Storm dismantle Liberty in 31-point victory 92-61

Contributions from new and familiar faces lead to Seattle's largest win of the season.

(Seattle, WA) - Now that’s more like it. No longer did we have a game where Seattle had to cling to a small margin of victory over their opponent. On Sunday, Seattle looked the part of a title contender as they walloped the lowly New York Liberty by 31-points with a final score of 92-61. It was the largest victory for the Storm since September 7th, 2021 in a game where they defeated the Washington Mystics 105-71 in Everett, WA. That game will be remembered for another reason as that was the game Breanna Stewart (partially) tore her other Achilles heel. Fortunately, for the Storm, no such thing happened on Sunday.

Instead, it was a balanced attack with five players scoring in double figures. It was also the best Seattle’s looked on offense all year where the shots were finally falling. Including connecting on 54% (13-24) of their shots from beyond the three-point arc. Overall, Seattle shot 49% (36-73) and 100% from the foul line (7-7 FT). They had a 24-20 edge in assists and 40-32 advantage in rebounds.

“I thought we had a good response from our last game. Our defense was more locked in. Offensively, we were able to move the ball and get some good shots. We got good contributions from everyone. Even with limited days with Kaela and Kiana, I thought they played very good minutes. Overall, it was a good team effort. When we shoot the ball like this, it’s night and day for us. It feels good to execute on the offensive end as well.” Coach Quinn said in her opening remarks to the media after the game.

The Storm’s defense continues to be spectacular holding the Liberty to 61 points. New York shot just 34% (22-65) from the field and only 26% (7-27) from long range.

Jewell Loyd led the team in scoring with 22 points including nine points in the 4th quarter. She also led the team with six assists. Breanna Stewart had a fantastic all-around game with 14 points, eight rebounds, six steals, five assists, and two blocked shots. Per the Storm’s PR, Stewart became just the fourth player in league history to have a game with all of those stats (or greater). The other three were Swin Cash, Candace Parker, and Tina Charles putting Stewart in some very elite company. After the game, Stewie was emphatic to Coach Quinn that she is a defensive player (and more than just a scorer).

Beyond Seattle’s two pillars, Jantel Lavender had a monster game with 12 points and 10 rebounds playing in the starting lineup replacing Ezi Magbegor who is still out due to Health & Safety protocols. Briann January, starting in place of Sue Bird, had another strong game that really has me questioning her decision to retire. January scored 12 points, pulled down three rebounds, dished out two assists, and two steals. And Kaela Davis, who made her Storm debut, added 11 points off the bench including a couple of clutch threes.

The New York Liberty

New York really struggled in this game. A common theme we’ve seen through their first eight games as they’ve gone 1-7. The brightest spot for the Liberty was Han Xu who led the team with 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Xu continues to look better and better in extended minutes. Han has very impressive footwork and moves very well for a player of her size (6’10”). She still has a lot of developing to do but she looks significantly better than she did during her first year in the WNBA (back in 2019). She’s improved her averages from 3.0 PPG and less than 1.0 RPG to nearly 11.0 PPG and 4.5 RPG.

Natasha Howard was the only other Liberty member to reach double digits in scoring with ten points on Sunday.

Both Sami Whitcomb (2-7 FG) and Sabrina Ionescu (3-9 FG) struggled with their shots each scoring just six points in the game.

Game Breakdown

Both teams opened the game missing their first few shots. Natasha Howard scored the game’s first points while posting up the smaller Gabby Williams. Briann January got the Storm on the board with a nice layup. That would spark a 12-3 run by Seattle. Most of Seattle’s points came inside the paint converting several easy layups.

Howard would end that run by Seattle with a three-pointer to make it 12-8.

Reshanda Gray had a really nice up-and-under layup past Howard. Then Jewell Loyd got a steal that led to a wide-open layup for Gabby Williams. Seattle got another defensive stop and on the next possession, Loyd drained a three-point basket to put Seattle up 21-8 forcing Coach Sandy Brondello to call another timeout. A 17-3 run took place over the span of 4:07 in the opening frame.

New York utilized Han Xu’s extreme height advantage to score multiple baskets in the paint. Xu finished the first quarter leading the Liberty in scoring with seven points.

Seattle was led by Jantel Lavender who made several nice points in the paint and hit an outside jumper. Lavender scored eight points in the opening period.

To open the second quarter, the Liberty went straight back into the low post with Xu. She was able to draw a foul against Breanna Stewart. Xu converted the two free throws. Shortly after that, Stewie was able to respond with a three in transition. Kaela Davis then made a nice drive to the basket where she converted a layup and was fouled, completing the three-point play. Stewart would nail another three to put Seattle up 32-17. Seattle was on a 9-0 run over the span of a little over two minutes. This forced Coach Brondello to call another timeout.

Even after the timeout, Seattle went on a 7-2 run. A lot of those points came from Briann January who connected on a three and then had a beautiful driving reverse layup past the Liberty’s defenders. Ionescu challenged Breanna Stewart on one of New York’s possessions and got completely rejected by Stewart’s long arms.

January hit another three a few minutes later to give her 10 points in the first half on 4-5 FG shooting.

Seattle outscored New York 26-8 in the second quarter to carry a 49-23 lead into the locker rooms. It was by far the best performance we’ve seen this season.

Jantel Lavender led the team with 12 points, and Briann January added ten more. Stewie had eight points and Jewell contributed with seven in the first half. Han Xu led the Liberty with nine points in the opening half.

One of the best signs for Seattle through that first half was the strong shooting performance. The Storm have really struggled offensively this season finishing several games shooting under 40%. Through the first two quarters, they were at 50% (20-40 FG). The other key factor was the Liberty’s inability to take care of the basketball. They had committed 12 first-half turnovers compared to just four by Seattle.

“For us, it’s just executing and continuing to get good shots. We have faith that everybody on our team can knock down those shots. We’re putting everyone to be in a position to be successful and eventually it’s going to happen. One thing we continue to talk about is that our defense is going to continue to carry us. Eventually, our shots will drop but it’s our defense that keeps us in games and keeping us competitive. Until that happens, we fully believe it will. We hit some shots today,” Briann January spoke about the difference in this game and the success on offense, especially in the first half.

New York came out with a spark to begin the 2nd half. Through the first five minutes, they outscored Seattle 12-6. Six of those points came from Sami Whitcomb who connected on two shots from beyond the arc.

Rebecca Allen was the Liberty’s best player in the quarter leading the team with eight points. Allen has a beautiful shot and really good length that makes her a weapon on both ends of the court. Maybe it’s a fair comparison and maybe it isn’t but I think she and Stephanie Talbot have a lot of the same great attributes. It’s why I wrote about how the Storm might target Allen this past offseason, especially if they didn’t re-sign Talbot.

The Liberty outscored the Storm 22-17 but Seattle remained ahead 66-45 as both teams entered the final period.

An 11-0 burst to begin the 4th quarter by the Storm put this game out of reach. Nine of those points were scored by Jewell Loyd who connected on three triples. This put the Storm up 77-45 which was their largest lead of the game.

Three of Seattle’s starters (Stewart, Lavender, and January) all sat the entire 4th quarter. It’s important to give some of the younger role players extended playing time and critical rest for the veterans.

One notable was Gabby Williams, who played the entire period. It’s likely Coach Quinn wanted to get Gabby some more playing time to work on her offense and be more of a primary scorer. Williams scored five of her nine points during that time.

Kiana and Gabby Williams connected on back-to-back three-pointers to keep Seattle ahead by 30 points (85-55). A couple of minutes later, Reshanda Gray even hit a shot from beyond the arc in the final 30 seconds to end the game with the Storm up 92-61.

Additional Analysis

Unexpected Contributors

Kiana Williams and Kaela Davis weren’t even on this team’s roster one week ago. Due to multiple Storm players being forced into the Health & Safety protocols (quarantine) Seattle was forced to sign Williams and Davis to hardship contracts just to have enough players to field a team.

Davis was impressive off the bench on Sunday scoring 11 points on 4-7 FG shooting including two three-point baskets to end the 2nd and 3rd quarters. Davis played nearly 18 minutes off the bench and was also a +16 in plus/minus which was the best of any Seattle reserve player in the game.

Williams, who was drafted by Seattle last year and played on the team for nine games, was able to chip in with five points, three assists, and two rebounds in 14 minutes of action. Per the Storm’s PR, this was the most playing time she’s had in any regular-season game with the Storm (more than any during her rookie year).

I spoke to Coach Quinn after the game about their contributions.

“The familiarity with Kiana helps. I know that if I tell her an adjustment or what to run, all she needs is the information. She’s so cerebral. Knowing she’s been through an entire camp with us, I felt confident in that. It’s just a matter of throwing her in the fire and letting her excel. She was super confident and poised. Those are qualities she displayed last year in camp.

And then Kaela is a consummate professional. She’s very athletic, defensively she fits our style. She knocked down a couple of shots at the end of the shot-clock which gave her confidence. Again, Kaela is very cerebral to pick up things within a couple of days with not much time to practice. It’s just a testament to who those two are.” Coach Quinn told me.

After the game, I also spoke to Briann January about their impressive contributions considering they weren’t even on the team as of a few days ago. And also discussed her role filling in for Sue Bird.

“We’re just so grateful for those two. It’s not easy to come in the day of a game and people are like ‘hey wanna play a game today?’ It’s not easy but they are true professionals. They came in and quickly picked up the offense. They played hard, they talked, and they were positive. They’ve been great additions to our team. We’re lucky to have a couple of good ones we’re able to bring in. With Sue down, that’s a huge hit for us. She’s a big leader for our team but it’s the next woman up. We prepared for this. We have a very veteran team. We have a lot of experience, stepping in and filling those roles, I feel anyone on our team is able to do that.” January told me.

Because they are on hardship contracts they will have to be released from the team once Seattle gets their players back (Stephanie Talbot, Ezi Magbegor, and Sue Bird). That could come as soon as next week. Regardless of how long they are on the team, they have both done an admirable job of filling in with little-to-no notice and they should be commended for that.

Protecting Home Court

Despite all the challenges to begin this season with players being out with injury and Covid, the Storm are an impressive 5-1 at Climate Pledge Arena. Seattle is in the midst of an important eight-game homestand. The latter part of the season is filled with road games including six out of their final eight games being played away from Seattle.

After the game, I spoke with Jewell Loyd about protecting their home court.

“Through adversity, you have to find ways to win. You want to protect home court. We have some dogs on this team. As we enter every game, we’re not worried about the circumstances, we’re just worried about the game plan and our ability to execute it. That’s what you guys have seen in the last couple of games,” Loyd stated.

I also spoke with Coach Quinn on the importance of picking up wins while in the comfort of playing at home.

“It’s important. Obviously, if you take a look at our schedule you understand why it’s important because we’re here for the majority of the first part of our schedule and the backend is pretty loaded on the road. Taking care of the process of the rest, the practice, the preparation, sleeping in your own bed - we have to make sure we’re taking advantage of this because we know it’s going to get real choppy toward the middle. In our building, utilizing our fans and the momentum to give us that extra push for these games. Protecting home court is of course important for the playoffs but more importantly while we’re going through this adversity and we have to make sure we’re focused on that.” Quinn answered.

Coach Klop Hired by the Indiana Fever

On Sunday, the Indiana Fever announced they would be hiring former Storm Interim Head Coach and long-time assistant Gary Kloppenburg. The Fever recently fired coach Marianne Stanley and promoted assistant coach Carlos Knox.

Coach Kloppenburg worked with Lin Dunn previously with the Indiana Fever back between 2008-2011.

Per the Fever’s press release, Lin Dunn had nice things to say about adding Klop to the team.

“Gary Kloppenburg is a proven winner at a championship level and he brings extensive experience coaching in the WNBA and the NBA. He is an excellent addition to our Fever coaching staff,” interim general manager Dunn said.

“I am so excited for the opportunity to come back to Indiana and work with my longtime friends Carlos Knox and Lin Dunn,” Kloppenburg said. “They have put the framework in place to make an impact in the league this season with some excellent young veterans and high-energy rookies.”

Coach Kloppenburg has extensive experience in the NBA and WNBA and has been a proven winner. He learned under his father who spent time coaching with the Seattle SuperSonics. They are both considered two of the brightest defensive minds in basketball.

Gary led the Storm to the 2020 WNBA Championship while filling in for Coach Dan Hughes who was not permitted inside the bubble due to being a high health risk from Covid. He helped lead the Storm as the best defensive team in the league that season and the 2nd best offensive team. Despite all of his success, he always gave all the praise to the players and never wanted any of the credit himself.

Coach Klop was always generous to the media and supportive of my efforts which really stood out to me. I was sad to see him be relieved of his duties prior to this season but I understand that Coach Quinn wanted to put her own stamp on things and the additions of Pokey Chatman and Ebony Hoffman have brought new successful (but different) viewpoints to the team.

I am thrilled to see him get another coaching opportunity with Indiana now.

Jersey Count

The Storm wore their white and green “Heroine” jerseys for this home game against New York. It may have brought them luck because this was Seattle’s largest victory of the season by 31 points. They are now 2-1 on the season while wearing their “Heroine” uniforms. With an overall record of 5-3, the Storm have now moved into the 5th seed in the WNBA standings and they are tied with Atlanta for the 4th best record behind 1) Las Vegas (8-1), 2) Connecticut (6-2), and 3) Washington (6-3).

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

Up Next

The Storm’s eight-game homestand continues but the team gets more time to rest and work on things in practice. They won’t play again until Friday, June 3rd at 7:00 PM when they host the upstart Dallas Wings (5-3). Hopefully, with the extended layoff, the team will be able to get back Ezi, Steph, and Sue.

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