Seattle's Offense Stalls As Lynx Win 78-70

The Storm scored just 31 points in the 2nd half.

(Seattle, WA) - On Friday night the Storm were unable to pick up their third win in a row. The Minnesota Lynx built a seven-point halftime lead and doubled that in the second half on their way to a 78-70 victory over Seattle.

The home team was never able to really claw back into the game after giving up their lead late in the first period. A lot of that had to do with the strong defensive effort by Minnesota. They limited Seattle to just 37% (25-68FG) from the floor. Most notably they held Jewell Loyd in check throughout most of the game. She had just five points at halftime and finished with 15 points. Nearly 10 PPG below her season average. Jewell had the opportunities but the shots just weren’t falling (5-19 FG). I credit Kayla McBride and her team’s help defense for forcing Loyd into a lot of difficult shots.

In a game where Seattle was desperate for offense, Sami Whitcomb came through. Whitcomb finished with a season-high 23 points. She was very effective from the floor connecting on 7-12 FG including 5-8 FG from beyond the arc. When Minnesota looked to blow the game open in the second half pushing their lead to 15 points, it was Whitcomb’s sharp shooting that allowed Seattle to keep the game within reasonable striking distance.

Ezi Magbegor was the only other Storm player to reach double figures. She finished with 13 points, seven rebounds, three steals, and two blocks. However, she couldn’t stay on the floor. She was limited to 26 minutes after being marred with foul trouble throughout the game. Magbegor would eventually foul out in the fourth quarter. Ezi was never able to get into a rhythm in the second half scoring just three points over the final twenty minutes.

“I need to stay on the floor for my team. I think there were a couple of silly fouls earlier in the game. I obviously have to be better. It is frustrating getting fouls called, I don’t want to speak much on it. I just need to be better.” Magbegor stated.

Coach Quinn gave her thoughts after the game.

“First, our turnovers and the points they generated off of them. It’s very difficult to stay in games when we’re not taking efficient shots on goal. It’s difficult to play an entire game without Ezi on the floor. Not an entire game, but (several) minutes of the game without her on the floor. In the second half, holding (Minnesota) to 32. I thought that was better. Our defensive effort was locked in and a little better on Collier. Some good moments from Sami for sure. Some good defensive effort and blocks in the second half. In the third quarter, we stalled out on offense again. Not able to execute and taking really tough shots. Not being able to generate points, it’s very difficult.” Quinn stated.

Quinn also talked about Loyd’s struggles and how it impacted the whole team.

“McBride was in the passing lanes and very aggressive. In my opinion, we’ve seen this defense with Minnesota and (Jewell). Heavy Nail, lots of congestion in the gaps. It makes it really difficult to find those lanes and get to the rim. It was just one of those nights for Jewell in my opinion.” Noelle said.

“It’s hard to win games when our leading scorer isn’t scoring efficiently. When Jewell is knocking down shots and is comfortable, everything opens up for us. Secondly, we turned the ball over too much. They were very aggressive on Ezi as it relates to her moves. Everywhere else, for the most part, I just didn’t feel like we were looking at the rim sometimes. We talk about having an offense where everyone needs to be a threat and I didn’t feel that today.” She added.

Minnesota Lynx

Napheesa Collier has been terrific against the Storm all season long and that continued on Friday night. She scored a game-high 24 points including 17 points in the first half. She finished with a double-double of 24 points and 10 rebounds. She also had four assists and two steals. One positive for Seattle is that they did slow her down over the final 20 minutes.

Kayla McBride outdueled Loyd scoring 21 points. She also had four assists, four rebounds, and two steals.

Tiffany Mitchell hit some key shots in the second half and finished with 14 points.

Minnesota out-rebounded Seattle 36-33. They were +10 with points in the paint (36-26). The Lynx doubled Seattle’s fast break points 14-7. They forced Seattle into 16 turnovers and scored 19 points off of those mistakes.

I asked Coach Quinn how she evaluated her team’s second-half defensive adjustments because they did hold Collier to seven points through the final two quarters. And held Diamond Miller scoreless over the final twenty but other players like Tiffany Mitchell got going.

“I thought that we were better at executing the scout but we were still lacking a couple of things schematically as it relates to team defense. Whether that’s being in our gaps. Who was coming off certain actions? What we’re supposed to do with those actions; communicating that, being thorough and focused with the execution. A lot of Tiff Mitchell’s drives to the paint were because we were not in strength spots. It was nothing that they were doing crazy other than us just not being connected.” Coach Quinn told me.

I also talked with Sami Whitcomb about that.

“I thought we did do a good job adjusting to the players that were hurting us early. But yes, obviously then that can potentially open things up for other players. We just didn’t do a good enough job on them. But that’s basketball right? You shut down some players and other players step up. There are a few adjustments we can make though on how those other players did hurt us. Hopefully, we can do a better job collectively next game.” Whitcomb replied.

Game Breakdown

Diamond Miller drove straight to the rim to score easily on the game’s first possession. Ezi Magbegor then scored on a beautiful cut and pass from Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu. Jordan Horston then led a fast break and found Magbegor extended on the baseline. Horston got out in transition again and found Loyd who attempted a three-pointer. She missed the shot but was fouled on her release from behind. Jewell made all three free throws to put Seattle up 7-2 early.

Napheesa Collier and Magbegor swapped baskets at each end. Diamond Miller hit a three and that was countered by one from Sami Whitcomb.

Minnesota would make a run getting points from Kayla McBride, Miller, and Dorka Juhasź. Collier pushed the ball up the court and was able to convert the layup for the AND1 to tie the game at 16-16. Minnesota took the lead at 20-18 on another pair of free throws against Collier.

The Lynx finished the first period on a 10-0 run and had a 23-18 lead after one.

Seattle started off the second period sharp with a Loyd jumper and a Kia Nurse three-ball. After Tiffany Mitchell responded with her own three-pointer Joyner Holmes was able to score on a jumper around the foul line and was fouled from behind like Loyd was earlier.

It didn’t last. Minnesota used an 11-0 after Seattle had cut it to one at 28-27. All 11 points were scored by McBride and Collier forcing Coach Quinn to call another timeout.

Fortunately, Seattle was able to respond. Whitcomb knocked down another three-ball. Horston and Magbegor were each able to drive to the rim for layups. Then Sami hit another triple to give the Storm their own 10-0 run and cut the deficit to two (39-37).

They weren’t able to keep that momentum as Minnesota finished the first half on a 7-2 run. Tiffany Mitchell made some critical baskets late (five points total) and Collier hit another pair of free throws. The Lynx led 46-39 at the midway point.

The road team outshot Seattle 55% (17-31 FG) to 40% (14-35 FG). They also out-rebounded the Storm 17-14.

Jordan Horston had a nice move driving to her left, spinning back to the middle as hitting the 12-foot jumper to begin the third quarter. Minnesota countered with six quick points, four from McBride to push their lead back up to double digits.

Seattle’s offense really stalled out over these 10 minutes. No player had more than three points and the Storm finished the quarter with 11 points.

Once again, the Lynx closed the quarter out strong. Bridget Carleton hit a transition three to put the Lynx back up double figures at 61-50 late in the third period. Dorka Juhasź then drove aggressively against Mercedes Russell and finished the layup after taking contact. She made the extra free throw to put Minnesota up 14 points. At the end of the period, Minnesota led 64-50.

Sami Whitcomb hit a pair of free throws but Kayla McBride hit a step-back three-pointer to push the Lynx’s lead even further (67-52). Whitcomb’s scoring kept Seattle in the game late. Whitcomb hit a couple more three-pointers to cut the deficit back down to single digits.

Seattle’s defense mostly kept the Lynx in check in the fourth quarter. Loyd was able to get an AND1 layup after finishing through contact to cut Minnesota’s lead down to seven. Unfortunately for the Storm, the Lynx always seemed to have an answer. Tiffany Mitchell hit another crucial jumper. Then Collier and McBride finished the game with more free throws.

Sami was able to score one more layup to cut it to six but it was too little, too late. At the end of the game, Minnesota had won 78-70.

Additional Analysis

Ezi’s Next Challenge

As Ezi Magbegor continues to grow and become more of a focal point on this team she is going to face more challenges. I felt the Minnesota Lynx were extra aggressive in throwing double-teams and traps at Magbegor; specifically, after she would make her first move in the paint. This caused Ezi to get stuck a few times without a good look at a shot or a pass to a teammate. She had five turnovers in this game and a lot of them seemed to come from when she was harrassed and double-teamed.

Although her minutes were limited which certainly played a factor, I don’t think that she adjusted well in this game to when the traps were coming. Since Seattle is facing Minnesota again on Sunday, I would expect to see more double-teams thrown Ezi’s way. Magbegor and the Storm will have to have an answer for that if they want to be effective and have a chance to come away with the victory.

I did speak with both Ezi and Coach Quinn about this after the game.

“Yeah, that is an adjustment I probably should have seen earlier. They started (doing it) earlier in the game, so knowing that if I am coming back to the middle that they were doubling. They are probably going to do that again next game so I just need to make reads earlier, find my shooters, and be able to adjust on the fly.” Magbegor told me.

“They were coming on her dribble and on her counter. I don’t think Ezi had the best of games too and I think a lot of that was due to the lack of rhythm with her foul trouble. Just constantly communicating that they’re coming on your counters. Now, it’s about working through the ball-handling and getting rid of the ball and being a playmaker. Ezi has done an amazing job this year. She hasn’t had to be a second-leading scorer on a team yet and she’s doing that. Now she’s receiving that as respect. She’s receiving a lot of different looks whether that be those double-teams. The way in which we execute certain things for Ezi does come on those drives and dribble penetration. Now it’s just about getting better, growing, looking at the film, and seeing how she can be effective against those hard hedges and double-teams as they come.” Quinn answered.

Rookies Battle

In this game, we got to see two of the top draft prospects battle it out between #2 overall pick Diamond Miller against #9 overall pick Jordan Horston. They spent most of their minutes going up against one another. Both rookies were solid but not spectacular in this game. Miller got off to a hot start scoring all seven of her points in the first quarter. She was red-hot connecting on 75% (3-4 FG) in the opening frame but finished the game missing her last five shot attempts. Miller finished with seven points, three assists, and two rebounds.

Meanwhile, Horston finished with six points, four rebounds, two assists, one block, and a steal. Neither rookie shot the ball well as both finished 3-9 FG from the floor. But there is so much growth potential for both of these players. I look forward to their next matchup on Sunday.

I spoke with Coach Quinn about that matchup and what she saw.

“I think Diamond and Jordan have battled even in college. They’re pretty close it feels like. They have very similar skill sets. Diamond goes hard and she has a passionate disposition about herself.” Quinn said.

The standout rookie from this game was Minnesota’s second-round pick Dorka Juhasź. Juhasź finished with seven points, four assists, and 12 rebounds! She also played well on the defensive end.

After the game, I spoke with both Sami Whitcomb and Coach Quinn about what they saw from Juhasź.

“She’s really tough. She’s physical. I think she gives them really great minutes. I didn’t see her a lot in college so I didn’t really know what to expect but I’ve been really impressed. She’s been a really, really great addition to what they do.” Whitcomb said.

“Dorka is playing at a high level. She’s rebounding the ball very well. The last time we played, she had a double-double. She’s finding ways to really impact her team. Space the floor and be confident. When she’s in the paint, she’s very strong. She had some very good possessions defending Mercedes. I think she’s doing a great job.” Quinn told me.

Up Next

The Storm (9-22) will face the Lynx (15-16) on Sunday, August 20th at 4:00 PM as the two teams will have an immediate rematch against one another. The Lynx will look to sweep Seattle in all four games this season if they win again.

Sami talked after the game about what Seattle can do differently.

“There are a lot of things we did well but there are a lot of things we can tweak. They had 19 points off of our turnovers. A lot of those turnovers were us not being smart or being strong with the ball. If we limit some of those, it takes away some points. Some of our on-ball (defense), and hand-off stuff I think we can do a lot better job of as well. Whether that’s sliding under instead of chasing over as that will eliminate some downhill drags because Tiff Mitchell killed us there. There are definitely some things that we can fix that can really help us when we go there.” Whitcomb stated.

Notes:
Apologies for the later delivery. As some may have noticed, I wasn’t at the game last night because I was feeling ill. I had to finish up the article in the AM.

I also linked a story explaining the Nail help defense in basketball. I know it’s mentioned in quotes from time to time, so I thought I should add that context for those that are interested in the more technical terminology.

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