Storm Defeat Wings 83-77 Part 2

Additional thoughts and interview quotes from Seattle's win against Dallas.

It wasn’t pretty, but the Seattle Storm defeated the Dallas Wings 83-77 on Tuesday night at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. You can read the full game recap at this link.

In Part 2, I wrote about the difficult decision on what to do when Nneka Ogwumike is struggling, and I question whether sports franchises are cursed. I also discuss what the Dallas Wings might do if they end up with the #1 pick again. I’ve included the best interview quotes from Gabby Williams, Nneka Ogwumike, and Coach Noelle Quinn.

What to do When Nneka is Struggling?

I’m not sure there is an answer to this question right now. Or maybe, the answer is as simple as, “You do nothing.” But it’s a question that popped into my head while watching this game play out.

In the first half, Nneka Ogwumike struggled with her shot again for the second game in a row. She was 2-7 on her field goal attempts in the opening half against Dallas. She finished this game 5-11 FG, so she was much better in the 2nd half. Ogwumike had similar (but worse) struggles against Las Vegas, where she entered the 4th quarter shooting 2-11 FG.

I’ve already written a couple of times before that the Storm are likely to go as far as Nneka Ogwumike can take them. She is the team’s best overall player. She is their most efficient scorer despite these recent struggles.

But what SHOULD Coach Quinn do when Nneka is struggling? That is a difficult question to answer. Despite struggling with her shot all game against Las Vegas, Ogwumike played nearly 34 (out of a possible 40) minutes. Nneka played close to 32 minutes in this game. Ogwumike rewarded Quinn’s trust in her against Dallas, scoring 10 points on 3-4 FG, including 2-2 FG from beyond the arc over the final 20 minutes. Nneka played a critical role in Seattle’s rally to defeat the Wings.

Had the outcome of the game gone differently, I would be writing and questioning why Coach Quinn didn’t play Li Yueru at all really, after the first quarter. Yueru technically played 14 seconds in the second period before being subbed out in what looked like a miscommunication on who was supposed to start the second quarter between Yueru and Malonga.

Li made great contributions for the team in the first period, knocking down both of her three-point shot attempts. It was the first time in Yueru’s career that she made multiple three-pointers in a game. I was borderline shocked that she never got back into the game, especially with Seattle’s struggles to score throughout the 2nd quarter, where they totaled just 11 points.

Coach Quinn seemed to mirror Yueru with the Wings’ 6’7” Teaira McCowan, who, interestingly enough, also didn’t play at all in the game after the first period. And while I understand wanting to play the matchup game. With Yueru’s positive play, I don’t see why she couldn’t get time on the court even if Dallas Coach, Chris Koclanes, wasn’t going to play McCowan.

Then there’s rookie Dominique Malonga, who continues to play well when given opportunities. She played less than 11 minutes in this game but scored six points on 3-4 FG shooting. She also had three rebounds and a blocked shot.

There is no easy answer to Seattle’s loaded frontcourt “problem”. Nneka is going to play a lot because she is the team’s best player and veteran leader. Ezi is going to play a lot because she is the team’s best post-defender, shot blocker, and still has untapped All-Star potential. Dom should play more because she’s already producing and is likely a cornerstone to the franchise’s future for the next 10 years. And Li deserves more playing time because she’s been a productive player (outside of a couple of bad games) off the bench.

Quinn made the right move to play Ogwumike a lot as she bounced back strong in the second half. But can she find a way to get her younger posts more playing time? Is that taking more of Alysha Clark’s minutes? Right now, Erica Wheeler is getting more of AC’s minutes when Clark isn’t playing as much (like in Tuesday’s game). You can’t really argue with that decision either, as she’s been a massive sparkplug off the bench and an excellent closer for the Storm.

I’m not certain what the solution is. I would say, try giving Malonga and Yueru some extra playing time in games where either Nneka or Ezi are struggling. And to not be afraid to give her veterans a couple of extra minutes of rest.

With that said, as someone who’s coached basketball even at the youth levels, I understand it’s a lot easier to sit and critique rotations and playing time after games than it is to manage games, players, and minutes while all the action is taking place in the present. There is calling out plays, looking for mismatches, countering substitutions, keeping track of fouls, and sometimes looking for a difference maker. And I know something else. It’s difficult not to rely heavily on your star players.

Are Franchises Cursed?

If you’ve lived in Seattle a long time and if you’re a baseball fan, over the years, you’ve probably felt like the Seattle Mariners are cursed. I believe they went 21 years without making the playoffs once. And while it’s true that it’s considerably harder to make the postseason in MLB compared to say, the WNBA, where 67% of the league made the playoffs every year, it still shouldn’t be THAT hard.

The New York Jets are another team that comes to mind. They’ve had multiple Top 5 picks that they’ve used on Quarterbacks to turn their franchise around. Neither worked out. More recently, they turned to 4-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers to lead the team back to greatness. In his first year, Rodgers tore his Achilles in the first game of the season. They finished the season 7-10 and missed the playoffs. This past season, Rodgers was actually healthy, played fairly well, and the team was still terrible. Rodgers had his head coach fired early in the year, but that didn’t help anything. They finished 5-12 in 2024 and missed the playoffs for the 14th season in a row. Cursed.

Then we have the Dallas Wings. I don’t know if we can say they’re cursed. They did land the #1 overall pick and Paige Bueckers after all. I fully expect Paige to work out. She’ll probably win Rookie of the Year (although not without some competition). But they’ve only had one winning season (above .500 record) in nine years since relocating to Dallas. They have gone through six head coaches since moving to Dallas. They’ve wasted more first-round draft picks than any other team in the WNBA in recent memory. I wrote an article in the past about how poor they’ve been with their draft picks. They had the #1 and #2 overall picks in 2021 and missed on BOTH of them.

She’s not even playing this season, and yet here is my annual reminder that the Dallas Wings had three, THREE, first-round draft picks before the Storm in 2023 and didn’t use a single one of them on Jordan Horston. Even with her injury this year, Horston is probably going to be looked at as the second-best player in that draft, only behind Aliyah Boston, who went #1 overall.

With this off-season, Greg Bibb finally decided to hire someone else to take over as the General Manager, and he brought in long-time Connecticut Sun and former LA Sparks’ Head Coach Curt Miller. Miller made a lot of aggressive moves in the off-season. He acquired NaLyssa Smith, Ty Harris, and DiJonai Carrington in trades. He signed Myisha Hines-Allen in Free Agency. He did all of this, on top of drafting Paige Bueckers.

On paper, it looked like the Wings should be solid. Maybe they wouldn’t be a playoff team, but they would at least be competitive enough to battle for a final spot. Instead, they currently have the worst record in the WNBA at 1-7.

Curt Miller had great success in Connecticut, but his first moves to build Dallas into a contender appeared to have failed. If this season continues, it’s going to be difficult to see Miller’s handpicked coaching candidate earning a second year at the helm.

When I think about teams being cursed. I also think about the Dallas Wings and Arike Ogunbowale. Even when they rarely hit in the draft, and they did in 2019 with Arike, selecting her 5th overall. It’s still a bit of a double-edged sword. Ogunbowale is an excellent isolation basketball player. But the problem is that teams don’t win with talented yet inefficient iso players. And that’s been proven in Dallas, where year after year, they have losing records despite Ogunbowale being one of the more talented Shooting Guards in the WNBA.

If I had to guess, Arike won’t be on the Dallas Wings roster in 2026. Hell, she might not even be on the roster by the end of the 2025 season. They might look to trade her at the deadline to try to get something in return instead of letting her just walk in Free Agency. Of course, if they do that. They’ll probably just find a way to screw that up too… because I think they might be cursed.

If Dallas Gets the #1 Pick

So, speaking of the Wings being awful with a 1-7 record. They are now tied with the Los Angeles Sparks for the best odds to get the #1 overall pick. And as I wrote about in my last article, that means the Storm (via LA) or the Wings could end up with the top pick in the 2026 WNBA Draft.

Let’s say the Wings win the lottery and land the #1 pick two years in a row. One thing I’m genuinely curious about is this. If Dallas has the top pick, would they draft 6’7” Center Lauren Betts out of UCLA? While I don’t think Betts is 100% the consensus player to go #1 overall, I would say she’s the current favorite.

With Teaira McCowan seeing less and less time on the court in Dallas. They have a large need in the low post. Plus, having a strong scorer in the low post would do a lot to help Paige Bueckers and the other guards by drawing that attention in.

However, the Wings could have another option to take #1. Assuming she stays healthy all year, would they consider taking Azzi Fudd #1 overall? Fudd is an exceptional shooter and a plus defender. She has great chemistry on the court with Paige, as they played at UConn together. And they also obviously have a personal connection with one another.

There were a lot of rumblings prior to the 2025 WNBA Draft that Paige Bueckers ideally didn’t want to go to the Dallas Wings. There were even rumors that she might sit out the season or force a trade ala Eli Manning and the San Diego Chargers and New York Giants. If the Wings were to draft Azzi Fudd, it would certainly increase their chances of keeping Bueckers in Dallas for the long term.

If they end up with the top pick in 2026 and both Betts and Fudd have great college seasons, which player do you think they would take?

Player Interviews

On the team’s concern with the game and how they were able to rally late.

Nneka replied, “I think that we really leaned a lot on getting stops, trying to secure the rebound. That's been a point of emphasis for us. I can't say that we necessarily did it the way we wanted to tonight, but in that period of time, we were able to finish off defensive plays and then push the ball and allow ourselves to get shots in phase one of our offense.”

On the never-give-up mentality.

Gabby answered, “It's serious for us, I think it's not… we love winning together, we love playing together, and it's not enough to say okay, like all right, we'll take this one to the chest and move on. It's not enough, and I feel that difference this year like we really want it for each other. We see someone down, we pick them up, whatever it is, and just yeah, I really wish we could put 40 minutes together, but I am really happy with how we're staying connected in the toughest moments.”

On Zia Cooke and Erica Wheeler’s bench contributions.

Ogwumike said, “I think especially once we had drafted Dom, we had an idea of what our front court was gonna look like and we needed support for Sky and Gabby and being able to bring in a vet like E who brings, I don't know, she's kind of like all gas, no brakes, you know? And having someone like Zia who's young, who's in a nurturing environment, who is improving, who is paying attention, and comes in and brings her natural talent as well. It's huge. It's really, really huge. They complement what we need, but also at times they create a different type of tempo to our game. And I think that we saw that tonight, especially as we were trying to get back into the game.”

On the 4-point play with the made basket off the jump ball and Flagrant foul.

Ogwumike discussed, “Yeah, we got two free throws, and we got the ball back, and one and two free throws. That was like a four-point play. That was huge. It's always about winning the game within the game. And I think that, in Noey's spirited halftime speech, she talked to us about just getting out of our heads, you know? I think we suffer a lot from paralysis by analysis. And we just need to play basketball. And those types of moments, I just want to be able to win that possession, win that exact moment in the game. And it's all about stacking up those wins by the quarter, by the half, and then ultimately putting four quarters together. So being able to turn that around in that moment was huge. And I think that we can learn a lot from ourselves by taking those moments seriously.”

On the team’s 2nd half runs of 16-2 and 12-0, and what stood out?

Gabby told me, “I didn't even realize that it was that much of a run because, like Nneka said, it was about winning each possession, especially the way they were crashing O-boards. I mean, we had to really finish through these defensive possessions. And then on offense, we were just trying to... dumb it down a bit, just find like she said, paralysis by analysis, because we have a very smart team with a lot of vets, which it actually sometimes works inversely, because we overthink things, and I think in the second half it was like wait I think it has this matchup wait I have this matchup Sky let's just exploit that and I think we just made reads off of it. We just broke a play to make a play, and I think that's what allowed us to have those kinds of runs.

Coach’s Quotes

On whether this was the most complete game with all the different contributions.

“Complete? Not yet, but I think that we're getting some good minutes from a lot of good players. I thought they were great off the bench. Seven assists, zero turnovers. Zia, in her minutes, and then obviously Dom, able to find a response to really be productive in our time. And then I'm going down this, but we had some good minutes as well. So I don't want to say complete, because we gave up 20 O-boards. Doesn't feel like a complete game and effort. They have to get better in that area. But I think that we, yeah, with that particular lineup, it was a good defensive lineup. We gave up a little bit of size sometimes to their guards, Carrington and Segrist, but that lineup was pretty explosive athletic, running the floor and playing out at the defense. So yeah, it's still early, so we're trying to kind of find a good solid rotation and players playing with each other, and obviously matching up to other teams. But I thought that there were quality minutes from everyone today.” Quinn said.

On Erica Wheeler being all gas and no brakes, according to Nneka.

Coach replied, “Definitely. I mean, it's all gas, no brakes, you know, on the court, in the locker room, in practice. That's just who she is. And I do, I think it's, it provides energy when needed, a different look, and moving pieces around. And another scoring option as well, from two, from three, and playmakers. So there are a lot of things that her energy brings, but a lot of things that she does really well on the basketball court. We have to continue to utilize her skill set in different lineups. She started in a game. She's really found her comfort in whatever we need on the floor. So it is good to have a vet like that who understands the moments in this league. She also understands her role. She understands how to be a great teammate. And with that, the energy becomes contagious and really, really good things happen on the floor.”

On Gabby being the leading scorer in 3 of the past 4 games.

Quinn answered, “Confidence that it's unwavering. I think that's the biggest thing that needs to sustain her when going through this, I mean through her W career. She is asked to do a lot for her national team, and I'm asking her to do a lot for this team, and just trying to keep her in the pocket of confidence. She's worked tremendously on her craft. Obviously, shooting the three provides another key attribute to her game, being downhill, and what she does on the defensive end, that's going to be her mainstay. But developing other things, her pull-up, her outside game, just makes her a complete player. I think we're seeing the evolution of that. But we will continue to infuse confidence in her and her game because we need her to stay in this pocket. Sometimes, you know, in previous seasons, she would miss a couple and wouldn't take any. I'm just encouraging her to continue to shoot the ball and be aggressive.”

What stood out from their 16-2 and 12-0 runs in the 2nd half?

Quinn told me, “Yeah, I probably have to look at the film. What were our turnovers during that time? Do you know? Yeah, I wonder what we're doing with the basketball. I think that's kind of been our Achilles heel right now. The turnovers, the timing turnovers, the live ball turnovers. So I would maybe think we were taking care of the ball during that time. But defensively, I thought that we were good into bodies. I thought Ezi had some really good moments in the second half as well, and then finding times to just run and transition before their defense was set. They did close on, and that kind of slowed us down a little bit. But aside from that, I think we were just, there's a lot of synergy with what we're doing on both ends.”

On the challenge of keeping a star group aggressive from start to finish.

“Steph Curry was just talking about his confidence. The elite athletes and the great athletes sometimes lack confidence. And for me, I wasn't an elite great player in the league. And so I look at my team and how great they are. I see them work hard every day, and what they've done in their career. And I'll say, Sky and Nneka, there are times when I'm encouraging them to shoot more and have to be aggressive. I see sometimes there's like a hesitancy or a doubt and I'm like they should never ever doubt themselves because they're so great, but it happens to the best of the best. So my job, our job as a staff, is to continue to infuse the confidence we need them to be at their best and even when they're not efficient or playing the way that they want to play. It's not about being perfect. It's about being excellent. And that's what I'm asking. I'm not asking to play complete-length flawless, but I'm just asking just the standard to be the standard and to continue to grow and be better. Yeah, I thought that sometimes, there's a lack of aggressiveness from our stars, and we need our stars to star. We need them to feel confident and aggressive, no matter how the game's going. And I think this game, we're a little bit hesitant. But we will get better. I will continue to do all I can to put them in positions. I've got to do a better job, put them in positions on the floor to be successful. But now, because the Nneka and Sky Pick and Roll has been so potent, there have been traps. They're having different coverages that we've got to work through with not a lot of practice time. But my whole group, AC included, I want our guys to stay confident and remain confident no matter what the game breeds because they're just that good,” Quinn answered.

Notes:
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