Stacked Aces Clobber Storm 96-63

The Seattle Storm suffer another large defeat to the defending champions.

(Las Vegas, Nevada) - If Thursday night’s game against the defending champions was another litmus test of where the Seattle Storm are at compared to the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA hierarchy, well it told us Seattle still has a long way to go to compete with the league’s elite.

Despite playing the Aces tough through most of the first two quarters, Las Vegas finished the first half on a 14-2 run to take a ten-point lead into the break. The second half was all Vegas as they outscored Seattle 49-26 through the final twenty minutes of the game. The end result was nearly as bad as the team’s first encounter as the Aces won the game by 33 points (96-63).

There were a few bright spots from the Storm’s perspective. Ezi Magbegor had her worst game of the season against the Aces back on May 20th where she scored just seven points and had only five rebounds. On Thursday night, she had a very impressive double-double with 23 points on 53% (9-17 FG) field goal shooting and 11 rebounds.

I spoke with Magbegor after the game about the differences for her personally between the last game against Las Vegas and this one.

“I think just being more aggressive offensively. I think that first game I wasn’t very aggressive with Candace and A’ja - their bigs are great defenders. So I had to find ways to counter that.” Magbegor said.

A’ja Wilson even praised Magbegor after the game.

“Ezi is a post that is long, she’s versatile. She’s going to alter your shot just about every possession and that’s how you keep a job in this league. You become versatile. She’s working on her offensive game. It’s pretty cool to see her growth. We play against her in Worlds but to see her transfer it over to this league, it’s pretty cool to see. The sky is the limit for Ezi.” Wilson stated.

Outside of Ezi, Rookie Ivana Dojkić had another strong performance scoring a career-best 16 points in her second start of the season. She also added a team-high three assists.

I spoke with Coach Noelle Quinn after the game about the positives from their games.

“Ezi is playing at a high level. That’s difficult to do in this league consistently. She understands that she has to give us a little bit more on offense. She’s being aggressive. She’s worked on her three so that she is capable. Her rebounding, it matters for us. You guys know that she’s our defensive anchor. We rely on her heavily. To see her growth this year with this group is good to see.” Quinn answered.

“And with EV (Ivana Dojkić), I know she’s a rookie but she’s played professional basketball for a long time (in Europe). I like her confidence, I like her fearlessness, and I like that she has poise and defends at a high level. She’ll continue to show what she can do in this league. I’m super proud of both of those players. We just have to keep them consistent in this pocket right here.” She added.

Jewell Loyd was the only other player to reach double-digit scoring with 17 points.

Outside of those three players, the rest of Seattle’s roster managed to score just seven points total. The Storm’s bench was outscored 20-1.

Coach Quinn talked about the team’s struggles after the game as well.

“Too many turnovers. Not being matched up. Giving up some easy looks. Something I thought we were sharper on at the beginning. They got out in transition, some leak outs, and we just weren’t sharp on the defensive end.” Quinn stated.

Ivana Dojkić also commented after the game about the team’s collapse.

“I think sometimes when we make a couple of mistakes we were punished. We were unable to bounce back. Of course, they are a great team so every time we weren’t 100% focused they used that and took advantage. In those moments, we have to believe more and try to get back into a rhythm in the game.” Dojkić replied.

Las Vegas Aces

The defending champions haven’t slowed down a bit since they last faced Seattle to start the season. With this victory, they’ve improved their record to a league-best 9-1 this year.

Jackie Young continues to play like one of the WNBA’s best players as she led Las Vegas with 28 points on 12-18 FG shooting including 4-7 FG from beyond the arc. A’ja Wilson added a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Kelsey Plum scored 19 points in this game.

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During the post-game press conferences, I spoke with A’ja Wilson and Coach Noelle Quinn about Young and her continued development and growth in this league.

“I think people tend to forget that Jackie is a former #1 overall draft pick. She’s performing like one. This is something that she’s worked on. The growth we’ve seen from her is due. She’s doing what she’s supposed to do and it’s why we drafted her. I’m not surprised about her growth at all. I’m always going to stay on her no matter what. Make sure that her confidence is there because it’s hard being a guard in this league. I will always be there for her 100%.” Wilson replied.

“Her numbers and statistics are amazing. She’s so efficient. At the rim she’s strong, she’s finishing. She’s shooting the three at a high clip. Her athleticism impacts defense because she can get downhill. She’s capable of scoring in a multitude of ways. Defensively, she has tough assignments as well. I think during her first few seasons in the league she was using her athleticism and now she’s using her skill set. By combining those two she’s rounding into an amazing player.” Coach Quinn told me.

Kierstan Bell scored 12 points in 13 minutes off the bench and was the primary reason the Aces’ bench dominated the Storm’s reserves.

Lastly, Chelsea Gray nearly had a double-double with eight points and a game-high nine assists.

Las Vegas shot the ball very well at 56% (39-70 FG) and 46% (12-26 FG) from long distance. They dominated inside the paint outscoring Seattle 50-30 in that regard. They out-rebounded the Storm 37-28 which led to 10 extra points from offensive rebounds. The Aces more than doubled Seattle in assists at 25-12. Vegas also forced Seattle into 17 turnovers and scored 17 points off of them.

“I thought we put together a good game. I thought defensively, they executed the game plan. It was nice to hit some shots and get going offensively. Overall, we cleaned up what we needed to do at halftime which was our turnovers. We came out and took care of business. I’m pleased with that one.” Coach Becky Hammon said in her opening statement.

Additional Analysis

Not Playing a Complete Game

One of Seattle’s biggest problems so far this season has been consistency. They have gotten off to slow starts and had to desperately rally to try to make their games competitive. This has happened far too frequently.

With a new starting lineup against Phoenix this past Tuesday, the Storm appeared to turn a corner as they raced out to a double-digit lead in the first quarter that they carried essentially throughout the entire game.

On Thursday, the team was very competitive through most of the first half. They were tied with Las Vegas, 17-17, at the end of the first period. With 2:39 left in the second quarter, Ezi Magbegor made a layup to put the Storm ahead 35-33. During those final two and a half minutes, the Aces would close the half out on a 14-2 run to lead 47-37 heading into the locker rooms.

The deficit snowballed from there. Las Vegas outscored Seattle 49-26 throughout the second half. Going back to Seattle’s final lead with a little over two minutes to go in the second quarter, the Storm were outscored 63-28.

For a new team, the challenge is to play a complete 40 minutes. Right now the Storm aren’t doing that and it’s reflected on their record this season.

“I thought we played two really solid quarters. They went on some runs in the second half. Obviously, an 11-point quarter is not ideal. For this group, I thought we were better than the first time we played them. That is an amazing team over there. It’s not measuring up to them. But looking at our progress, I think our progress is getting there.” Coach Quinn stated after the game.

“The threes (Vegas made). The runs. Not getting great shots. We didn’t hit our shots efficiently, the ones that we took. Their pace kills you. I thought our communication was inconsistent. Especially, knowing their firepower at every position. Our margin of error is very slim when playing a team that’s very talented like the Aces. They went on those runs and we couldn’t get stops or scores.” Quinn added.

I also spoke with Ezi about what was working for the team in the first half when they were hanging right in there against the best team in the league.

“I liked our transition game. When we run we get good looks. When we move the ball, we get good looks as well. I touched on it before the game (during pre-game media) about our improved defense. That was something that worked well for us in the first half. Being able to get the ball and run.” Magbegor answered.

Levels to This

There are levels to this game and to this league. The Las Vegas Aces have looked better than any other team this season and by a wide margin. They have the best Offensive Rating (109.5) and the second-best Defensive Rating (94.4) in the entire WNBA. Their Overall Net Rating is a league-best 15.0.

The next best team in Net Rating is the New York Liberty at 6.9. Las Vegas is more than double that. And while Net Rating isn’t everything it does play a major factor in a team’s success. You can look back 10+ WNBA seasons and the eventual WNBA Champions are always either the team that finishes the regular season with the best or second-best Net Rating.

Unfortunately for Seattle, the Storm have the worst Net Rating at -12.1 (negative).

When these two teams have faced off against one another, there is a noticeable difference. Seattle has been relatively competitive in most of their losses outside of their matches against the Aces.

In the team’s five other defeats, they’ve lost those games by a combined 32 points. None of the other teams they’ve faced have beaten Seattle by double digits. But in two games against the Aces, they’ve lost by a combined 74 points. An average loss to Vegas by 37 points per game.

This season is mainly going to be about growth and development. These games against the Aces have taught us that there is a tremendous amount of growth left to be done before the Storm will be competing for more WNBA Championships.

Up Next

The Seattle Storm (2-7) travel to Dallas to take on the Wings (5-5) on Saturday at 11:00 AM (local time). Seattle nearly beat Dallas in the first matchup before ultimately losing the game 95-91.

Notes:
Unfortunately, I ended up feeling very ill this evening and was unable to put forth the same amount of energy as I normally do with my game articles. Because of this, I’ve made this article free. It also gives an example to Free Subscribers and will hopefully encourage some to support my work and become Paid Subscribers.

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