to hear what you guys think? If you have any opinions on this topic, sound off in the comments section below.

Jersey Count

Seattle was back in their white and green “Heroine” uniforms on Tuesday night against Atlanta. It brought them good luck as they picked up a double-digit win and improved to 3-1 in this specific jersey set.

Records per jersey type this season:
Rebel: 2-1
Explorer: 1-3
Heroine: 3-1
Overall Record: 6-5

Up Next

A five-game road trip that begins with back-to-back games against the Dallas Wings. The first game is this Friday, June 10th at 5:00 PM local time. Dallas embarrassed Seattle 68-51 last Friday but Seattle was still missing Sue Bird and Ezi Magbegor for that game. The Storm will have to prove that result was just a fluke and not a legitimate representation of where the two teams currently stand.

Notes: Thanks for everyone’s support, it’s greatly appreciated! Please refer all your friends who love the WNBA and enjoy in-depth coverage of the Storm and the league overall. The more I can grow this substack the more I’ll be able to do in regards to covering the Storm and the WNBA.

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Photo Credits to Neil Enns/Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography Team and sometimes my own.