Storm Avoid the Sweep, Beat Lynx 88-74

Jewell Loyd's 31 points led the Storm to a victory in Minnesota.

(Minneapolis, Minnesota) - After falling to Minnesota 78-70 on Friday night, the Seattle Storm bounced back in the rematch on Sunday. They led from start to finish maintaining the lead after every single quarter and came away with the 88-74 victory.

Jewell Loyd led the way with 31 points including five made three-points on 50% FG shooting from beyond the arc. Loyd also added five rebounds and four assists. This was Jewell’s 10th game of scoring 30+ points this season. A rare feat that has only been done by three other players in WNBA history per Across the Timeline.

But Loyd wasn’t the only player to have a major impact. Rookie Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu had one of her best games of the season. She finished with eight points on 3-5 FG shooting and a career-high 15 rebounds. That included five offensive rebounds that often led to either her own putback layups or points for her teammates. Seattle scored 20 second-chance points nearly doubling Minnesota’s 11 points.

“Her rebounding was excellent today. Her energy and her physicality, especially around the rim. I thought she was on point with our adjustments because she was around the rim a lot more; able to get those possessions for us offensively. And defensively, getting rebounds out of our area. Her presence really helped us get over the hump in the third quarter.” Coach Noelle Quinn said of Dulcy’s performance.

Ezi Magbegor finished with 12 points, five rebounds, four assists, and two blocked shots. She did a better job of not getting into foul trouble in this game compared to Friday’s contest. That allowed her to play 33 minutes in the game, the most of any player from either team. Her impact was missed when she wasn’t on the floor on Friday and was clearly present in Seattle’s victory especially on the defensive end.

Sami Whitcomb helped the Storm get off to a hot start scoring eight of her 10 points in the first quarter. Mercedes Russell and Kia Nurse both played well off the bench scoring eight points each.

Seattle’s defense was excellent in this game limiting the Lynx to just 35% (24-68 FG) shooting and 22% (4-18 FG) from beyond the arc. The Storm weren’t excellent themselves but did shoot at a higher clip connecting on 42% (32-76 FG) and 39% (10-26 FG) from three-point range. They also out-rebounded the Lynx 41-37.

The biggest game-changer was the fact that Seattle took care of the ball. After committing 16 turnovers and giving up 19 points off those mistakes on Friday the Storm gave the ball away just nine times. Minnesota was only able to score six points off of those turnovers. Whereas Seattle scored 21 points off of Minnesota’s 12 turnovers. That 15-point difference was essentially the game.

“The biggest thing that stands out from our last meeting was our turnovers. That was one. I thought our spacing was better this game. We didn’t allow them to clog the paint as much because we tweaked our spacing. I thought we did a better job on our defensive coverages, Pheese and McBride - being in their space and being locked in to the different actions they were running.” Coach Quinn said after the game.

When asked about the key differences for the team to score nearly 20 points more in this game compared to the previous game against Minnesota, Coach Quinn had this to say.

“Our spacing. I would continue to say the turnovers. Last time we didn’t even know what those possessions would net because we turned the ball over. Obviously, Jewell shot efficiently, those were the 20-30 points that we missed. Aside from that, we spaced better. We were setting very good screens to get our teammates open. It felt like our pace and our energy was different. Just more efficient and intentional in what we wanted to do.” She added.

Minnesota Lynx

Kayla McBride had another strong game leading the Lynx with 18 points. However, her scoring wasn’t able to keep up with Jewell Loyd in this game unlike on Friday. Seattle also did a much better job on Napheesa Collier. Collier was averaging nearly 30 PPG in the three prior meetings against Seattle but was held to just 14 points on 5-13 FG shooting in this game.

Tiffany Mitchell added 11 points but was held to just a single point after halftime as Seattle’s defense clamped down. Aerial Powers made a surprise appearance and scored 12 points. All in the 4th quarter and some of them came in what would be considered “garbage time”.

Powers has fallen out of favor with the coaching staff in Minnesota having played in just 13 of the team’s 32 games this season. She posted an interesting tweet the other day.

Game Breakdown

The Minnesota Lynx picked up an offensive rebound on the first possession and that resulted in a corner three-pointer for Tiffany Mitchell. Jordan Horston found Ezi Magbegor late in the shot clock and Magbegor was able to muscle her way to the rim for two. Jordan then swung a pass to Sami Whitcomb who buried the triple. Jewell Loyd then found Ezi for another easy basket down low.

Kayla McBride scored on a short jumper in the paint. Jewell Loyd was able to respond with her own jumper but then Napheesa Collier knocked down a three-pointer to cut Seattle’s lead to one at 9-8.

Whitcomb made another three and then got fouled on the three-point line a play or two later. Jewell hit a jumper off a curl cut. However, Kayla McBride knocked down a corner three. Mercedes Russell checked in and quickly scored inside the paint.

Napheesa Collier hit a tough jumper inside the lane. Seattle held for the final possession and moved most players all to one side of the court. Kia Nurse snuck to the opposite side where Jade Melbourne whipped a pass to her. Nurse knocked down the shot from beyond the arc. The Storm led 21-15 at the end of the first period.

Seattle got off to a nice start to open up the second. They scored on their first three possessions with baskets from Magbegor, Russell, and Melbourne. The layup by Melbourne put the Storm up 10 at 25-15. After another Loyd jumper a few plays later Minnesota Coach Cheryl Reeve called a timeout with the Lynx trailing by nine.

Out of the timeout, Minnesota made a strong push. Tiffany Mitchell got a layup. Then forced Seattle into a turnover. Kayla McBride was then able to hit another corner three to cut the Storm’s lead down to four at 29-25.

Mitchell and Collier sank four free throws to cut their deficit down to just two at 33-31. Collier split another pair and then McBride sank two more to put the Lynx back on top 34-33. It was their first lead since 3-2 at the beginning of the game.

Jewell Loyd responded with two three-pointers. Jordan Horston also scored on a midrange jumper in between Loyd’s triples. Seattle finished the period on a 14-6 run. Minnesota would never lead again the rest of the game and trailed 47-40 at halftime.

Seattle’s rookies quickly made an impact to start the 2nd half. Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu pulled down a couple of offensive rebounds that resulted in putback layups. Jordan Horston was able to knock down a pull-up jumper as Seattle quickly jumped out to a 13-point lead (53-40).

Dulcy scored four more points on a pair of free throws and another layup to give the Storm their largest lead of 15. Minnesota would fight back with their own 8-0 run to cut Seattle’s lead down to seven. They got a layup from Jessica Shepard. Free throws from Kayla McBride and Diamond Miller. And a short jumper from Collier.

However, the Storm would finish the quarter strong again. They ended the third period on a 7-2 run. Mercedes Russell made a layup. Jewell Loyd hit some free throws and Kia Nurse connected on a three-pointer. Seattle led 64-52 at the end of the third.

Ezi Magbegor hit a pair of free throws and scored inside the paint for four quick points to begin the 4th period. Seattle controlled the entire quarter keeping the Lynx at bay.

Minnesota never really threatened late in the game. They never cut Seattle’s lead to single digits at any point in the quarter. Aerial Powers drove to the rim and made a layup to cut it to 10 points at 68-68 with eight minutes left in the game but that was the closest they would get.

Jewell Loyd and Ezi Magbegor took over the game late for Seattle as they combined for 17 of the team’s 24 points in the 4th period. Loyd made 4-6 FG over the game’s final 10 minutes including two impressive shots from beyond the arc.

Powers took most of the shot attempts for Minnesota in the fourth quarter going 4-5 FG from the floor. She also was a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line.

Seattle would lead by 19 points with two minutes to go up 86-67. Diamond Miller scored an AND1 with a strong drive to the rim and Powers made one last jumper. Yvonne Turner checked in for Seattle and hit the team’s final basket. Every player that played for Seattle scored at least one time.

The Storm outscored the Lynx 24-22 in the final frame and won the game 88-74.

Additional Analysis

Playoff Like Schedule

We’ve seen this happen a few times throughout the season where the Storm will play the same team back-to-back or at least multiple times within the same week. It just happened between Seattle and Minnesota. It happened earlier in the year with the Storm and the Washington Mystics. We also recently saw the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces face each other three times in the span of 10-12 days.

When two teams face off against one another multiple times in a given week it really emulates playoff matchups. While the games are certainly not as intense as they would be in the actual post-season. There are a lot of similarities with teams battling each other. Does one team find a weakness and continue to exploit it? Did the team that lost the first game turn around and make strong adjustments?

In Seattle’s case, they did exactly that. They were able to fix a lot of the problems they had against Minnesota on Friday and by making those adjustments they were able to come away with the victory.

After the game, I spoke with both Coach Noelle Quinn and Jewell Loyd about facing off against the same team multiple times in a short period of time. If there are benefits to that and their overall thoughts on when that happens.

“It helps, especially for our group. We are very young and inexperienced in a lot of ways. To keep the ultimate attention on the task at hand. It being a back-to-back with the same team, it helps us tremendously because we can make the adjustments and they see it. They have it translated to the game immediately instead of playing another opponent and then going back and having to remember how we adjusted to this. For us specifically, it’s a good teaching tool on how to learn and how to execute. It helps us tremendously.” Coach Quinn told me.

Loyd had a different perspective.

“Honestly, we play all these teams so many times because we don’t have enough teams. That’s the reality. This is fine because you know the scout and it’s a quick turnaround. I don’t know. I just hop on a commercial flight, go where I’m supposed to go and play the game that I love.” Jewell stated.

Jewell Loyd (and Breanna Stewart) Working Towards History

“That’s part of her legacy. We talk about it with Jewell. At this point of her career, we talk about what that legacy is going to be. Whether it’s with us (the Storm) or the league that she’s chasing, she’s creeping up on those leaderboards. It’s a testament to her and how hard she works; how good she is! She’s a prolific scorer in this league. She can shoot at multiple levels. She’s an amazing teammate. She is an excellent player not only for us but for this league. We’re going to continue to work hard and put her in positions for her to be her best self.” Coach Quinn said of Loyd’s historic season.

The broadcast put up a graphic late in the game about how Jewell Loyd is chasing history. She is trying to finish the year scoring the most points in a single WNBA season. The record belongs to Diana Taurasi who scored 860 points during the 2006 WNBA season.

In that season, Taurasi averaged 25.3 PPG while playing 33.9 MPG in 34 games. Jewell Loyd hit one more three-pointer after this graphic was posted so she is currently at 722 points scored this season. She needs 139 more points to surpass Taurasi’s record. Fortunately for Jewell, the season is longer now and she’ll have eight more games left to try and topple the record.

Doing some quick math, that means Loyd needs to score more than 17.4 PPG over these final eight games. In order for Jewell to finish the season averaging more than Taurasi’s 25.3 PPG she would have to average more than 30.4 PPG over these final eight games. A much taller task. Jewell is currently averaging 24.1 PPG this year over 30 games played.

Only two WNBA players have ever scored more than 800 points in a single season. DT did it twice; first in 2006 (860 points) and again in 2008 (820). Maya Moore also did it in 2014 (812 points).

With the perk of playing a 40-game season, we realistically might see four more names added to that list. Loyd is the obvious one needing less than 80 more points to reach 800. Her former running mate, Breanna Stewart is right there as well. Stewie currently has scored one more point than Loyd at 723 points. She’s also played two more games (32 total) and is averaging 22.6 PPG this season. Stewart will need to average 17.25 PPG over her final eight games in order to surpass Taurasi’s record.

The other two players likely to reach the 800-point mark in a single season are A’ja Wilson (682 points) and Arike Ogunbowale (673). Both of them also have a chance to break Taurasi’s record but it wouldn’t be easy. Wilson would need to average 22.4 PPG over her final eight games while Ogunbowale would need to average more than 23.5 PPG the rest of the way.

Pre-And-Post-Game Interviews

I thought I’d try something different on Sunday. I decided to put together the raw audio from the pre-game and post-game press conferences for fans to listen to immediately after the interviews took place. I often have fans reach out to me and ask where they can get access to the post-game interviews so I felt this could be a solution for those that are seeking out that content. If you didn’t get a chance to listen to the interviews when I sent them out initially, take some time to go back and listen to them now.

Up Next

The Storm (10-22) will travel to Chicago to face the Sky (12-20) on Tuesday, August 22nd at 5:00 PM. The two teams have split the season series so far with each team winning on the road. Both teams are currently on the outside of the playoffs but still within reach of the 8th and final playoff spot. This game is critically important for both teams.

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