Storm Weather Resilient Sky 77-68

Seattle's won 3 games in a row!

(Chicago, IL) - The Seattle Storm (4-3) overcame a scrappy resilient Chicago Sky (2-3) team in the Windy City by a final score of 77-68. Seattle used a 26-15 third period to take command of the game and did just enough to hang on in the fourth quarter for the victory.

Seattle was led by Skylar Diggins-Smith who scored a game-high 21 points. She was efficient with her shot connecting on 58% (7-12 FG) of her attempts. She also had three steals and three assists. Jewell Loyd added 19 points and dished out a team-high six assists. The guard duo were specifically key to Seattle’s third-period run as they combined to score 19 of Seattle’s 26 points over those 10 minutes. They outscored all of Chicago by themselves in that quarter.

Outside of Diggins-Smith’s offense, Ezi Magbegor was arguably the player of the game for the Storm because she did everything out on the court. Just watching the game film, Ezi stood out more than anyone else. She finished with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Just as impressive were her five blocked shots and three steals! Magbegor was an absolute force on the defensive end; making a legit case as a player to watch when it comes to Defensive Player of the Year Award.

Skylar praised Magbegor after the game.

“I thought she was spectacular. (Ezi) will be in this league way when I'm out and gone 10 more years plus. And she is really just scratching the surface of the player that I think we'll see in final form, you know, just her ability to do it both. You see her get a block, get the rebound, take it coast to coast, do a move, and finish. She has so much versatility. And so just allowing her to have the space to showcase that. Obviously, when she gets a rebound, just not sitting in her lap, letting her get out in transition. And then the half court, the way she sets screens, the way she moves without the basketball. She always finds these pockets for herself to be really active. And on the glass for offensive rebounds, she's just an anchor for us with the blocks. We really count on her as the anchor of our defense and it was a big night for her, a double-double, and definitely a defensive player of the year effort.” Diggins-Smith said.

Nneka Ogwumike rounded out the “Core Four” with 10 points and five rebounds. She knocked down 4-7 FG. She didn’t get nearly enough offensive opportunities in this game. Credit to Elizabeth Williams and Angel Reese who did a good job of limiting what Ogwumike was able to do on the court.

The Storm outshot the Sky 44% (28-64 FG) to 41% (27-66 FG). Both teams were even from beyond the arc at 33%. Seattle was better at getting to the foul line knocking down 89% (16-18 FT) and was a +6 from the charity stripe. They had an edge over Chicago in both points in the paint (40-34) and fast break points (18-16).

Chicago Sky

Chicago had four players score in double figures. Dana Evans led the team with 13 points. Rookie Angel Reese had her first career double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds. Elizabeth Williams nearly did as well with 12 points and eight rebounds. And Chennedy Carter brought energy off the bench scoring 12 points in 16 minutes.

The Sky were able to out-rebound the Storm 36-32. They also had the edge in offensive rebounds (10-6). Mostly thanks to Carter, their bench outscored Seattle’s reserves 19-7.

Marina Mabrey was taken completely out of this game. She was limited to just seven points. Mabrey has been averaging 19.3 PPG heading into this matchup against Seattle. She made just 3-10 field goals in the game including just one made basket over the final 20 minutes. Marina was struggling so much that Coach Teresa Weatherspoon played her just two minutes in the third period. A quarter that opened with Seattle holding just a one-point lead. However, she must not have liked what she saw out of Mabrey to sit her on the bench for so long. She did return for the fourth quarter.

I spoke with Coach Noelle Quinn after the game about the team’s defense and emphasis against Marina Mabrey.

“I thought Tori (Vivians) was very physical with that matchup. We knew that Marina is the leader on that team and she's capable, a capable shot maker, a difficult shot maker. So I thought that we were very focused on that matchup. You know, Marina's tough. It's about limiting her and not necessarily going to stop her, but I thought that we were very sharp in our execution when it came to all the actions that she was in.”

I also was able to chat with Magbegor about the team’s impressive defensive performance.

“I think that's, obviously something that we kind of pride ourselves on and want to do great in is the defense. We want to get deflections. We want to get stops. We want to do all those things because I think in turn that creates our offense. And I think we did a better job today of obviously sustaining that throughout four quarters. When they go on their runs, I think we just have to find moments to stop them. And I think we did that and that shows growth in the team because teams are going to go on runs. It's just about how you stop them and In terms of Marina, she's a great player. And we had schemes on her and I think we executed them quite well. You know, credit for Tori, credit for the guards that just locked in and executed the defense as well.” Magbegor responded.

Game Breakdown

Both teams played evenly through the first six minutes of the opening quarter. The two teams were separated by no more than three points during that time. It wasn’t until Victoria Vivians scored on back-to-back possessions that Seattle was able to go up by five at 18-13.

A jumper by Jewell Loyd put Seattle up seven. That would be their largest lead of the first frame. Dana Evans countered with a three-pointer after Isabelle Harrison and Mercedes Russell, two Lady Vols, exchanged baskets on each end. Nneka hit a midrange jumper. Seattle had a chance to go up eight or nine but Loyd was unable to capitalize. Then Chennedy Carter raced down the court and finished just seconds before the horn to end the period.

After one, Seattle led Chicago 24-20. Victoria Vivians scored all seven of her points in the opening frame to lead the Storm. Dana Evans scored eight points in the first to lead the Sky.

The Sky started the second quarter on a 5-0 run with points from Brianna Turner, Carter, and Lindsay Allen. After an Angel Reese layup, Diggins-Smith knocked down a three-ball to put Seattle back ahead by two at 29-27. A 6-0 run by Chicago including four straight from Marina Mabrey gave the Sky a four-point lead.

Chicago’s defense improved and limited Seattle to just 14 points in the second quarter. They outscored Seattle 17-14 in the period. Sami Whitcomb scored all five of her points in the second as the Storm held onto a 38-37 lead at the midway point.

The third quarter is where Seattle built their separation. They outscored Chicago 26-15 in the period. Jewell Loyd and Skylar Diggins-Smith combined to score 19 of the team’s 26 points with Skylar leading the way with 11. The Storm closed the quarter on a 6-2 run that allowed them to build a 12-point lead at 64-52.

Their run didn’t end there. They opened up the fourth quarter with a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 19 at 71-52. Between the end of the third and the beginning of the fourth, it was a 13-2 run that built a comfortable lead for the road team. And as it turned out, Seattle would need all of it.

The Storm would go scoreless for more than three minutes in the middle of the fourth, allowing the feisty Chicago Sky team to cut their deficit to seven. A 12-0 run by the Sky cut the Storm’s lead to 71-64 with 5:34 left to play.

They would get as close as down only five points on a pair of Diamond DeShields free throws with three minutes to go in the game. Chicago had a chance to make it a one-possession game but Marina Mabrey turned the ball over. That led to Jewell Loyd getting out in transition and moving the ball ahead to Skylar who buried a crucial three-pointer to put Seattle back on top by eight at 76-68.

Chicago missed multiple three-point shot attempts in the final two minutes and the Storm were able to hang on to a 77-68 victory.

Final Box Score

Additional Analysis

An Early Test

New Head Coach Teresa Weatherspoon has the Chicago Sky battling hard. Despite their 2-3 record, they’ve been competitive in all of their games. They also beat the Liberty in New York 90-81. And nearly beat the undefeated Connecticut Sun in Chicago, where they ultimately fell 86-82. They have not lost any of their games by double digits.

Heading into Tuesday’s contest, the Seattle Storm entered with a 3-3 record but had yet to beat a team with a winning record. Their three victories have come against the two worst teams in the entire league, the Indiana Fever (1-7), and two against the winless Washington Mystics (0-6). Seattle’s three losses have come against the New York Liberty (4-2) and twice to the Minnesota Lynx (4-1).

With all of this information, I thought this would be a real legitimate test for the Seattle Storm early on during this season. While the Chicago Sky weren’t expected to find much success this season after trading away Kahleah Copper, they’ve been a lot better than most expected. And if you watch their games, you can tell how tough they are. They hustle. They’re scrappy.

If Seattle lost this game or especially if they got blown out, there would be a lot more questions about this team. There would be concerns about what their ceiling would actually be this season. On paper, they should be beating teams like Chicago.

Fortunately, for the Storm, they came away with an impressive road victory. They had a 19-point lead in the 4th quarter before going ice cold and scoreless for over three minutes. Even still, they beat Chicago by nine points more than any other WNBA team has done so far this season.

Seattle was up by 19 points in this game. They beat the Washington Mystics by 32 points the game before. If they had held onto a near-19-point lead and came away with two blowout victories they’d start to look like a dominant team. For now, the Storm appear to be a good team that will still need to elevate their play more before they match up against the Las Vegas Aces. But against Chicago, they passed the test.

I spoke with Coach Noelle Quinn about the benefits of facing a team like Chicago early on.

“We're getting battle-tested early. The physicality is something that I want to grow into as a team and you know, we've faced some physical teams early on. And to get these reps early on the road against these teams with, Chicago has young energy, dog mentality… going at their matchups and all those things, not afraid. These are important reps that will pay dividends and matter in the middle, and the end of the season when we're trying to generate some success, whether that be winning games or playing better in games. And to go against the physicality and respond is a good sign for this team early on to know that the standard has been set and how we maintain that standard and exceed that standard.” Quinn stated.

Skylar and I talked about it as well.

“They take on the personality of their coach. And so we knew this year they will be up the passing lanes, denying physical, great at second-chance points. And I think we held them to four today. But we're at the top of the league in that offensive rebounding. They're a very scrappy team. They force people to turn it over. And so, yeah, I think just... We were able to kind of attack that pressure a little bit. It opened up some lanes for us to get downhill. We were able to spread them out a little bit, finally able to get stops and get out in transition. And so that third quarter was really it for us. And the first quarter really where we were able to kind of go on a run and get that big lead that kind of helped us out in the fourth quarter when they had their run.” Diggins-Smith answered.

Reese Leads to Regrets?

No, not for the Chicago Sky. But I have to believe there may be some regrets by other WNBA General Managers. Angel Reese has been one of college basketball’s best players over the past three years where she averaged between 17.7 PPG-23.0 PPG and 10.6-15.4 RPG. And certainly, the last two where she led LSU to a National Championship and an Elite 8 appearance. And yet, she was never considered a Lottery selection and some doubted whether or not she was even worthy of a first-round pick.

The reason for that is Reese does not have much range on her shot. Her points are entirely scored either inside the paint or at the foul line. I think there were also concerns that she wouldn’t be able to finish in the paint against WNBA competition. But so far Angel has proven that to be false.

What has obviously been underrated was Angel’s heart and hustle. Her ability to rebound the ball; her physicality and her offensive skills down low. Those things are often much harder to quantify or accurately evaluate compared to more tangible skills like the ability to shoot the three or handle the ball full court.

Angel Reese was drafted 7th overall but if I’m being honest, I probably didn’t rank her much higher than that going into draft night. I ranked my top six players for the 2024 WNBA Draft in this order.

1. Caitlin Clark

2. Cameron Brink

3. Kamilla Cardoso

4. Rickea Jackson

5. Aaliyah Edwards

6. Angel Reese

In the actual draft, Jacy Sheldon went 5th overall, Edwards went 6th, and Reese went 7th.

Reese is currently averaging 12.0 PPG and 8.6 RPG. Those are excellent numbers for a rookie. She averages the second-most points of all the rookies only behind Caitlin Clark (17.3 PPG) and leads all rookies in rebounding.

Angel has a case to be made for the Rookie of the Month through this first month of the WNBA season. She is performing as a Top 3 Rookie alongside Clark and Cameron Brink. While Reese has the advantage over Brink in points scored and rebounds, the impact Brink makes on the defensive end of the court may ultimately put her value above Reese.

At least for now, Reese is playing better than Jackson, Sheldon, Edwards, and Pili. Pili was drafted one selection after Angel but the Lynx originally had the 7th overall pick and opted to trade it to Minnesota instead of drafting Reese. Unfortunately, Cardoso was injured in the preseason and has yet to play this season. She is expected to return to action in early June. Cardoso also plays for the Chicago Sky, it’ll be interesting to see if her addition opens up more opportunities for Angel or if it eats into her stats.

Either way, Angel Reese has been a pleasant surprise to start this WNBA season. And despite all her doubters, has proven she can play at the WNBA level. I for one, am happy for her.

Up Next

The Storm travel to Hoosier country as the Indiana Fever host Seattle on Thursday, May 30th, at 4:00 PM PDT. Seattle barely defeated Indiana last week with an 85-83 victory. They’re going to have to play much better on the road if they want to return to Seattle with a 5-3 record.

Notes:
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