Storm Dispose of Mercury 85-59

Seattle had a strong performance in front of the home crowd.

(Seattle, WA) - The Seattle Storm looked much sharper in their 2nd preseason game taking an early lead and never looking back. Seattle led 28-16 at the end of the first quarter and by 17 points at the end of the first half. They led wire to wire and by as many as 29 points before ultimately finishing the game with an 85-59 victory over the Phoenix Mercury.

Seattle threw multiple offensive looks at the Mercury with a barrage of shots from Jewell Loyd, Nneka Ogwumike, and Skylar Diggins-Smith early and often. Loyd led the team in scoring with 18 points. Nneka finished with 15 points and Diggins-Smith added nine points (all in the first half).

“It’s been a while since I’ve played with this much freedom and space. I think I have to break myself free from this idea that I don’t have that type of flexibility on the floor; not boxing myself in. I’d say tonight is more of an indication of how I’ve been practicing. Being able to translate that to the game has been really helpful. It’s very encouraging to have teammates constantly tell me to be aggressive. To know what I’m capable of doing on the court. I really do need that reminder. I kinda get locked into a ‘stay out of the way, don’t make mistakes’ (mindset). Tonight, was one of those nights where I let it go, let it flow, and listened to my teammates.” Ogwumike told me after the game.

Seattle outshot Phoenix 42% (29-69 FG) to 32% (22-69 FG). They were also better from beyond the arc shooting 37% (11-30 FG) compared to the Mercury’s 20% (5-25 FG). The Storm did a much better job of rebounding in this game. After not even having 20 rebounds in their game against the LA Sparks, Seattle finished the game with a 43-36 advantage on the glass. They also had a slight edge in assists at 18-14.

With both team’s reserves getting extended time, they both scored a ton of points. The Mercury edged Seattle by just one at 33-32 points off the bench. Kiana Williams led Seattle with nine points, sinking three shots from beyond the arc in the 4th quarter. Nika Mühl looked good in her first WNBA action scoring six points as the primary backup point guard. Mercedes Russell also had six points off the bench and Joyner Holmes had another solid game with five points.

Jordan Horston saw her first game action of the season after missing the WNBA Canada game on Saturday. Horston struggled with her shot scoring just two points on 1-6 FG attempts. However, she led the team in rebounding with nine rebounds in 15 minutes of action. Horston could often be seen skying above everyone else to collect her boards.

After the game, I spoke with Jewell and asked if she felt the team accomplished their goals for this second preseason game and if any areas stood out that they needed to work on.

“We have a lot we still need to work on. But we definitely came in with an intention to execute our game plan that was a little bit different from the first game. Just get a rhythm and see where we can be better at and the shots we can get from different coverages. We felt more comfortable tonight. Just really execution. I think all of us mentally and physically turned it up a notch which allowed us to play free and play a bit more in transition. I still think we can do that a bit more. But every day we’re building. We’re not trying to rush the process because it’s still a process, we are still figuring each other out. Tonight it was great to see the hope and the vision and see it all come together.” Loyd answered.

Phoenix Mercury

The Mercury were somewhat competitive in the first period. Their best moment was a 7-2 run in the middle of the opening frame that cut the Storm’s lead down to three at 14-11. Other than that, they looked a lot like the Phoenix Mercury team we’ve seen a lot of in recent seasons. Diana Taurasi can still light it up for a short period of time. Brittney Griner can still be dominant if she gets deep post position. Newcomer, All-Star Kahleah Copper, had a couple of nice plays but didn’t shoot the ball particularly well (2-8 FG) and finished with just six points.

Taurasi led the way with 10 points. She was the only Mercury player to score in double figures in this game. To be fair, the starters only played during the first two quarters as Phoenix still needs to evaluate all of their other players to determine who will make their final roster.

Brittney Griner and Sophie Cunningham each added five points. Big Free Agent signing, Natasha Cloud was held scoreless in 15 minutes.

The Mercury’s best stat was that they had a 28-18 advantage with points in the paint. They also had a 7-4 edge in blocked shots.

Game Breakdown

Jewell Loyd scored the game’s first basket. Nneka Ogwumike followed that up with a nice mid-range jumper. Diana Taurasi came down the court and buried her first three-point attempt. Brittney Griner then split a pair of free throws to tie the game up at 4-4 two minutes into the contest.

Ezi Magbegor split a pair of free throws but the miss was deflected off of Phoenix and Loyd sank a jumper off the inbounds play. Victoria Vivians was able to grab an offensive rebound and fed Ogwumike the ball as she finished at the rim. The Storm defense got another stop and Jewell was able to bury a corner three to put Seattle up 12-4 less than four minutes into the opening quarter forcing Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts to call a timeout.

Out of the timeout, the Mercury went on a nice little 7-2 run responding with baskets from Diana Taurasi, Sophie Cunningham, and a corner triple from Kahleah Copper. That cut Seattle’s lead down to three at 14-11. Skylar Diggins-Smith knocked down a triple. Then Ogwumike got to the foul line for two. SDS then split a pair of free throws and Seattle was quickly up 20-11.

Nika Mühl checked in with a couple of minutes left in the first period to a loud ovation from the home Storm crowd.

Mercedes Russell scored four points to close out the quarter while Joyner Holmes and Jordan Horston each added a layup. Taurasi scored an AND1 at the end of the first as Seattle led 28-16 at the end of the opening frame.

Nneka continued to impress in the first half knocking down a three-pointer. Another deep jumper from Ogwumike put the Storm up 20 at 38-18 with roughly five minutes to go in the first half.

Brittney Griner did a good job keeping the Mercury within reasonable striking distance. Whether that was scoring easily down in the low post or finding open teammates, like Sophie Cunningham, for the open three-pointer.

The Mercury were able to carve into Seattle’s lead by getting to the free throw line. Copper split a pair of free throws after Taurasi made both of hers which cut Seattle’s lead down to 15 at 41-26. At the midway point, the Storm led 45-28.

To begin the third period, the Phoenix Mercury sat all of their starters essentially waving the white flag. Seattle played all of their starters well into the third quarter continuing to build chemistry before opening night. It should come as no surprise that the Storm continued to build their lead. It got up to 28 points before the final starter (Magbegor) checked out. Jewell Loyd led the team in scoring with seven points in the period.

Nika Mühl knocked in a corner three and later had a nice mid-range pull-up jumper that reminded me of another UConn Point Guard who used to play in Seattle. Kiana Williams also connected on a three-pointer to put the Storm up 77-51. Mercury Rookie Charisma Osbourne responded with a three on the other end just before the shot clock expired.

Williams then knocked down two more three-pointers in a row for Seattle to push the lead back up to 28. The teams exchanged a couple more baskets before the final buzzer. When it was all said and done, Seattle had a resounding 85-59 victory.

Final Box Score

Additional Analysis

Jewell Has Scoring Help

The biggest thing that stands out so far this season is the amount of scoring help that Jewell Loyd has this year compared to a year ago. It’s funny that if you look at a lot of Storm games from last season, they had 15 games where they lost by 10 points or less. That number moves to around 18 games if you go 12 points or less. If they still had Breanna Stewart on their roster a year ago or a player similar to Stewie, they probably win at least 12 more games. They probably would have finished as the 4th or 5th seed in the league.

But since they didn’t have enough offensive talent the wins were difficult to come by. It was like one of those diagrams you see. Did Jewell Loyd score 25 points or more? If Yes, move forward. If No = Seattle lost. If Yes, did Jewell have two additional teammates combined for 30+ points? If No = Seattle lost.

This season has the potential to be different. Skylar Diggins-Smith looked excellent in Saturday’s game leading the team with 14 points. For Tuesday’s game, she followed that up with nine points in the first half (with limited minutes in the 2nd half). Even though Skylar scored less in this game, Nneka Ogwumike picked up the slack by scoring 15 points against the Mercury.

And that’s the key right there. If Skylar doesn’t have a big scoring night to go along with Jewell, now there is Nneka. Diggins-Smith is still going to give you something, whether that’s 8-12 points or 14-20 points.

Plus, the Storm will still have games where a player like Sami Whitcomb is going to score in double figures. Or it’ll be Ezi Magbegor.

Outside of the Las Vegas Aces games and a few other contests, the Storm proved last year that they can remain competitive with most of the other WNBA teams in the league. This year they are going to have the offensive firepower to not just compete but beat a lot of their opponents.

The Mercury Might Be That Fourth Team

In the last article that I wrote, I mentioned how competitive the WNBA is and that I had a hard time predicting which team would be the fourth team to miss the playoffs at the end of this season. I believe the other three most likely will be the Washington Mystics, the LA Sparks, and the Chicago Sky. Although the Sky just destroyed the New York Liberty in a preseason game by nearly 50 points! Maybe I’ll have to rethink that. And yes, the Liberty starters played a decent portion of that game.

But one of the teams I’ve wondered about is the Phoenix Mercury. While they made strong additions with Kahleah Copper, Natasha Cloud, and Rebecca Allen. The team’s depth still looks a bit shallow to me.

The other major (potential) issue for them is that this isn’t 2018’s version of Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner. Taurasi can still light it up at times. But there’s no denying that she’s at the very tail-end of her career. Can she consistently score 15-20 PPG over a 40-game WNBA season? While Griner is closer to the prime of her career there are still questions on if she’s ready to play at an elite level like she used to.

Rebecca Allen didn’t play on Tuesday. She should help improve their squad by a decent amount. But they’ll need to get a lot more out of Kahleah Copper and Natasha Cloud if they want to be a playoff team.

And this Mercury team wants to do everything they can to be a playoff team. If they do indeed miss the playoffs. They will very likely end up with the #1 overall pick due to the two-year combined lottery rule. Whether it’s the first or second overall pick in the draft, that pick will end up with the New York Liberty as they own pick-swap rights. For Phoenix’s sake, they have to hope that doesn’t happen.

Tough Decisions Ahead

We have a really good idea of what the final roster will be on this team outside of a couple of spots.

LOCKS:
PG: Skylar Diggins-Smith
SG: Jewell Loyd, Sami Whitcomb
SF: Jordan Horston
PF: Nneka Ogwumike
C: Ezi Magbegor, Mercedes Russell

LIKELY:
PG: Nika Mühl
SG: Jade Melbourne
PF: Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu

BUBBLE:
SF: Victoria Vivians
PF: Joyner Holmes

LONG SHOTS:
PG: Kiana Williams
SG: N/A
SF: Kaela Davis
PF: Quay Miller
C: Alaina Coates

Now here’s where things get interesting. If we follow just the rotations that Coach Quinn used in this game we can make the following observations.

The starters were Skylar Diggins-Smith, Jewell Loyd, Victoria Vivians, Nneka Ogwumike, and Ezi Magbegor. The first player off the bench was Jordan Horston. Then Mercedes Russell subbed in for Ezi Magbegor a couple of minutes later. After that Joyner Holmes replaced Nneka and Sami Whitcomb came in for Jewell. Lastly, rookie Nika Mühl subbed in for Skylar. This was the main 10-player rotation used in the first half of the game.

The players that didn’t play until the 4th quarter of this game were Kiana Williams, Kaela Davis, Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, Alaina Coates, and Quay Miller.

Of those players, Kiana Williams played the best by far. She knocked down three shots from beyond the three-point arc in the 4th quarter and led all reserves with nine points.

From the list of players who didn’t get into the game until the final quarter, they are most likely the ones who will be cut from the final roster.

That doesn’t seem to bode well for Dulcy. However, things get a bit tricky. Richard Cohen from HerHoopStats, who creates the Salary Cap sheet breakdowns, claims that the team is not able to keep all 10 players from Coach Quinn’s primary rotation of tonight’s game on the opening day roster. That can be seen on the Twitter link below.

https://twitter.com/RichardCohen1/status/1788050504385274173

Victoria Vivians and Joyner Holmes are the two veterans who both have the best shot at making the final roster. Based on their placement in the lineup and their use in the rotations. Vivians has started both games. Both of those players are signed to Training Camp contracts with a value of $76,535 per the HerHoopStats Salary Cap sheets I’ve linked above. That means cutting one over the other doesn’t benefit the Storm from a financial standpoint.

But it should also be noted that Jade Melbourne (a third-round pick) and Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu (a second-round pick) make the least amount of money on the team; $64,154 and $66,597 respectively.

Nika Mühl’s contract is slightly higher because she was a second-round pick in 2024 where her contract is valued at $67,249.

Even if Seattle wanted to cut Jade or Dulcy, in favor of keeping both Victoria Vivians and Joyner Holmes on the final roster, that would not keep the Storm under the salary cap requirements. That means the only way they can keep both players is if they cut rookie Nika Mühl.

Knowing that the Storm struggled significantly without legitimate point guards on the roster last season. It feels like it would be an extremely foolish move to cut Mühl. She would certainly be picked up by another WNBA team and it would leave a major void in the Storm’s rotation.

Combine that with the fact that Nika played well in her WNBA preseason debut. She made a couple of shots, including a corner three, grabbed a few rebounds, and had a couple of assists while leading the second unit. Most importantly, she looked like she belonged out there.

I spoke with Coach Quinn and asked her to evaluate Mühl WNBA debut.

“I thought she was solid. The thing that is very evident is that she is a natural leader. She uses her voice a lot. Defensively, she was solid and I think that matters when you’re at the point guard position. Not just what you do offensively, but what you do on the defensive end. She commands her teammates to do whatever is necessary. Whatever I need, or whatever she needs, and I just thought she was solid.” Quinn told me.

If all of Richard’s contract math is accurate and I believe it to be so. The Storm will have to cut either Victoria Vivians or Joyner Holmes as the final roster cut. Although I wouldn’t rule out a scenario where they could say cut Joyner, then sometime into the season cut Dulcy and bring Joyner back at a pro-rated salary. We’ll find out what happens within the next few days.

Up Next

Unfortunately, roster cuts. Beyond that, the team will still have a few practices before playing their first regular season game of the new year. That’ll be Tuesday, May 14th at 7:00 PM at Climate Pledge Arena.

Notes:
Photo Credits to Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography
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