Storm Hang Tough But Fall 77-70 to Liberty

New York is in a league of their own.

(Brooklyn, New York) - The Seattle Storm battled all game long but they didn’t quite have enough to take down the top team in the WNBA. With Seattle leading late in the third period, the Liberty went on a 17-2 run over the final three minutes of the third and the first two minutes of the fourth quarters. That put New York ahead for good and they held on to defeat the Storm 77-70. Seattle’s record drops to 20-14 on the season and they have lost six out of their last nine games since returning from the Paris Olympic break.

I talked to Skylar Diggins-Smith about that large run by New York that changed the game and what happened.

“Transition. I thought we lost them a few times transition defense-wise. They got some threes off, back-to-back threes. We're a team that usually prides ourselves on getting out and wanting to get out in a fast break. And we lost 19-2 tonight. It's frustrating as hell. Those are things that we can control. Sprint back. It's effort, activity, things. Defensively, I wasn't even mad tonight. Defensively, outside of transition defense. 19-2, that's where we lost the game. And it was that stretch. I didn't know it was as bad as 17-2. But I do remember some transition buckets that they got. That's the effort thing by us. We didn't do a good job of matching up. We know they're all capable, and we were kind of buddy-running instead of just everybody scrambling and getting somebody until we were able to switch back on the second side. But they pushed the ball in transition offensively. We didn't get them to fall for a stretch there, and they took advantage of it. This is the number-one damn team in the league. You cannot make mistakes like that. You know what I'm saying?” Skylar said.

Overall, the Storm outshot the Liberty 43% (30-70 FG) to 39% (27-70 FG). A lot of that had to do with Seattle’s defense holding Breanna Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu to a combined 10-34 FG. Seattle took just six free throw attempts in the entire game. Something Diggins-Smith made clear she was not happy about after the game. And the Liberty outscored the Storm 11-4 in that category.

“And so anytime we make mistakes like four turnovers for me is way too many damn turnovers. Anytime we make mistakes like that, they're going to capitalize off of them. So give them credit for that. I thought we did a good job on Breanna Stewart. I thought we did a good job on Sabrina. And, you know, it really was the others for them tonight. Jonquel got going early. Betnijah hit a few. They got to the free throw line and knocked theirs down. We shot six fucking free throws. They shot 13 free throws.” she continued.

Seattle was led by Diggins-Smith who has been the team’s best player since they resumed play in August. Diggins-Smith finished with a game-high 21 points. She also had a team-high six assists, four rebounds, two blocks, and two steals. Gabby Williams was also excellent. She followed up her best game of the season against Connecticut with an even better performance against New York on Thursday. Williams finished with 17 points on 62% (8-13 FG) shooting. She also added five assists and four rebounds. Ezi Magbegor also played well and matched most of Jonquel Jones on the other side. Magbegor finished with 13 points, a team-high seven rebounds, and four blocks.

One of the reasons Seattle wasn’t able to come up with the win was the fact that both Nneka Ogwumike and Jewell Loyd were held to under 10 points. Ogwumike finished with nine points, six rebounds, and three steals. Loyd finished with just six points and six rebounds. What was even more surprising was the fact that Jewell took just eight shots. She averages 17 shots per game normally.

I spoke to Coach Noelle Quinn about that and whether it was anything that New York was doing defensively or just the fact that both Skylar and Gabby were playing so well.

“Yeah, I think it's more about that (Gabby and Skylar’s play). Sometimes the game lends to finding the hot hand. Especially, when we think about who was guarding Gabby and trying to attack that matchup. I think having Gabby find a groove and find some rhythm. Obviously, those are shots that other players aren't getting, but it was good to see Gabby in a rhythm. And I know that we'll get Jewell back on track with our next opponent.” Quinn told me.

Overall, Quinn was pleased with her team’s performance despite not coming away with the win.

“Defensive effort. I thought that we were very physical. I thought that we were mindful of the schemes and executing that. Early on in the game, in the rebounding, the offensive rebounding still wasn't as... Their offensive rebounding was an issue, but I thought that we locked into that. But overall, to keep the number one team to 77 points. At one point, I felt like we were just kind of battling out defensively. I'm proud of our effort.” Quinn stated.

New York Liberty

The Liberty had four out of their five starters score in double figures. Even in a game, where the Storm did an excellent job of limiting last year’s MVP (Stewart) to just 14 points on 5-16 FG shooting, Seattle still trailed by double-digits in the 4th quarter.

That’s because Betnijah Laney-Hamilton had her best game since early July. Laney-Hamilton finished with a team-high 18 points on 50% (7-14 FG) shooting. She also had six rebounds and three assists.

Sabrina Ionescu did most of her damage in the first half but still had a strong game with 17 points, a game-high eight assists, and six rebounds. She scored 12 of her 17 points in the first half.

Jonquel Jones was a force on both ends scoring 15 points, grabbing eight rebounds, and being a defensive stalwart on the back end with five blocks!

New York out-rebounded Seattle 38-33 but it wasn’t the brutal discrepency that we saw in Seattle last week (that game was 45-17). The most substantial stat difference came in transition as the Liberty outscored the Storm 19-2 in fast break points.

Game Breakdown

Skylar Diggins-Smith drilled a three-ball to score the game’s first basket. Sabrina Ionescu was fouled and made both free throws. Gabby Williams made a deep jumper. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton countered with a response bucket on the other end. After a basket from Nneka Ogwumike, Laney-Hamilton hit a three-pointer to tie the game at 7-7. New York took the lead on a Jonquel Jones layup.

After Gabby Williams scored again, Jones hit a three-pointer with an assist from Ionescu. Diggins-Smith and Jones exchanged free throw makes. Jones then hit another three-ball to put the Liberty up six at 17-11. Gabby scored back-to-back baskets to give her eight points in the opening quarter and cut the Liberty’s lead to just two points. Seattle briefly retook the lead on an Ezi Magbegor three. Leonie Fiebich got in on the action with a basket near the rim. Jewell Loyd hit her first shot. Ionescu hit another three, New York’s 4th of the first period.

Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu dominated in the opening frame scoring 17 of their team’s 24 points. New York led 24-20 at the end of the first quarter.

Jordan Horston scored early in the 2nd period. But then the Liberty went on a 5-0 run. Courtney Vandersloot buried a three-ball. Then Betnijah Laney-Hamilton made a short turn-around jumper over two Storm defenders. That put New York up seven at 29-22 and forced Coach Quinn to call a timeout.

Skylar Diggins-Smith scored next with a nice pull-up jumper before Jonquel Jones could get to her. Leonie Fiebich made another three-pointer for the Liberty and then Stewie split a pair of free throws to put New York up nine. Ezi Magbegor made a post-up off the glass. Gabby Williams tipped in a missed shot. Laney-Hamilton hit a silky jumper. Jewell Loyd countered with a dribble pull-up in the lane.

Sabrina Ionescu scored in transition with another three-pointer. Nneka Ogwumike scored a three the old-fashioned way with an AND1. Ionescu then forced her way through traffic to the rim for two. Skylar made a three-pointer at the end of the first half to cut the Liberty’s lead to four. New York led 40-36 at the break. Sabrina Ionescu had 12 points in the opening half and Jonquel Jones scored 10 (all the first period). Both Gabby Williams and Skylar Diggins-Smith led Seattle with 10 points each.

Diggins-Smith lobbed it over the top of the defense to Magbegor for the easy two to start the third period. Breanna Stewart was fouled on her drive. She split the pair of free throws but that benefitted New York as Jonquel Jones grabbed the rebound and Ionescu made a two. Gabby Williams hit a pull-up in the paint. Jones bullied her way to the rim for a layup. Nneka Ogwumike used a nice spin move and scored. Seattle got a defensive stop and Diggins-Smith drilled a three-pointer. That tied the game at 45-45 and forced Coach Sandy Brondello to call a timeout for New York.

Out of the timeout, Brondello drew up a play for Stewie but Seattle stopped the initial play. Unfortunately, Stewart found Ionescu open for three. Gabby countered with a corner three. Then Ezi scored down low to give the Storm their first lead of the second half. New York found Jonquel Jones open for three. Skylar got one back sinking a triple. Williams then made a long stride to the rim.

Kayla Thorton hit a three. Then Kennedy Burke used a strong drive to the rim. Laney-Hamilton was fouled and made both free throws. Stewart scored her first field goal of the game on a cutting layup to the rim. New York then scored in transition as Stewart sealed Loyd away from Laney-Hamilton who walked to the hoop and finished with the uncontested layup. After the Storm took the lead for a good portion of the third period, the Liberty finished on an 11-2 run. New York led 62-57.

Laney-Hamilton continued to hurt Seattle, knocking down a three-pointer to begin the 4th quarter. After a couple of empty possessions for Seattle, Stewie hit a wide-open corner three. That capped off a 17-2 run between the end of the third and the beginning of the 4th periods. The Liberty went from down four to up 11 points at 68-57.

Victoria Vivians scored the Storm’s first basket more than three minutes into the fourth. Nneka Ogwumike hit a short-range jumper to cut the Storm’s deficit down to seven. Stewart made back-to-back baskets to push the Liberty’s lead back up to nine at 72-63.

Skylar scored at the rim but Stewie countered with an AND1. After SDS split a pair of free throws, Laney-Hamilton scored again inside the paint. That gave New York a double-digit lead with three minutes to play. Seattle cut it back down to seven with baskets from Ezi and Skylar but they couldn’t get any closer over the final two minutes.

New York held on to win 77-70.

Final Box Score

Additional Analysis

Possible Playoff Rematch?

If the Seattle Storm finish as the 4th or 5th seed in the WNBA standings and win their first-round playoff matchup they almost certainly would face the New York Liberty in the second-round (Semi-Finals) of the playoffs. There is no sugar-coating it, it would be a very, very tough matchup for Seattle.

The one piece of good news is that as we watched the three games throughout this year, the Storm became more and more competitive with each game. Seattle was blown out in that first game with the Liberty carrying a double-digit lead and pushing it close to 20 points throughout a large portion of the game.

Last week, when the Storm hosted the Liberty they kept the game close until maybe midway through the 4th quarter. They trailed by just three points, just one possession entering the final period. And with less than three minutes to go in that game, Jewell Loyd had a great look at a three-pointer that would have cut the Liberty’s lead to three with two minutes to play in the game. Unfortunately, Jewell missed and Leonie Fiebich made her three-pointer on the other end to put New York up nine. But Seattle was right there and competitive until the final minutes of the game.

And then in this game on Thursday in New York, they kept the game close all first half. They trailed by four points after the first period and played New York dead-even in the second quarter (16-16). Then Seattle looked great throughout most of the third. They controlled the majority of that quarter and they were out-executing New York. Their defense did a phenomenal job against Breanna Stewart holding her, up to that point, to one of her worst shooting performances of the entire season. They also did a great job of slowing down Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones after they had strong performances in the first half.

For a moment, it looked like Seattle would carry a lead into the 4th quarter. It also started feeling like what we saw in the Connecticut game. Where the Storm locked up their opponent and started executing on the offensive end in the 2nd half. That’s how they beat the Sun and it looked like they might replicate that against New York. Unfortunately, they let the Liberty go on a big run to close the quarter and change all of the momentum in New York’s favor. Then in the final 10 minutes, arguably the best player in the world, took over. Stewart scored 10 of her 14 points and Seattle’s offense went cold missing 13 of 19 shots.

It’s certainly possible that the Liberty are just far too talented to lose to anyone this season. Their bench is improved and their starters are all All-Stars or former All-Stars. But it is a positive sign that Seattle has appeared to play them better each time they’ve matched up against one another. Maybe, come playoff time, the Storm will unlock the key to victory.

After the game, I spoke with both Gabby Williams and Coach Noelle Quinn to see if they thought this slower-paced, defensive game, was the better way to play against New York versus last Friday’s game where they scored more but gave up 98 points.

“Defensively, that first game was awful from us. It was a lot of offensive rebounds, so we tried to emphasize that. We didn't get going really, especially in the fourth quarter. We didn't get into our flow offensively today, and I think that hurt us. And then we cracked down on them. We made a lot of adjustments on Sabrina and Stewie, and I think we did well on them. But like Skylar said, it's the others that we have to control as well. But in any situation, I think we are a defensive team. I think that is our identity so yeah we do like games like this but we just have to be going on the offensive end as well.” Gabby replied.

“Depending on if our defense remains this physical and committed to what we have to commit to when we were playing New York. Points in the paint… I know we talk about the threes and you know I don't think that we can combat that but if you look at their 26 points in the paint. If you look at how they perform when their points in the paint aren't as high I think this is a key stat. So the physicality nets that, I think that gives us a chance. Now do we have to be better with certain parts of the game like transition defense making sure we're matched up not giving them open looks? Yes. But I think if we're hanging our hat on defense and we are able to get stops, I think that we give ourselves a good opportunity to win games.” Quinn added.

Is this Vandersloot’s Last Season?

I have been wondering about this for a little while now. Could 2024 be Courtney Vandersloot’s final season in the WNBA? Her production is way down this season. I do know that she went through a lot with her mother being sick and then passing away but on the court, she hasn’t looked quite right all year long. Vandersloot is playing seven minutes less per game this season. All of her stats are down this year. Sloot is averaging 7.0 PPG and 5.0 APG. The seven points are her lowest since 2014 and her five assists would be her lowest since 2016.

She is 35 years old. Her wife, Allie Quigley, retired a couple of seasons ago. If the New York Liberty win the WNBA Championship this season, and I think they will. Does Courtney Vandersloot want to go out on top? It would be her second WNBA Championship after she won one in Chicago back in 2021. Her goal when she signed a two-year deal in New York was to win a championship with Breanna Stewart.

If she does win this second championship the other major milestone would be to try to surpass Sue Bird’s Career Assist record. Bird holds the record at 3,234. Vandersloot has 2,827 which means she’s 408 assists away from breaking the record. If she continues to average five assists over New York’s final six games, that would be another 30 assists this season. That means she would need 378 more assists to break Sue’s record.

Now the good news for Courtney is the WNBA plays more games in the regular season now. They’ve increased the schedule to 40 games now and I believe they are looking to increase it to 44 for next season. If that happens and she did play all 44 games in 2025, she would still need to average roughly 8.6 APG to break the record by the end of next season. If she plays 40 games or less she would have to average over 9.0 APG. While not impossible, it doesn’t look to be very likely from what we’ve seen this year. It’s more likely that she would need to play two more full seasons through 2026 and average around 5.0 APG through both of those seasons and not get injured or miss time. While it might not, there is a chance it could take her three more seasons to break Bird’s record and I don’t know if she’s planning to play that long.

There is one more important factor to consider. Are the New York Liberty interested in re-signing Courtney Vandersloot to a new contract at the age of 36 and beyond? They still have to worry about re-signing Breanna Stewart who will be an Unrestricted Free Agent again in 2025 and that will obviously take higher priority.

But it wouldn’t just be about signing a new deal either. Expansion teams are coming and the first expansion draft is tentatively scheduled to occur around November or December of this year. How many players can each team protect? Will New York have to worry about protecting Vandersloot or will they not because she’ll technically be an Unrestricted Free Agent?

I would assume the Liberty are going to prioritize protecting Sabrina, Betnijah, Jonquel, Nyara Sabally, and Leonie Fibich. The latter two, mainly due to their age and contracts offering multiple years of club control.

And what about Marine Johannès? I’m sure New York would love to bring her back and maybe offer her the starting Point Guard position in 2025. Although Seattle may be looking to make an offer to her as well, especially if they bring Gabby Williams back.

Would Courtney Vandersloot want to continue her career playing for an expansion franchise or even another team that may not be a real legitimate title contender if she doesn’t go back to New York?

It’s all something to think about and I’ll be interested to see how it all plays out, especially if the Liberty win the Championship this season.

Up Next

The Storm (20-14) return home to play the Phoenix Mercury (17-18) on Saturday, September 7th at 6:00 PM PDT. Seattle and Phoenix have split the season series so far with each team winning on their home court. The Storm won 80-62 in Seattle and lost 87-78 down in Phoenix. Seattle will play Phoenix for a 4th time at the end of the season. These two games are pretty critical because if Seattle wins even one of them they’ll almost certainly be guaranteed to finish the season above the Mercury in the standings. However, if they were to lose both games, we could actually see Seattle drop to the 7th seed. Realistically, Seattle will finish this season somewhere between 4th and 7th place with 5th place being the most likely scenario.

Notes:
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