Seattle Storm continue to struggle, lose 73-69 to the Chicago Sky

Seattle's now lost four times in their last six games as the season nears its conclusion.

(Everett, WA) - Well, where do the Storm go from here? Another blown 4th quarter lead results in the team’s fourth loss in the past six games. Outside of the excellent performance in the Commissioner’s Cup game, Seattle has looked completely out of sorts since coming back from the Olympics. Is it fatigue? Five of Seattle’s 12 players played in the Tokyo Olympics. The team also had to play an extra game in the Commissioner’s Cup right after the Olympic Gold Medal game and the team took a trip to the White House to boot.

Whether or not you believe the team has been burned out with fatigue depends on who you ask.

“I think one of the things that we don't really always mention or take for granted is our mental fatigue as well. We’ve had players in the Olympics and we've had a long break. We've had a long season in general, but a lot more going on this year. So, there is physical fatigue, for sure, but some mental fatigue as well, and we are a group that hasn't experienced this together yet. We now lock in mentally and mind over matter. You know, everybody is tired at this point in the league. So how can we find ways to just get the job done.” Coach Noelle Quinn said after the game.

“I don’t think it’s fatigue. And also fatigue is not an option right now because we’re in our final push (to the playoffs). So everybody needs to be doing what they have to do to make sure they’re bodies are ready to go and the mental - mind over matter.” Breanna Stewart said.

No matter what you believe. The Storm are trending in the opposite direction at the wrong time. Seattle was the league’s best team (16-5) prior to the Olympics. They’re now 18-9 after losing four of their last six games. The poor performance has all but eliminated the team’s ability to clinch a double-bye. At this point, they would likely need to win all five remaining games and hope the Connecticut Sun and Las Vegas Aces absolutely collapse. But the Sun have won seven in a row and nine of their last ten games and have one of the easiest remaining schedules.

Seattle was once again plagued with horrific field goal shooting. They shot 37% (25-68) and an abysmal 18% (3-17) from three-point range. For a team that is known to have deadly sharp-shooters, their play has been anything but. In fact, in three out of their four recent losses the team has shot under 40%. That needs to be corrected ASAP if they want to finish the season strong.

Only three players from the Storm scored in double-figures with Breanna Stewart leading the way. Stewart finished the game scoring 18 points. She also had eight rebounds, three assists, and three steals. The birthday girl did not shoot the ball well, however. Stewart finished 4-13 FG (31%). She did however knock down a perfect 10-10 from the FT line.

Jewell Loyd scored 12 points but also struggled with her shot going 5-14 (36%) and just 1-5 from beyond the arc. Mercedes Russell and Ezi Magbegor were solid. Russell gave the team 11 points and seven rebounds. Magbegor added eight points and two blocked shots off the bench.

Chicago was led by Kahleah Copper who scored a game-high 26 points. Copper knocked down 10-16 FG and was impressive weaving her way through traffic to get to the rim on multiple occasions. Her 11 points in the 4th quarter were nearly as much as Seattle had as a team (14)!

Coach James Wade was thrilled with the performance of Copper and praised his All-Star after the game.

“She's the lead. And seeing what we've seen for the last few years -- her growth and who she is and the things that she can do. I think she's always had the confidence that she could. It was just her waiting for her opportunity and once you got the opportunity to take a hold of it. She doesn't have to take second to anyone. She's an important part of our team, our group and the way we coach, and the way we play. And this is just who she is. When teams pay more attention to Allie and teams pay more attention to (Vandersloot), this gives her one-on-one opportunities for teams closing out to her. That's where she's at her best when you're closing out to her. You can't help but give her a step, and she's going to take advantage.” Wade said.

Stefanie Dolson also played quite well for the Sky, especially in the 4th quarter where she tallied seven of her 12 points. Azura Stevens was the only player to have a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Stevens praised her team’s effort after the game.

“I think it's just all the work we’re putting in honestly. In life sometimes I think you can be putting in a lot of work and things don't seem to be working out, but at some point, they're going to click. If you're doing all the right things, at some point they're going to click and I think that's just what's happening with our team. We've been grinding the whole three weeks we had off. Since then, wins, losses, tough games … we've just been plugging through and keep going and it's going to turn around. I think it's just credit to our team, our group … we’re still believing in each other. People are counting us out, whatever, we're not listening to that. We're staying together as a team and we're pushing through it. I think that's why things are going to start turning around for us.” Stevens stated.

Chicago outrebounded Seattle 40-34 and held a 24-17 edge in assists. And while the Sky also struggled with their shot, they still had a better shooting percentage than Seattle (42% overall and 30% from 3-PT range).

Game Breakdown

The Chicago Sky jumped out to a 7-2 lead early with a couple of nice reverse layups by Courtney Vandersloot and Candace Parker, which was then followed up by a three-pointer by Azura Stevens.

Both offenses were playing fast albeit a little sloppy at times. Chicago pushed their lead to 11-6 before Sue Bird found some space in the lane for a layup. Jewell Loyd then made an incredibly heads-up play by stealing the inbounds pass and laying it back up for two more allowing Seattle to score four points in a matter of a couple of seconds.

Both teams went relatively quiet the rest of the way. Chicago was ice-cold missing all their remaining shots and only scoring a single free throw in the final five minutes of the first period. The Storm finished the quarter on an 8-1 run to take a 14-12 lead after one quarter of play.

Seattle’s bench allowed them to extend their lead to five at 20-15 early into the second quarter. Seattle had a chance to go up eight, but Stephanie Talbot missed a three and then Allie Quigley buried a three on the other end to cut the Storm’s lead to just two at 20-18. Sue Bird buried a three and then Stephanie Talbot got a steal that led to a fastbreak capped off by a corner three from Jewell Loyd. Chicago Coach James Wade called a timeout after Seattle went up 28-20 with 4:05 left in the first half.

Chicago finished the second quarter on an 8-4 run after the timeout. Seattle led the Sky 32-28 at the midway point. Both teams really struggled shooting the ball with Seattle shooting 37% (13-35) and 22% (2-9) from the 3-PT range. Chicago wasn’t better shooting 31% (11-35) and 25% (3-12) from beyond the arc.

Jewell led the Storm with seven points. Breanna Stewart and Mercedes Russell pitched in with six points each. Candace Parker led the Sky with 8 points. Kahleah Copper and Azura Stevens each added five more points in the first half.

The Storm started the third quarter on a 7-2 run to give them a nine-point lead at 39-30. Seattle had multiple opportunities to extend their lead to double digits but wasn’t able to convert. Kahleah Copper then drilled a triple to cut Seattle’s lead back down six at 39-33. Copper continued to make her presence known scoring 10 points in the quarter as Chicago was able to cut Seattle’s lead to two at 42-40.

Chicago was able to finish the third quarter on a 5-2 run to cut the Storm’s seven-point lead (53-46) back down to just four. Seattle led 55-51. Both teams scored 23 points in the third quarter.

Stefanie Dolson opened up the final quarter with a three-point basket to cut Seattle’s lead to just one at 55-54. It was the closest Chicago had been since the opening minute of the second quarter. Dolson gave Chicago some good minutes while Candace Parker was on the bench scoring seven points in the fourth period.

Chicago tied the game on a Kahleah Copper three at 63-63 with 4:41 left in the game. Breanna Stewart broke the tie at the line with a pair of free throws. The Sky then scored five straight points with an Allie Quigley three and a nifty reverse layup by Copper to give the Sky a three-point lead with under two minutes left to play.

With the game on the line, Chicago outscored Seattle 9-2 until the final seconds of the game. Overall, they finished on a 10-4 run over the final four minutes. And two of Seattle’s points were from Jewell when Chicago played to defend the three and gave up the easy two because it no longer hurt them with the amount of time remaining.

Additional Analysis

Time to Hit the Panic Button?

"Now is not the time to hit the panic button." according to Breanna Stewart.

But I’m not so sure. This team seems off. They have really struggled since winning the Commissioner’s Cup. They are currently playing the worst basketball of the season at the wrong time. That’s a recipe for disaster come playoff time. Especially, when the Storm will likely be headed towards a single-elimination game. Seattle has been eliminated in the playoffs by single-elimination games in 2016, 2017, and 2019.

Coach Noelle Quinn needs to find a way to get the team focused and back on track. After Sunday’s rematch against Chicago, the Storm won’t play again until Thursday. In fact, the team plays only four games between August 30th and September 17th. The team is going to have plenty of time to fix things before the playoffs begin and get well-rested. So maybe Stewie is correct in that there is nothing to worry about.

After the game, I spoke with the players and Coach Quinn if they need to reevaluate things after the team has lost four of their last six games.

“We definitely have to take a step back and reevaluate a lot. It's interesting, the looks that we've been getting in the last four to six games, that we always get and we are at the latter part of our season, maybe some fatigue. You know we haven't gotten to the free throw line as often as we wanted to recently. When our big three aren’t scoring at a high clip like normal, it's about how we can find other ways and other players. I think that's kind of been the story of the season, who's going to step up in that role, and we've seen it on different nights that it has been different people. So, I'm going to be honest, I think the looks that we've been getting are normal looks. They just haven't gone our way” Quinn said.

“I'm completely fine with where we're at and I'm looking forward to getting back with the team tomorrow and having a practice where we watch film. We go through stuff, we get shots up, just so everyone can kind of get in a good place. Because obviously when we shoot the way we shot tonight, you want to see the ball go in the basket. So, to be able to get some reps up will be good and puts everybody in a good place because there's no reason for anybody to kind of be wondering right now.” Stewart added.

The Pressures of Defending the Championship

The Storm are Seattle’s most successful franchise winning four championships and five if you include the Commissioner’s Cup (which came with its own fancy new banner). No team in Seattle or in the WNBA has won more than the Seattle Storm. But with great success comes high expectations.

Despite losing several key pieces in the offseason including Alysha Clark, Natasha Howard, and Sami Whitcomb - Seattle has been one of the favorites to win the WNBA Championship for a second consecutive season. The Storm are trying to become the first team to win back-to-back WNBA Championships since the Los Angeles Sparks did it in 2001 and 2002.

Through the first 21 games of this season, Seattle looked well on their way to doing just that as they sat atop the standings at 16-5 before the season took an extended break for the Tokyo Olympics.

But the team hasn’t been the same since the Olympic games. And one of the biggest things to stand out is their inability to close out games. Seattle has blown 4th quarter leads in three of these four losses in the month of August.

I went deeper into this just a few articles ago after Seattle’s loss to the New York Liberty. This Storm team is filled with players that don’t have a ton of experience. They’ve lost a ton of their veteran presence from the 2018/2020 Championship seasons. You can read more about that under the “GROWING PAINS” section of the linked article.

After this loss against Chicago, I spoke to Breanna Stewart and Mercedes Russell and asked them if they’re feeling the pressure of being the defending champions and needing to stay atop the standings.

“Honestly, every single night is going to be hard. It's the WNBA, the best league you could possibly play in, and everybody's going to give you their best shot. I don't think we're feeling pressured to repeat or get another championship. It’s just about winning games at this point. Now we have five games left in the regular season, so we just want to be playing better every single game.” Russell said.

“We're all very aware of the standings and what's going on. It would be amazing to be in first. It will be amazing to be top two. But I think our focus is more in the now, obviously knowing that we have five games left. Making sure that no matter where we are in the standings we're playing our best basketball, because then it doesn't matter who we're playing in the playoffs as long as we're playing our best.” Stewart added.

“Playing our best basketball means just continuing to kind of leave everything on the court, you know, make sure that we're going harder than our opponents, and also continuing to have fun, enjoy the moment. I think sometimes everybody gets a little bit caught up in what's going around, you know, standings, this and that. When you enjoy where we are right now, the fact that you know we're able to be professional basketball players. Now I'm gonna go deep, but you know sometimes you lose sight of it. And you guys know when we're a team that is playing free, flowing, and having fun; even if the ball doesn't get in the basket you still feel like it went in the basket, and we need to get back to that.” Stewart elaborated.

I’m fascinated to see how this season plays out the rest of the way. Even after going 2-3 on their most recent road strip, I strongly believed Seattle could win six straight and still finish with a top-two seed earning them a double-bye to the semifinals. Now that they’ve lost to Chicago again I don’t quite know what to expect from this team. I could see them even falling out of third place and finishing 4th or 5th on their way to losing a single-elimination game in the first or second rounds.

At the same time, Seattle is going to get a ton of rest before the playoffs begin. Will that time off rejuvenate them and heal any potential nagging injuries to the point where the Storm are back to playing elite basketball? If that happens and they make it to the semifinals I can see them being good enough to beat the Sun, Aces, Lynx, Mercury, etc. to win their 5th WNBA title.

Jersey Count

At one point Seattle had gone several games undefeated in their Green and White “Heroine” jerseys. But with them wearing these uniforms more frequently recently and losing four out of their last six games, they now have more losses in these uniforms than any other color set. They’ve now lost four times total in the green and whites including three of their four losses after the Olympics.

Records per jersey type this season:
Rebel: 5-3
Explorer: 5-2
Heroine: 8-4
Overall Record: 18-9

Up Next

These two teams rematch again on Sunday at 3:00 PM. The game will air live on Facebook and locally on JOE TV. The Chicago Sky will go for the season sweep against Seattle as they’ve already defeated Seattle two times this year. Another loss by Seattle will all but guarantee they finish no better than third place this season. These two teams have a high probability of matching up in the second round of the WNBA playoffs if Seattle finishes third and Chicago remains at sixth. The Sky will have a difficult time moving any higher than 6th in the league standings. While Seattle can finish anywhere between 1st and 6th. They will most likely end up in 3rd or 4th place at the end of the regular season.

Editor’s Note: Thank you for your support! If you know any Storm fans that aren’t currently aware of my coverage through Substack and Twitter (@WNBAStormChaser), please let them know. Word of mouth can be super helpful and is greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to drop comments in the section below. If there’s any part of the coverage you really enjoyed let me know. If you have questions on something, I’ll do my best to track down the answer and ask during media availability. Photo Credits to Neil Enns/Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography.