Storm Rout Sparks 98-67 Part 2

Additional thoughts and interviews from Seattle's win over Los Angeles.

The Seattle Storm put forth their most dominant performance this season as they crushed the LA Sparks 98-67. Seattle took advantage of a Sparks team that was missing several players, including Kelsey Plum, Odyssey Sims, and Cameron Brink. You can read the full game recap here if you missed it.

In Part 2, I wrote about the Commissioner’s Cup, Seattle’s rooting interest regarding draft picks, and the Storm’s Zone Counters. I’ve also included the audio from the Storm’s post-game press conference with Gabby Williams, Nneka Ogwumike, and Coach Noelle Quinn.

Zone Counters

As I wrote in Part 1, Nneka Ogwumike talked about how she’s seen more zone defense this season than any other that she can remember. With Seattle’s massive struggles to shoot the three-ball one year ago, and the team’s strengths in the low post (Nneka, Ezi, Dom), it’s not unusual to see defenses play zone against Seattle. At times, it has been an effective tool to slow down the Storm. Most recently, the Golden State Valkyries used an aggressive swarming 2-3 zone to throw Seattle off of their game. The Las Vegas Aces also had success with it in their 75-70 win against the Storm.

However, Seattle has shown the ability to counter the zone and punish teams for using that strategy. It was not effective in the first game between Seattle and Las Vegas, where the Storm dominated, led by 27 points, and won by 20. It also wasn’t effective for the LA Sparks on Tuesday night as Seattle picked them apart. I wrote down some of the plays that stood out the most to me from the game and included links where you can watch video clips of the Storm’s zone counter offense in action.

Ezi flashes to the high post and receives the ball from Skylar. Magbegor makes a beautiful pass to Nneka Ogwumike in the short corner as Nneka was able to seal off her defender and finish uncontested at the rim. Magbegor and Ogwumike complete the high-low action.

Seattle beats the Zone defense before it’s fully set. Gabby finds Nneka in transition near the high post that forces Azurá Stevens to step up on defense, Ogwumike uses a quick pass to Ezi Magbegor in the short corner for the wide-open layup.

Alysha Clark runs pick-and-roll, cuts down the lane, fills to the corner, Dom flashes to middle, Cooke finds Clark open for the corner three.

In a similar play, Clark goes to set the screen up top, cuts through the lane, and fills to the corner. This time, the post (Nneka) stays on the outside instead of flashing to the middle, Wheeler drives to the middle, passes out to Gabby on the wing, Gabby finds AC in the corner for another three.

This one is a little more simple. Seattle is positioned in a 5 Out Offense. Nneka sets the screen and rolls, Skylar feeds her the ball. Ogwumike draws the defense in and kicks out to Clark for the corner three.

The team will continue to work on their zone offense if opposing teams are going to challenge them with it. What we’ve seen from Alysha Clark over the past two games is a very obvious response to why Seattle invested so heavily in Clark, and why she was such a high priority for Seattle’s front office.

When people talked about the Storm not addressing their three-point shooting needs. I really didn’t understand that because I felt their moves specifically addressed that. Not all of what Seattle envisioned has worked out. I believe Katie Lou Samuelson would have played a solid role on this team had she not gotten hurt in training camp.

Lexie Brown is another player the team brought in to help with three-point shooting. She hasn’t gotten a lot of playing time, and when she has, she hasn’t been knocking down her shots. But she made one against the Sparks. As Seattle plays some easier teams eventually on their schedule, Brown will likely get more opportunities to play. And as we’ve seen with Clark over the past two games, a shooter can get into a good rhythm quickly and then go on a hot streak.

Seattle is working on their high-low action a lot as well. We saw multiple possessions where one post made a nice pass to the other post down low to convert a score. I asked Coach Quinn about that, and you can listen to her response in the audio below.

It’ll be interesting to see how this plays out moving forward, but if the Storm can hit their three-pointers as they did against Los Angeles, then they should be able to counter any zone defense they go against.

I’ll end this portion with a little fun fact. The Seattle Storm currently lead the WNBA in three-point shooting percentage at 37.7%, but they are also second-to-last in three-point field goal attempts at 19.9 per game. The Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty lead the league in three-point attempts at just over 30 shots per game.

Commissioner’s Cup Championship

If only the Storm had brought their A game with them to San Francisco, Seattle would be representing the Western Conference in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship game. For a very brief moment, it looked like Minnesota could lose to the Las Vegas Aces despite A’ja Wilson missing the game due to her concussion. The Lynx trailed 35-21 with less than three minutes to play in the first half. It was fool’s gold, however, as Minnesota outscored Las Vegas 46-23 in the 2nd half.

And then the cherry on top, the Golden State Valkyries followed up their impressive win over the Storm by losing to the 1-11 Dallas Wings, 80-71. Dallas picked up their first win at home and just their second win on the season.

The Lynx return to the Commissioner’s Cup for a second season in a row. They look to become the first WNBA team to repeat as Cup Champions. In its four-year existence, the winners of the cup are the Storm, Aces, Liberty, and Lynx. The Western Conference has taken the crown three out of the first four years.

The Eastern Conference had a bit more drama. Three teams were vying for the opportunity to represent the East: the New York Liberty, the Atlanta Dream, and the Indiana Fever. Atlanta had a win over Indiana, and Indiana had a win over New York. The Dream controlled their own destiny. If they had won, they would have advanced to the Cup Championship game. And in the 2nd half of their game against the Liberty on Tuesday, it looked like they would be the team to represent the Eastern Conference. The Dream led New York by 17 points with less than four minutes left in the third quarter. And similar to how the Storm lost a 17-point lead against Atlanta, the Dream lost their 17-point lead against the Liberty. Over the final 14 minutes of the game, the Liberty outscored the Dream 39-17. New York won the game 86-81.

The New York Liberty needed to beat Atlanta and have the Indiana Fever lose to the Connecticut Sun. Connecticut kept it close in the first quarter and trailed by just two points midway through the second quarter. But the Fever closed out the first half on a 14-8 run. They expanded their lead in the second half, leading by as many as 21 points in the 4th quarter.

With those results set, we have our finalists. The Minnesota Lynx will face the Indiana Fever. In 2023 and 2024, the two teams that reached the Commissioner’s Cup Championships game were also the two teams that reached the WNBA Finals. However, the Las Vegas Aces are still the only team to have won the Commissioner’s Cup Championship and WNBA Championship in the same season, which happened in 2022.

Rooting Interest

When I look at a wider-scope view of the Seattle Storm, I feel there are three main goals or areas to focus on that will play out this season. The first is to see if the Storm can legitimately compete for the WNBA Championship. Their blowout win against Las Vegas and their home win against Minnesota tell me they can. But their consistency issues have plagued them through the first 12 games. I was listening to a WNBA podcast the other day, and someone with no close ties to Seattle said that the Storm are a team they feel should have a better record than they do. I agree with that. I wrote about their Jekyll and Hyde act in the last recap. But if they can improve as the season goes on, they should be able to compete as a legitimate contender. The next three games against Las Vegas, New York, and Indiana should tell us more there.

The next storyline and top priority for the franchise is to develop Dominique Malonga. The more WNBA minutes Malonga can get this season, the better. It will pay dividends potentially as early as this year’s playoffs. And it’ll certainly benefit her and the franchise in the long term. Three to five years from now, the Storm will likely need her to step up as the franchise’s best player. Especially, in the post-Skylar and Nneka era. She may never reach those lofty goals, but she’s already shown a lot in limited action this season at 19 years old. And she has the physical tools, size, and athleticism to be an elite player in the league.

That leads me to the third most important thing to happen in the 2025 season and the main point of this topic. And that’s what happens with the LA Sparks. As I’m sure you’re aware, the Storm own the Sparks’ first-round pick in 2026. Los Angeles finished with the worst record in the WNBA in 2024 with an 8-32 record. The WNBA uses a two-year lottery rule combining a team’s record over the current season and last season. If the LA Sparks miss the playoffs, their terrible record from last year is going to benefit Seattle big time. And because of the new expansion teams coming in 2026 in Portland and Toronto, it’s going to make a gigantic difference for the Storm and potentially the franchise’s future. If the Sparks make the playoffs, because of Golden State, Toronto, and Portland, the best the pick could be for Seattle would be 8th overall. But if LA misses the playoffs, they will have a legitimate shot at #1 overall.

The Sparks currently sit in 10th place in the WNBA standings with a 4-9 record. However, when you combine their record with last season’s, they have the second-worst record at 12-41. The Dallas Wings currently own the best odds to win the lottery and the #1 overall pick, but they are only one game behind Los Angeles in total record at 11-42. If the Sparks finish with the worst overall combined record and miss the playoffs, the Storm would be guaranteed a Top 3 draft pick in 2026. As they currently sit, the Storm would be guaranteed a Top 4 draft pick. The lottery is drawn twice for Pick #1 and Pick #2. Then it goes in draft order from there. The team with the worst record and best odds at the #1 pick can drop no lower than two spots to third overall.

Looking at the current WNBA standings, I’m pretty confident these seven teams are making the playoffs. The Liberty, Lynx, Dream, Mercury, Storm, Fever, and Aces. If all seven make the playoffs, that means the Sparks will be competing with Golden State, Washington, and Chicago for the final playoff spot.

You’ll want to root for LA to lose every single game they play. It also benefits the Storm a lot if the Mystics, Valkyries, and Sky win their games. I’m confident those other seven teams are making the playoffs, so the Storm need just one of those three teams to finish with a better record than Los Angeles. Ironically, Seattle losing to the Valkyries cost them the Commissioner’s Cup Championship game, but may help them get a top lottery pick in next year’s draft.

The Storm also own the Las Vegas Aces’ first-round pick. So you’ll want to root for the Aces to lose, but not enough to knock them out of playoff contention. If the Aces were to finish 7th or 8th, that would benefit Seattle as their draft pick could be 8th or 9th overall. And this upcoming draft class looks pretty loaded.

With the Li Yueru trade, the Storm get the Wings’ second-round pick. That would currently be #1 overall in the second round or 16th overall. However, it probably benefits Seattle more if the Wings can win some more games. If they could have a major turnaround similar to what Indiana did last year, that would benefit the Storm more than if they continue to lose.

If the Wings can win enough to move ahead of the Sparks in the standings, it would almost make it impossible for LA to make the playoffs. And it would likely give Seattle the #1 odds in the draft lottery.

Cheat Sheet

• Root for the Sparks to lose every single game

• Root for the Aces to lose many games but still make the playoffs

• Root for the Valkyries, Mystics, and Sky so that at least one finishes ahead of LA

• Root for the Wings to help improve Seattle’s odds at the #1 overall pick

Player Interviews

Coach’s Quotes

Unfortunately, my transcription service was down and not working, so I was unable to transcribe the post-game quotes easily. And it’s after 2:00 AM, so I will need to find some time later to update this article with the transcriptions.

Notes:
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Thanks to Her Hoop Stats and Across the Timeline for being great resources.
Photo Credits: Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography

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