Storm Snap Losing Streak Against the Sky

Seattle picked up an important win against Chicago 83-74

(Chicago, Illinois) - The wait is over. The 2023 Seattle Storm team has ended their 10-game losing streak. It was the longest losing stretch since the team began play 24 years ago. When the final buzzer sounded, there were obvious emotions displayed by Seattle’s players. Happiness. Excitement. Relief.

Seattle took control of the game in the second half outscoring the Chicago Sky 41-34 including an impressive 25-13 third period. The Storm closed the game out securing an 83-74 victory.

“It means a lot because the group is working hard. We want to play the right away. We enjoy each other every single day. We are getting better and growing in a lot of ways. This is a tough league. Adversity hits us but they’ve stayed the course and stayed positive. For us to get this road win it means a lot. It means we’re moving in a good direction. Hopefully, we can continue to trend positively.” Coach Noelle Quinn said after the game.

“It was a bit of a relief. This was Gabby’s first win as well so it was nice to be able to celebrate a win with her. Coming off the back of the New York game, I felt like we had the momentum going into this game. Obviously, playing (Chicago) at home; not having the game that we wanted. We knew what we needed to do to adjust and it just feels nice to get a win again.” Ezi Magbegor told me.

It was a balanced effort with four of five starters scoring in double figures. Gabby Williams had her best game of the season with 17 points, six rebounds, and four assists. She looked the most comfortable she has since joining the team midway through the year. Williams finished shooting 50% (7-14 FG).

I spoke with her after the game about her performance.

“Yeah, I think a big part of it was just getting back into rhythm and back into game shape honestly, after not playing for so long. Also, my teammates have been so incredibly positive with me. Encouraging me to keep shooting and taking those shots. That’s helped me a lot to feel everyone’s confidence in me as well, it helps me have confidence in myself to take those shots and see how I can help this team.” Gabby stated.

Ezi Magbegor matched Gabby to lead the team with 17 points. She added nine rebounds, five assists, two blocks, and two steals. That followed up her impressive performance against the New York Liberty where she tallied 22 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, three blocks, and three steals. Per the Storm PR and Across the Timeline, Magbegor is just the second player in WNBA history to have back-to-back games of scoring at least 17 points, pulling down nine rebounds, dishing out five assists, and adding two blocks and two steals. The other player was Candace Parker in 2015. When Magbegor is at her best, she can literally do everything on the basketball court from offense to defense.

Jewell Loyd didn’t score like she normally does but in this game, she didn’t need to. She helped get her teammates involved dishing out a game-high six assists. She also had six rebounds and two steals to go along with her 15 points.

Sami Whitcomb in her second consecutive start added 12 points and 10 rebounds. It was the first double-double of Whitcomb’s career. From Across the Timeline, Whitcomb became just the 5th player in WNBA history to record her first double-double at the age of 35 or later. I was honestly surprised to read that. I thought for sure she might have earned a couple during her time in New York.

Off the bench, both rookie Jordan Horston and Mercedes Russell played well. Both Horston and Russell finished with eight points each on 4-7 FG shooting. Russell also pulled down five rebounds. They each played right around 15 minutes and provided a spark for Seattle.

Seattle shot slightly better than Chicago making 42% (33-79 FG) compared to 41% (27-66 FG). With a slight edge in shots from beyond the arc as well (27% to 25%). But it was their normal weakness that ended up being the biggest reason they won the game. A week ago, the Sky out-rebounded the Storm 44-24 in Chicago’s 90-75 victory. But in this game, the Storm course-corrected and out-rebounded the Sky 46-26. Including a 16-6 edge in offensive rebounds. The Storm won the battle inside the paint outscoring the Sky 42-32. And a significant 26-9 advantage with second-chance points.

I asked Coach Quinn what specific things stood out that she loved seeing from her team in the win.

“The rebounding! We responded well to what happened in Seattle. As it relates, to how we started the game and gave up a ton of offensive rebounds. 15 turnovers, feels like it’s still a lot but only eight points off of those turnovers was a huge growth from Game 1 to 2 as it relates to Chicago. I also thought we had good contributions from Gabby and Sami, that really gave us a lift. Those things, I thought we really concentrated on putting together an entire game. I’m happy with that.” Quinn told me.

Gabby Williams added her thoughts.

“The rebounding we talked about it, we were all like ‘We would have won the last (Chicago) game if we got rebounds’. I think that shows a lot of maturity that we were able to respond in that way. Taking it seriously, the rebounding and that part of it. I’m really happy with how we reacted. I think the short turnaround helped because it was still pretty fresh for us.” Williams answered

Chicago Sky

Chicago also had four players score in double figures. Kahleah Copper was the team’s leading scorer. She finished with 17 points, eight rebounds, and four steals. Alanna Smith added 10 points but just three rebounds after collecting a career-high 17 rebounds when these two teams met last week. Courtney Williams added 10 points and a team-high five assists. And Dana Evans contributed with 12 points off the bench.

After scoring 22 points on 50% field goal shooting against the Storm in Seattle, Marina Mabrey was limited to just five points on 2-9 FG in this game. By the end, Mabrey looked flustered and frustrated. On one of her final plays, she felt she got bumped and basically quit on the play and was jawing at the referee. Chicago’s Interim Head Coach played her for only about a minute in the 4th quarter.

I spoke with Coach Quinn and Gabby Williams about the defensive adjustments they made against Mabrey to take her out of the game.

“A lot of her points in Seattle were catch and shoots. They were creating a lot of single-side tags and we were trying to tag on the roller instead of staying with her. Today, we allowed them to hit the roller and we stayed matched up on her. We took away a lot of open threes. Just in transition and from the offensive rebounds got some open looks (in Seattle last week). It kinda wasn’t even our scheme, our pick and roll schemes, or our one-on-one as much as just us beating up ourselves because we weren’t solid on our rebounding and defense. I thought today, we were very attentive to make sure we didn’t leave her or make sure we were in her space. And defended her without fouling as much.” Coach Quinn answered.

“Marina, I think we had a great game plan for her. Just stay in her (space). Stay physical with her. Which I don’t think we did in the last game. It’s something we talked about a lot too in scouting for this game. It just shows a lot of maturity that we can grow and learn from these mistakes. Not every game is going to be perfect but if we keep getting better and learn from the previous games then I think we’ll have a good end to the season.” Gabby added.

Defensively, Chicago did have the edge in both blocked shots (12-4) and steals (8-5). They forced Seattle into 15 turnovers while giving up just 10 of their own. They also got to the free throw line 22 times making 15 (68%).

Game Breakdown

In her second consecutive start, Sami Whitcomb got the Storm on the board first knocking down the game’s first three-ball. Whitcomb then found Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu for the layup to quickly put Seattle up 5-0. After an Elizabeth Williams free throw, Whitcomb hit her second triple of the game to put the Storm up seven.

Marina Mabrey connected on a three-pointer and Courtney Williams hit a deep two to make it 10-8 Seattle. Jewell hit a pair of free throws and a triple. Seattle then found Magbegor for two more as the Storm went on a 9-2 run to push the score to 19-10.

Copper scored two more baskets and Robyn Parks knocked down a shot from beyond the arc to make it a two-point game. After a Mercedes Russell layup, the Storm led 23-19 after one.

Dana Evans then hit a trey and Ruthy Hebard finished at the rim to give Chicago their first lead at 24-23. A basket by Mabrey, more free throws from Copper, and a layup by Alanna Smith gave Chicago their largest lead of the first half up five at 32-27. Seattle used a quick 6-0 run by Whitcomb and Magbegor to retake the lead.

Both teams battled back and forth. Smith hit a jumper for Chicago and Jordan Horston responded with her own at the other end. A Kahleah Copper three-ball gave Chicago the lead but Seattle tied it back up at 39-39 after baskets by Magbegor and Williams.

Gabby collected the offensive rebound, dribbled out to the perimeter, and then drove back into the paint and lofted a shot over two defenders to end the first half. Seattle led 42-40.

Chicago shot the ball slightly better in the first half connecting on 44% (15-34 FG) compared to Seattle at 42% (17-41 FG). Seattle was more reckless with the basketball committing nine turnovers to Chicago’s five. But they made up for it with a dominant rebounding advantage (24-13). Kahleah Copper led the Sky with nine points while both Ezi and Sami had nine points for the Storm through the first twenty minutes.

Elizabeth Williams tied the game off the pick and roll to begin the third quarter. The Storm responded with back-to-back three-pointers from Jewell Loyd and Gabby Williams.

Loyd made a beautiful pass to Dulcy off the screen and Fankam Mendjiadeu finished at the rim. Jewell started to heat up knocking down a step-back and another deep jumper to put the Storm up a dozen at 58-46.

Jewell and Kah exchanged baskets. Courtney Williams made a layup and Gabby sank a pair of free throws. Jordan Horston finished the quarter with a beautiful drive and spin move into the paint to put the Storm up 13.

https://twitter.com/seattlestorm/status/1685100451086356480

Seattle outscored Chicago 25-13 in the period and led 67-54 as the two teams entered the final frame.

The road team started the fourth quarter strong scoring six of the first eight points with layups from Williams, Horston, and Nurse. This pushed their lead to 18 points, their largest lead of the game at 73-55 forcing Chicago to call a timeout.

Chicago responded with a quick 5-0 run. The Sky continued to whittle the Storm’s lead down point by point eventually getting it to single digits on a pair of Kahleah Copper free throws with just under four minutes to play. But the Storm did a good job of countering their runs.

Mercedes Russell grabbed three offensive rebounds in the quarter and scored four points on those putbacks. Dana Evans hit a big three-pointer to cut Seattle’s lead down to seven at 77-70 with three minutes left in the game. Whitcomb then found Magbegor under the basket for the easy two.

The Sky had one final hope in the final minute. Courtney Williams knocked down a midrange jumper and then Copper immediately got a steal after Seattle took the ball out of bounds. Courtney Williams missed her next shot but Copper got the offensive rebound again; before she could do anything Loyd snatched the ball away. It looks like Sami may have got her hand on the ball to help deflect it to Jewell. Coach Quinn smartly called timeout to make sure Seattle focused and didn’t make any more costly mistakes.

In the end, Whitcomb hit three more free throws and Chicago missed their final shots as the Storm secured the win 83-74.

Additional Analysis

Trusted Veterans

One thing that really stood out to me in both the New York game and this Chicago game was Coach Quinn’s rotations relying more on her veteran players. Against the Liberty rookies Ivana Dojkić and Jade Melbourne didn’t play at all. Then in this game, Dojkić played just four minutes (all in the first half) and Melbourne once again did not see the court.

Sami Whitcomb got the start on Tuesday and again on Friday against the Sky. Sami played over 35 minutes as Quinn relied more heavily on her veteran guard.

A lot of this season has been all about the development of the rookies and younger players. But it obviously got to a point with 10 straight losses where the team needed a more immediate fix. A coach’s job is multi-faceted. Depending on the status of the organization, development can be a huge factor in what they need the coach to do. But through the growing pains, sometimes you have to go with the ones who have been there before.

You can’t allow for bad habits to develop and building a winning culture is important. When teams start losing game after game after game it’s really easy to see people stop giving their best effort. Poor effort, with a lack of hustle and heart, ultimately leads to more losses. Frankly, I saw a lot of that in their first game against Chicago.

When the losses pile up people no longer care. They start tuning out the coach because their mindset changes. “Nothing works, so why bother?” and it ultimately becomes a slippery slope. Things turn toxic. Often, that results in more bad things. Players being cut or traded away, Coaches or General Managers getting fired, etc.

From the jump, this game felt different. The hustle was there. The rebounding was there. The determination to do all the little things that lead to wins was noticeable. And in the 4th quarter, Coach Quinn relied on a lineup of Jewell Loyd, Sami Whitcomb, Gabby Williams, Ezi Magbegor, and Mercedes Russell. Four out of those five players have won a championship in a Seattle Storm uniform. The 5th played in critical playoff moments as well. They were trusted to close out the game and they got it done.

I spoke with Coach Quinn during the post-game press conference about the intention to rely more heavily on her veteran players to secure the victory.

“I did (rely on them). You talked about it the other day about our evaluations and all of those things. But right now it’s about finding combinations and getting us over the hump in games. What that group has is familiarity with our system and with each other. They know how to win. Maybe not so much this year but past experience can get us through those humps. I thought they set the tone and they really stepped up in a lot of ways, especially late.” Quinn answered.

“Throughout this season, we’ve been in those moments before and we haven’t been able to capitalize offensively or get the stops we needed to get. The mindset of this game was to stop runs if they were to get one. Or when we needed to score to get a big score. That was our mentality and we haven’t been able to do that previously. This was a big game for us, obviously the win but to get over that hump as well.” Magbegor added on.

A Double-Win

This win was not only important for the Storm’s morale and mental state but it helps them towards their goals in the 2024 WNBA Draft. With just five wins this season, the Storm are almost certainly headed to the lottery. But because they had 22 wins last season as the 4th-best team in 2022, they’re going to have an uphill battle to land the top pick in the draft.

One of the best things that can happen for Seattle is for the Chicago Sky to be one of the other teams to miss the playoffs this year. Chicago was the #1 overall seed in 2022 with 26 victories. If the Sky miss the playoffs that should move the Storm to at least the 3rd spot in the draft. And as we’ve seen in recent years with the Washington Mystics and Minnesota Lynx, even if you’re the 4th or 3rd seed you can move up to #1 or #2 with a little lottery luck.

Looking back through the years, the WNBA Draft Lottery hasn’t gone chalk (1, 2, 3, 4) since 2018. Every year between 2019 and 2023 at least one team moved up a spot they weren’t expected to get. While it may not seem like a huge deal for the Storm to go from 4th to 3rd it certainly could be.

I truly believe there is enough talent in the upcoming 2024 WNBA Draft that even if Seattle does pick 4th overall, they should still be able to get a quality player with a legit upside. But if they can move up to #1 or #2 we’ve seen how big of an impact a top draft choice can impact a franchise. Seattle’s back-to-back #1 overall picks in 2001, 2002, 2015, and 2016 ultimately led to four WNBA Championships.

The Phoenix Mercury landing Diana Taurasi #1 led to three WNBA titles. The Minnesota Lynx getting the #1 pick in 2011 and taking Maya Moore led to four WNBA Championships. And look what Las Vegas is doing with A’ja Wilson. They appear destined to earn multiple titles.

If you’re hoping the Storm can get the best draft pick possible, you’re likely rooting for the team to lose very close competitive games throughout the season. Except when they play Chicago. That’s when winning benefits them even more than losing in regards to the draft.

REJECTED

I’ve always liked Elizabeth Williams. Back in 2015, the Seattle Storm had the first and third overall draft picks. A week or so before the draft, both Jewell Loyd and Amanda Zahui B. declared early for the draft. With Loyd almost certainly being the top selection, I had highlighted Williams as a smart choice for the Storm to select third overall.

The team needed a lot of help at several positions. Elizabeth’s scouting report was that she was an elite defender coming out of college. She put up impressive stats at Duke averaging around 14.5 PPG, 7.5 RPG, and over 3.0 BPG.

I thought Williams would have been a great complimentary piece to Sue Bird and Jewell Loyd at the Guard positions.

Williams would end up being selected 4th overall to the Connecticut Sun. While she struggled her rookie year, she’d get traded to the Atlanta Dream where she’d win Most Improved Player in 2016 and be named to the WNBA All-Star team in 2017.

Williams finished this game with eight points, six rebounds, and six blocked shots! E. Will is 11th All-Time in WNBA history in career block shots. She will finish her career in the Top 10.

I spoke with Coach Quinn and Ezi Magbegor about Elizabeth Williams's impressive defense and what makes her special on that side of the court.

“She has great timing and great anticipation. A lot of times with her blocks, you think that you’re past her or that she’s not in the vicinity and she just finds a way to get her hands on it and really impact the ball at the rim. Another interesting thing about her blocks is she keeps them in play. She’s not just ‘Donkey Konging’ them out of bounds. She’s keeping those plays alive and turning those blocks into points. With her anticipation, you think she’s about 6’5” but she’s not. Because she plays really big. She’s a really good defender.” Quinn said of Elizabeth Williams’ defense.

“She’s a great shot blocker. That’s what our scout on her is. She obviously was able to time them. Tonight, I think she blocked me three times. I need to adjust in the moment. I know she’s going to try and block shots so I need to be able to shot-fake or do a counter-move. I think that’s just the growth in my game to be able to go up against other shot blockers. She’s a great player, great shot blocker, yeah … six blocks is a lot so … good job.” Ezi said almost with disgust.

Up Next

The Seattle Storm (5-19) finish their three-game road trip in Indiana. The Fever (6-18) will host Seattle on Sunday, July 30th at 1:00 PM PDT.

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