Storm Crush Wings 95-71

Seattle improves to 4-0 on their current homestand.

(Seattle, WA) - For the second time in three days, the Seattle Storm (13-6) dominated the Dallas Wings (4-15). An even wider margin in this game than during Saturday’s contest where they won 97-76. Once again, Jewell Loyd led the way nearly scoring 30 points for the third game in a row. Loyd finished with 26 points on 8-14 FG shooting and 3-6 FG from the three-point line. Seattle used a 34-13 third quarter to turn this game into a blowout. Ultimately, the Storm won the game 95-71. Seattle has now won eight games in a row at home. They’ve done an excellent job of protecting home-court advantage.

Seattle had three players reach double-digit scoring. Nneka Ogwumike finished with 14 points, five rebounds, and four assists. Ezi Magbegor added 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds. While only three players scored in double figures, the Storm had seven players score eight points or more. That included Jordan Horston, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Joyner Holmes, and Sami Whitcomb.

Jewell Loyd talked to me about the team’s strong second half that secured the victory.

“Really just communication in the locker room. We're seeing a lot of things that we may see in the first quarter and then the reps in the second half. This team is very smart too, so we're able to just kind of manipulate certain things on offense and get things going. But a lot of it's because our defense was able to get going. And I think this started this half, we had a great ball movement, a good AND1 from Nneka, and that kind of set the tone for how we want to play. So we want to make sure that we start each quarter and end each quarter really well.” Loyd stated.

Coach Noelle Quinn also talked about the team’s second-half adjustments.

“The message was whose adjustment is going to be greater. And we talked about in the shoot-around notes, the two games are the same. And the third quarter, the previous game, we put our foot on the gas. And that was a sentiment to know that Dallas was gonna be more aggressive, which they were to start the game. 20 points in the first quarter. But that we need to stay sharp, locked in, focused, disciplined, all those synonyms. And I thought that the team responded in a great way.” Quinn replied.

The Storm outshot the Wings 45% (32-71 FG) to 42% (26-62 FG). They out-rebounded them 33-31. That included three more offensive rebounds than Dallas. Seattle had the edge in assists at 22-18 and fast break points at 14-4. Notably, the home team forced Dallas into 18 turnovers and scored 24 points off of those mistakes. They had a 13-point advantage in points off of turnovers.

Seattle’s bench outscored Dallas’s 27-13. The bench played almost the entire fourth quarter as four of Seattle’s starters sat the final 10 minutes of the game with Seattle up by 30+ points.

Dallas Wings

Natasha Howard was the Wing’s best player on Monday night. She finished the game with 15 points on 7-13 FG and pulled down six rebounds. She made some nice plays and Coach Quinn talked about that after the game.

“Because we were loaded she does what she does as far as just playing well in space, cutting. When we're kind of in our rotations to her, her talent of using her footwork. Sometimes traveling but that’s neither here nor there. And her athleticism and then on the back side she got a three. Only one that didn't hurt us, but just her ability to play in space and be a hooper, honestly, play with her instincts.” Quinn answered.

Seattle did a much better job defending Teaira McCowan than the last game. McCowan finished Saturday’s game with a perfect 7-7 FG and 15 points. But on Monday, the Storm held her in check. She ended with seven points but two of those points came in garbage time of the fourth quarter. Teaira finished the game shooting 3-7 FG.

Coach Quinn talked about Seattle’s defensive adjustments compared to Saturday’s game.

“I think one thing that came into play was them starting Odyssey, and we knew that aggressive level for the guard may take a couple of those looks away from McCowan. But to start the game, we were better on the ball with the pressuring. Nneka was off a little bit the first game of Tash, and we adjusted to that in that first game, but we started that way this year, so a lot of those post-entries were a little bit more pressure, difficult, harder to see. And then I thought Ezi did a better job of trying to stay in front and not get buried underneath, and it was a team effort in that way.” Quinn added.

Arike Ogunbowale finished with 21 points but she scored 10 of those during the fourth quarter once Jordan Horston and the rest of Seattle’s starters were seated on the bench. Arike was visibly frustrated throughout the game. Entering the fourth quarter she had made just three of her first 12 shots. She finished the game shooting 6-18 FG.

Horston talked about the challenge of defending Ogunbowale.

“Yeah, she's a great player, so we had to switch things up. A lot of the coverage just was different throughout the game, and that's just us being locked in on her. She's a great player, so we had to throw different looks at her.” Horston replied.

I asked Jordan if she could see Arike getting frustrated and if she feeds off of that. And asked what specifically she felt bothered Ogunbowale so much.

“Oh yeah, I love that! There's nothing really different that I did. It's just my length, I feel like it bothers her a little bit because I can play off her and still contest, have a good contest on the three. But yeah, it's just how I usually play defense. I just take away a strong hand. I don't wanna give away all my tips or anything, but my length is a big positive for my defense. So I feel like, just me being, as long and athletic, I would step on smaller guards and stay in front of them.” She told me.

Game Breakdown

Jewell Loyd was able to steal the ball before it got to Teaira McCowan. She raced down the court and made a deep jumper. Dallas scored on their next possession as McCowan got the offensive rebound and found Arike Ogunbowale open for a three. Natasha Howard then got switched onto Jewell Loyd and was able to score inside the paint against her to put Dallas up three early at 5-2. Jordan Horston then got a steal on a pass headed toward Ogunbowale and was able to race down the court and finish past the defense.

Odyssey Sims got two free throws and then Natasha Howard made a midrange jumper as the Wings extended their lead to five. Ezi Magbegor got two free throws but Sims was able to quickly score down the lane on the other end. The two teams continued to swap points. Skylar Diggins-Smith was fouled and made both free throws. McCowan got deep post position for an easy layup past two defenders. Jordan Horston scored on a midrange jumper and followed that up with a wide-open layup when the defense lost her under the basket. Seattle then got a transition layup by SDS to take their first lead at 14-13. Howard scored again for Dallas. Loyd knocked down her first three-pointer. Sims split a pair of free throws. Then Nneka was able to pump-fake her way straight to the rim for the open layup.

Dallas regained the lead late in the first quarter after another basket from Howard and a layup by Kalani Brown. At the end of the first, the Dallas Wings led 20-19. Natasha Howard led all scorers with eight points.

Skylar Diggins-Smith set up Mercedes Russell perfectly for the open layup off the pick-and-roll. Diggins-Smith then found Joyner Holmes open off another screen. Diggins-Smith was then able to get to the rim for two. Arike used a beautifully timed pass to hit Natasha Howard open for a reverse layup. Nneka then found a cutting Loyd for two on the other end to put Seattle up 27-22. Seattle started the second quarter on a 12-2 run. This forced Dallas Coach Latricia Trammell to call a timeout.

Teaira McCowan scored out of the break after grabbing a badly missed shot by Arike Ogunbowale. Sevgi Uzun was fouled and made both free throws. Seattle responded as Jewell found Ezi Magbegor open after the defense collapsed on Loyd. Loyd then made an AND1 on the next possession. Odyssey Sims was able to score from the short corner. Skylar worked her way through the defense for two more at the rim.

Nneka was able to back her way into a shot. The end of the second half was a free throw contest for both teams. Arike made both of her attempts. Jewell split a pair and then McCowan split a pair. Then Ogwumike was fouled and made both. Odyssey Sims raced down the court and laid it up past Jordan Horston. Ogunbowale was able to score in transition. Nneka was fouled with 00.2 seconds left in the first half and made both free throws. Seattle led 45-37 at the break.

An AND1 by Nneka Ogwumike started off the second half. Odyssey Sims knocked down a midrange jumper. Teaira McCowan was whistled for a foul that was then upgraded to a Flagrant 1. Ezi Magbegor made both free throws and then Jewell hit a jumper that resulted in a four-point possession for the Storm. After Jacy Sheldon air-balled her three-point attempt, Jordan Horston was able to grab an offensive rebound that quickly resulted in a Loyd three-ball to give Seattle a 16-point lead at 55-39. Coach Trammell needed another timeout.

Out of the timeout, Jewell got a steal and raced down the court for another layup. Seattle made two three-pointers back-to-back by Loyd and Ogwumike. Monique Billings had a nice up-and-under and then an AND1 on one of Dallas’s next possessions. Sami Whitcomb scored her first basket on a short corner jumper. Arike and Jewell swapped free throws at each end. The Storm expanded their lead to 27 points after Victoria Vivians made a free throw. Vivians made a three-pointer to end the third quarter and the Storm led 79-50.

Kalani Brown scored an AND1 to start the fourth period but then Mercedes Russell matched her with an AND1 of her own. Seattle went up by 31 points after Vivians made a nice drive to the rim and fed Russell for an easy layup. Natasha Howard and Arike Ogunbowale each scored on layups forcing Coach Noelle Quinn to call a timeout.

The three-balls started flying. Joyner Holmes made two triples in the fourth. Arike buried a beautiful high-arching three. Sami Whitcomb got one back for the Storm. Teaira McCowan checked back in and immediately scored in the low post.

Nika Mühl checked in and gave the Storm some great hustle plays. She was active defensively and got a couple of rebounds. Seattle called a couple of plays to try and have her score her first career points. Unfortunately, she missed a midrange jumper and then a corner three in the final seconds of the game.

As Dallas played most of their starters for most of the final quarter, the Wings outscored the Storm 21-16, but they weren’t able to overcome the 31-point deficit. Seattle won the game 95-71.

Final Box Score

Additional Analysis

Dallas + Paige

We’re not even halfway through the 2024 season. However, it’s fair to say that this has been a disappointing season for the Dallas Wings. They now sit at the very bottom of the WNBA standings with a 4-15 record (tied with the Washington Mystics). They’re only 3.5 games out of the 8th and final playoff spot and still have 21 games left in their season. They’re also expecting All-Star Satou Sabally to rejoin the team from her shoulder injury after the Olympic break, ideally sometime in August. They have enough time to turn things around but it hasn’t been pretty. It is going to be an uphill battle for them to make the playoffs this year. However, if they do miss the playoffs, they’ll be put in a very interesting situation.

As part of the Marina Mabrey trade, the Dallas Wings own swap rights to the Chicago Sky’s 2025 first-round draft pick. Currently, both teams would miss the playoffs and participate in the WNBA Draft Lottery. This means that the Dallas Wings would have two of the four chances to win the #1 overall pick. That would likely be UConn Guard Paige Bueckers.

As things stand right now, they would currently have the third-best odds (via Chicago) and the fourth-best (or worst) odds of winning the lottery with their pick. That’s due to the two-year WNBA Draft Lottery rule that is still in place; which benefits teams that are struggling for multiple seasons. Because Dallas finished as the 4th overall seed with a 22-18 record in 2023, it’ll be difficult for them to end up with the top lottery odds (44.2%). Right now that would belong to the LA Sparks.

However, we can essentially add their odds together. If Dallas and Chicago end up with the second-best (27.6%) via Chicago’s pick and the third-best (17.8%) odds (their own pick) that would combine (45.4%) to be even greater odds than the team with the best odds. Even if they had the two lowest odds but both Dallas and Chicago miss the playoffs, they would have a combined 28.2% chance to earn the top pick with either pick they own the rights to. That would give them the second-highest odds above the team that finishes with the second-worst record.

It should be noted that Dallas does not own both draft picks outright. They only own the swap rights to Chicago’s pick. In this scenario, the Wings would let it play out and take whichever pick ended up highest after the final lottery drawings. That could be their own or it could be Chicago’s.

It’s a pretty interesting situation if both teams do end up missing the playoffs. And something to keep an eye on.

Defensive Ace

Jordan Horston is building into a defensive ace on this ball club. Horston has been tasked with guarding the opposing team’s best player whether that’s Small Forward DeWanna Bonner, Point Guard Caitlin Clark, or Shooting Guard Arike Ogunbowale. Even last year, she was given the defensive assignment against players like Candace Parker, A’ja Wilson, and Breanna Stewart. Those matchups aren’t as ideal for Jordan who is more naturally a guard or wing-type player. But her versatility really does expand through almost every single position on the basketball court.

After the game, Jordan talked to the media about requesting the challenge of taking on the toughest assignments night in and night out.

“Man, I love it. I love it. I literally texted coach, I texted Noey at the beginning of the year, I said, ‘Listen, I wanna be on everybody's best player.’”

“And I meant that, cuz I know, I bring so much to the table defensively, especially when I'm locked in. And I love it, I literally just love stopping whoever's in front of me and get what they want to get. So I feel like I take pride in that. And I'm happy that they trust me. And it's allowing my game to flow. I'm a lot more loose when I'm starting on the defensive end. And it's just fun. It's just fun for me.” Jordy said.

Coach Quinn also talked about Horston’s growth.

“She's able to take on certain matchups that we've had difficulties with (in the past). With her length, her athleticism, her athletic ability. I talk about the preparation. Her watching film, her scout, and her understanding tendencies in the reps that she got last year helps a lot. But her ability to disrupt and not have to always bring multiple people, she's a very good one-on-one defender, and that helps her defense a ton.” Quinn explained.

She went on to say more about the topic.

“I've talked about it before, she started out the year guarding A’ja Wilson, Stewie, Natasha Howard, because we played her at the four. And then she finished the year guarding Kelsey Mitchell, Jackie Young, (etc.). And so you saw the versatility, but you also saw the confidence level that she knew that she can have as it relates to trying to defend these elite players in this league. This year, it is a direct correlation to the work that she's put in. And it's the offseason details of her working out, her shots, her efficiency around the rim that came with that offseason work. And, you know, it's hard to work on defense. You don't go into the gym and work on your individual defense. So the God-given talent that she has, She's utilizing it. She's grown so much off the floor. We talk about her being a professional and showing up for herself, for her teammates, and she's doing that. I've already talked about her accountability partner breathing rare air from Nneka and Ezi, and understanding how to be elite at this level. She's really locked into that, and that's why you're seeing a difference in her approach.” Quinn elaborated.

Blowout Benefits

The Seattle Storm have had back-to-back blowout victories against the lowly Dallas Wings. They led by 31 points on Monday and won by 24 points. They led by 23 points on Saturday night and ultimately won by 21 points in that game. The majority of the starters played five minutes or less in the 4th quarter on Saturday with the game in hand. Nneka Ogwumike didn’t play at all and was able to rest and relax. On Monday, every starter except for Jordan Horston got to sit, rest, and watch the game from the bench for the entire 10 minutes of the 4th quarter. And even Jordan played less than three minutes in the fourth.

There are multiple benefits to having these blowout games. The starters get rest and the bench players get more playing time. Not only is that great for younger players like Kiana Williams and Nika Mühl to get actual on-court time. But it’s super important that players like Mercedes Russell, Joyner Holmes, Victoria Vivians, etc. get more in-game reps that could pay dividends if an injury happens or even in a playoff series if a starter gets in early foul trouble.

I spoke with Jewell Loyd to get the player’s perspective on the benefits.

“Everyone wants to contribute. Everyone wants to play. So we kind of look at it as we do our jobs early to allow that to happen. And we've had some games before where we felt like we didn't do that and we felt bad about it. So we definitely want to come out here and go kind of start early and hopefully get a good lead and have everyone play. But everyone has done what they need to do to get on the floor. So it's really good to see everyone have really good minutes. And obviously, you want to have some rest here and there with our schedules being so crazy. But this is a really good team win for us.” Loyd told me.

Coach Quinn also shared some of her thoughts.

“I'll say I think it's important for games like this where our group needs a lot of minutes to rest a little bit. But to your question, it is valuable. The reps that we can get during the game because we don't have a lot of practice time. Both Kiana and Nika have been very good in shoot-around situations when we do have practice. They're pros. Kiana, to me, has stepped up from drafting her until now. She's grown a lot. She does other things for us. If you look at her on the bench, she's always talking. She's right next to me. She is very smart. And for those players to get the reps matters because they come few and far between with a tight schedule like this.” Quinn added.

Up Next

Seattle welcomes Angel Reese and the Chicago Sky (6-11) to the great northwest. The Storm previously defeated the Sky in Chicago 77-68 back on Tuesday, May 28th. They host Chicago this upcoming Friday, July 5th at 7:00 PM at Climate Pledge Arena.

Notes:
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