Storm sweep Mystics 97-84 to advance to the semifinals!
Seattle's offense was too much for the the league's best defense.
(Seattle, WA) - There will be no Game 3. The Seattle Storm did what they set out to do. They took care of business at home and never gave the Washington Mystics a chance to extend the series. Natasha Cloud’s guarantee after Game 1 was left unfulfilled. Seattle used an explosive offensive performance to put up 97 points on the WNBA’s number-one defensive team. The Storm shot nearly 56% (35-63 FG) overall and 52% (12-23 FG) from beyond the arc.
Breanna Stewart led the team in scoring with 21 points despite struggling in the first half. Stewie nearly had a triple-double as she pulled down 10 rebounds and dished out eight assists. Jewell Loyd scored early and often and finished the game with 19 points including shooting 50% (5-10) from three. Sue Bird had a historic performance becoming the first player over the age of 40 in the WNBA to record a double-double with 18 points and 10 assists (per Kevin Pelton). The legend continues to impress at the tail end of her career.
All five starters reached double figures in scoring. Gabby Williams provided a big spark scoring 10 of her 14 points in the first half. Tina Charles added 12 points and five rebounds in limited minutes as she struggled with foul trouble through the early quarters.
“First and foremost, shout out to Coach Thibault and his staff for an amazing series. I look up to him in a lot of ways as far as his organization, how he runs things, how smart he is, and everything that encompasses who he is. Congrats to him. Obviously, I’m very happy with our crew for how we performed tonight. We had a lot of great performances from everyone. Our starters plus Steph with the big rebounds, Ezi with the big minutes. Just knowing that our team was locked in and focused. We’ll enjoy this one tonight but then we have to get ready for the next round.” Coach Quinn said in her opening statement.
When speaking with the media about the team’s strong offensive performance she had this to say.
“They’re a very good defensive team and so are we. I think as of late, our offense has picked up. We’re finding ways to be efficient everywhere on the floor; share the ball. This is the type of basketball you want to be playing at this point of the season.” she added.
Quinn was most proud of her team for winning the rebounding advantage 33-25. Including out-rebounding the Mystics 20-11 in the 2nd half where Seattle was able to create several second-chance opportunities to maintain their lead whenever Washington made a run. Seattle had a 19-6 advantage from those extra chances.
“We won the rebounding again. We talked about it all season long. When we’re even or winning the battle of the boards, we are successful. Stewie didn’t hit shots (early) but she did everything else on the floor. She facilitated, she was assisting, and the rebounding was huge for us. There was a point in the game, where we had slippage in that area but that just shows who Stewie is. No matter what it is and what we need, she provides that for us.” Quinn said.
One of the biggest differences in this game was Seattle’s ability to score in the paint and limit the Mystics. The Storm outscored D.C. 40-26 inside the paint. After giving up 38 points combined to Elena Delle Donne and Shakira Austin in Game 1, they limited them to just 14 points total to close out the series. I spoke with Coach Quinn after the game about that.