Tina Charles and the Washington Mystics upset the Storm 87-83

Behind 34 points and 16 rebounds from Tina Charles, the Washington Mystics came to Seattle and defeated the #1 seed Seattle Storm.

(Everett, WA) - The Seattle Storm (12-3) fell short against the Washington Mystics (7-6) by a final score of 87-83. Tina Charles was completely unguardable. She scored early and often in this game eventually finishing with 34 points on 56% (14-25) field goal shooting and 83% (5-6) from beyond the arc. Like I said, completely unguardable. She also had a game-high 16 rebounds.

“Overall, I think that coming off that tough road trip, understanding that this is a bit of a tough stretch. I think this one kind of brings us back down to reality, just understanding where we've got to continue to grow and get better. And, you know, we'll learn from it. We'll get to the film and clean up some things, but for the most part, you know, just good effort through the end.” Coach Noelle Quinn said.

The Mystics buried Seattle with a barrage of three-pointers on Tuesday night, 16 in total! It was the most threes an opponent had made against Seattle all season long. The previous high came from the Dallas Wings who made 11 triples on June 4th. Washington shot 42% (16-38) from long distance in this game. Seattle knocked down 42% as well but only connected on 8-19. Washington’s three-point shooting was the difference in this game.

Four of the Mystics five starters scored in double figures and all five of them knocked down at least one three-ball. Beyond Tina Charles, Leilani Mitchell was the other major player from Washington that did damage to Seattle. Mitchell scored 19 points and had a team-high seven assists. She also knocked down five shots from long range including several in the clutch moments of the game. Theresa Plaisance nearly had a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds. Ariel Atkins was the other Mystics player to reach double figures with 10 points. She also had six assists.

Mystics’ Coach Mike Thibault was pleased with his team’s performance.

“I credit everyone all the way around. Our coaches have done a great job with scouting preparations. Obviously, Tina [Charles] is playing terrific like she has all year, but she’s taken it up a notch the last two games and just willing herself to carry this team. They just hang in together. We had a game plan and they stuck to it. Leilani [Mitchell] hit some big threes. It’s a credit to them for sticking to the game plan and finding out what works.” Coach Thibault said.

Tina Charles also spoke on the team’s effort and development.

“Just coming into our identity. Just what you all know about this team -- just being very selfless and trusting one another with the ball and sharing the ball, taking the open shot, and making the extra pass. It’s a whole new team with different individuals coming into this organization so just really buying into what (Coach Thibault) wants from us and what we've been practicing.” Charles said.

Leilani Mitchell talked about the big win over the defending champs after the game as well.

“I think everyone was counting us out so it's good for our confidence. Even when we were tired and probably not being as aggressive as we should have been the fact that we were still able to pull it out. Tina (Charles) was huge for us tonight. She was making outside shots, posting up, came up with big rebounds at the end. Everyone played really well.” Mitchell told the media.

Seattle was led by Jewell Loyd who scored 23 points, including 18 of those in the 2nd half. Loyd also had a game-high nine assists in the game and did a solid job defending Atkins who normally averages over 18 PPG this season (holding her to ten).

Breanna Stewart finished the game with 17 points, eight rebounds, and five blocked shots. She was also 6-6 from the foul line which was nice to see since she has struggled a bit from the line this season. But in a weird way, it felt like Stewie had a bad game. Maybe it’s because she missed three of her final four shots in the 4th quarter, including a four-foot shot that would have potentially sent the game into OT. Or maybe it’s because Tina Charles was so unstoppable on the other end by comparison. Either way, expectations are sky-high for the former MVP and on Tuesday night she wasn’t able to get the job done.

Mercedes Russell had a solid game with 10 points and six rebounds on 5-8 FG shooting. Candice Dupree had one of her best games of this season, scoring 10 points on 57% FG shooting (4-7). Dupree also hit a major milestone moving into 4th place All-Time in WNBA scoring history passing Cappie Pondexter.

I spoke to Candice after the game about what that milestone means to her.

“It's huge, you know to be top four in scoring in the league. That means I've been around it for a while. It’s a huge honor though. I think the players above are [Tamika] Catchings, Tina Thompson and Diana [Taurasi], so I'm in some pretty good company with that.” Dupree told me.

Lastly, Sue Bird did not have a good night shooting the basketball going 3-9 and 1-5 from beyond the arc. However, she quietly flirted with a triple-double finishing the game with 7 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists.

Game Breakdown

Both teams started off a little sluggish but then things picked up in the middle of the first quarter. Seattle scored multiple points in the paint, on nice passes and cuts to the basket. Meanwhile, Tina Charles was going off as she tends to do. Charles hit multiple three-pointers in the opening quarter and had 12 points leading all scorers.

The Mystics were able to go up by as many as seven points in the first period, mostly thanks to the aggressive scoring from Charles. Seattle closed the quarter on a 4-0 run to make it 22-19 Washington after one. Seattle’s final points of the quarter came on a possession where the Storm were able to grab three offensive rebounds before Jewell Loyd finished the possession on a driving layup.

Stephanie Talbot gave Seattle five quick points off the bench with a nice cutting layup and a corner three. However, Washington continued to shoot the ball well pushing their lead back up to seven at 31-24.

The Mystics completely outplayed the Storm through the first two quarters. They were getting better shots, they were knocking down their three-pointers, and they were getting to the rim. Tina Charles continued to dominate down in the low post pushing Washington’s lead to 15 points in the 2nd quarter 43-28.

Fortunately, for Seattle, the Mystics missed a few shots and the Storm were able to finish the second quarter on an 8-0 run. That run was critical in keeping them in the game and avoiding a blowout. Russell knocked down a post shot, Stewart drove down the lane for two more, Bird then hit a mid-range jumper, and Katie Lou drove hard to the basket falling to the floor but completing the layup to cut Washington’s lead to just seven at 43-36 at the midway point.

Tina Charles led all scorers with 17 points in the first half on 7-14 FG shooting. Leilani Mitchell added eight points including two more triples. Seattle had very balanced scoring but no one that really stood out. Mercedes Russell led the team with eight points. Breanna Stewart had six points and Jewell Loyd added five more.

The Mystics held the edge in shooting through two quarters at 49% to 46%, but significantly better from long range 38% compared to Seattle’s 25% from three. Seattle committed six first-half turnovers while Washington only had two.

Jewell Loyd hit back-to-back baskets including a three to cut the Mystics once 15-point lead down to four points. But Sydney Wiese quieted the crowd with a step-back three of her own. That is until Sue Bird hit a corner three. Another layup by Jewell Loyd and Seattle had the Mystics lead down to two at 48-46.

Another shot by Loyd from beyond the arc gave Seattle their first lead since early in the first quarter at 49-48 forcing the Washington Mystics to call timeout. It was part of a 21-5 run by Seattle that spanned between the second and third quarters.

Washington didn’t trail for long as Leilani Mitchell and Ariel Atkins both knocked down triples from beyond the arc. Then Tina Charles followed that up with a three of her own to push Washington’s lead back to four.

A beautiful dime by Jewell Loyd hit a wide-open Mercedes Russell who was galloping down the court and finished for the easy two to give Seattle the one-point advantage again at 60-59.

Tina Charles remained unstoppable in this game scoring 12 more points in the third period and finished the quarter with 29 points total. The Mystics knocked down six three-pointers in the third period alone. Their shooting was unreal in this game but Seattle’s defense was also a step slow.

Ezi Magbegor had a beautiful two-handed rejection. It led to a fastbreak that resulted in two made free throws from Candice Dupree to give Seattle their biggest lead of the game at 74-69.

Tina Charles checked back into the game and immediately scored five points to tie the game at 74-74.

In a possession that summarized this game perfectly. The Storm finally stopped Tina Charles on a possession, only for Charles to get the offensive rebound and kick it out to a wide-open Leilani Mitchell who knocked down a three-pointer. It was poetic because those two players absolutely killed Seattle all game long.

Ariel Atkins and Theresa Plaisance knocked down back-to-back shots from beyond the arc for the Mystics to give them a five-point lead at 83-78. The Storm wouldn’t go away as they went on a 5-2 run to cut it to two at 85-83 with under 45 seconds left to play.

Unfortunately, that was the closest Seattle would get as Jewell Loyd missed a corner three and Breanna Stewart missed a driving jumper in the paint.

In the end, Washington’s hot shooting from deep and Tina Charles’ dominance was too much for Seattle to overcome. Seattle lost the game 87-83. Charles finished with a game-high 34 points and 16 rebounds. She nearly single-handedly defeated the Seattle Storm by herself. But she wasn’t alone as she got major help from Leilani Mitchell who had 19 points including five triples.

Additional Analysis

The Rivalry

For whatever reason, the Washington Mystics have been a problem for the Seattle Storm over the past few years. Maybe it’s the excellent coaching of Mike Thibault, the WNBA’s leader in total wins by a coach. Or the fact that they’ve had some of the best players in the league in recent seasons including Tina Charles and Elena Delle Donne. Whatever the reason may be, the Mystics have been a thorn in the Storm’s side for quite some time (2018 WNBA Finals aside).

It’s funny to me, it’s something I’ve noticed over the recent years and Noelle Quinn ended up talking about that after the game as well.

“It’s so interesting to me (she said with a laugh in disbelief). Up to this point, they weren’t shooting the three well. A lot of players weren’t shooting the three well. But it’s something about the Seattle Storm that gets these players going. They have that edge, that confidence, once you see a couple go through whether you’re shooting 30%, 19%, whatever it is, it’s something about us that we get everybody’s best. Everything we saw, we were prepared for but in those moments we give us a few threes and now it becomes contagious. Now we’re thinking we need to over-rotate, which we were doing, we were 2-to-1 person and not contesting. We understand that Lei 80% of her shots are threes. We understood that Plaisance 50% of her shots are threes. We were trying to adjust to that but it’s just a matter of executing that game plan.” Coach Quinn told me after the game.

Looking back to the 2020 season, the Washington Mystics despite not having Elena Delle Donne or Tina Charles were one of only three teams to beat Seattle last season. In fact, they handed Seattle their only double-digit loss of the entire season 89-71. Ariel Atkins had 22 points in that game and Myisha Hines-Allen added 17.

In 2019, the Mystics defeated Seattle two out of the three times they played. Both were lopsided victories for Washington 99-79 and utter domination in a game that ended 88-59. In that first victory over Seattle, Delle Donne had 29 points and 13 rebounds, while Ariel Atkins chipped in with 17 points. They led five Mystics players who scored in double figures. In the 29-point win over Seattle, Aerial Powers led the team with 16 points, while six different players scored in double figures.

During the 2018 season, even though Seattle would beat the Washington Mystics five times in six games (including the three-game sweep in the WNBA Finals), Washington still handed Seattle their worst defeat of the season on August 9th, 2018 by a final score of 100-77. Elena Delle Donne put up 30 points in that game and LaToya Sanders had 17 points and 13 rebounds.

Dating back to June 27th, 2017, the Washington Mystics once again handed the Storm their most lopsided defeat. This time by 30 points with a final score of 100-70. Elena Delle Donne led the way with 25 points while Kristi Toliver added 15 more.

There seems to be a little bit of a pattern here. Over the past five years, the Washington Mystics have given Seattle tremendous fits. The Mystics have also handed Seattle some of their worst defeats over that time period. Whether it’s the coaching, the specific matchups, or their ability to get blistering hot at the perfect time when facing Seattle, the Mystics have been a problem!

Defensive Problems

The Washington Mystics’ offense was so well executed in this game that they constantly moved the ball and found the open shooter time and time again. They had 25 assists in the game despite shooting under 45%. Seattle had 21, it was one of the rare games where the Storm’s opponent had better assist numbers.

Seattle has been so good defensively this entire month that it was shocking to see how poorly they played in this game. A big reason why the Mystics were able to knock down 16 threes in the game is that they were wide open for more than half of them.

The Storm were constantly scrambling on defense to recover and close out on their defensive rotations. But they were really out of sync in this game. It didn’t look like Seattle’s normal defense so I wanted to talk to Coach Quinn and the players about that after the game.

“Your observation is correct. We were scrambling, we weren’t communicating in those scrambles. Late possessions you see we had two (players) to the ball. Throughout the game, our schemes have to change and adjust and we just weren’t on the same page with those. What Washington does very well is spread you out. I took a look at our game from last year against Washington when they ate us up. They understood where we trapped and they understood where we rotate. The past few days we talked about being aggressive at the point of attack and understanding that they will spread us out.” Coach Quinn told me after the game.

“That was on us. A little more communication a little more awareness. We’ll be better. Credit it to them, they knocked down more shots than we did.” Loyd added.

I also asked Candice Dupree if the Mystics did anything special on offense to get Seattle out of place and scrambling on the defensive end.

“I think they read how we were trying to guard ball screens and they took advantage of it. It’s like you said, we were scrambling a lot. Our guards ended up on their post players a lot. And then trying to double down on them, they were able to get a lot of skip passes (to open players) and hit threes. We’ve got to find a better way to adjust to that. When they’re trying to feed it inside. Either maybe don’t switch on ball screens or bump that guard out to get a big on big.” Dupree answered.

I really appreciated Dupree’s answer as it seemed to me that Washington’s offense was constantly putting Seattle players in bad positions. Getting Sue Bird or Jewell Loyd switched onto Tina Charles, which then caused multiple post players to go down into the paint which resulted in constant wide-open shots for Washington’s perimeter players. It also came down to the fact that the Mystics were able to knock down so many threes in this game. If they only connect on 10 or even 12 instead of 16, Seattle win’s the game.

Lastly, Tina Charles was such a nightmare for Seattle in this game because she was too big and strong down in the paint when being guarded by Breanna Stewart or Ezi Magbegor. And she was too fast for Mercedes when she was knocking down all those threes. Centers don’t often guard all the way out to the three-point line because they don’t have the quickness to recover if a player drives to the rim. Which allowed Charles to take several uncontested threes knocking down 5-6 from beyond the arc.

Coach Thibault talked about Charles’ development over the years.

“In Connecticut, she didn’t have the three-point game or the step-out game that she has now. The majority of her game was around the basket. She was starting to work on that when I coached her, but she was only three years into her career, and she was an MVP without even having that part of her game. Now she’s finding people when she’s double or triple-teamed. She got offensive rebounds, she scored threes. The three wasn’t part of her game and that’s a big reason why. I think her individual defense has gotten better too. She’s more comfortable. She’s got the confidence to do just about anything we ask.” Washington’s coach said.

Learning from the Loss

During the post-game press conference, I wanted to talk to the team and ask them if games like this can be a good thing because they’ve rarely been challenged. After going 18-4 and a perfect 6-0 in the playoffs last season and starting this season 12-2 on top of the WNBA standings it can be easy to rest on your laurels. But can these setbacks actually be a good thing long term?

“It definitely is. It brings us down to reality a bit and understanding this is going to be a tough stretch. The challenge within this stretch is what do you do during adversity, do you rise or do you sink? We’re going to get everybody’s best shot in this league. No matter who it is on any given night this can happen. This team is prepared. It’s about us and our energy and effort. We talk about that level of excellence we have to get there and sustain it. At the end of the day, what do you do? How do you respond? We watch film, we get better, we grow, we prepare for Vegas. With this group, it’s a new group, how do we respond?” Coach Quinn said after the loss to Washington.

“This team is going to fight. It’s something we’ve shown in our history that this team is going to fight to the end. Obviously, we want to win. We don’t want to be complacent and say ‘Oh there’s lots of positives.’ But we’ll watch film and we’ll get better.” Jewell Loyd added.

“Honestly, the WNBA is the best league you can play in. Teams one through twelve are tough, they’re stacked. Every game is going to be difficult. Pulling out wins is really important and we just came up a little short tonight. We only lost by four points and they made so many (16) threes. It’s just something for us to learn from and we’ll build from today on.” Mercedes Russell told the media after the game.

Jersey Count

As the Seattle Storm returned home for the first time in over two weeks they donned their Black Rebel jerseys. The jerseys look great but their performance in them hasn’t been as nice looking on the court.

The team is barely above .500 while playing in their Rebel uniforms as they fall to 3-2 on the season.

Records per jersey type this season:
Rebel: 3-2
Explorer: 3-1
Heroine: 6-0
Overall Record: 12-3

Up Next

Seattle gets a few days off to correct some things and then will travel to Las Vegas to face off against the Aces. There is a ton on the line with this game as it’ll be one of the most highly anticipated regular-season games this year. The two teams are currently at number one and number two overall in the WNBA standings. Whichever team ends up victorious on Sunday will move into sole possession of first place. But there’s even more on the line in this game. Both teams have split the first two games that were both played in Seattle. If Seattle is able to beat Vegas, they will own the season series and all tie-breakers which could be absolutely crucial come playoff time.

Let’s not forget that these two teams finished with the exact same record last season because Las Vegas won the final game of the regular season, it actually put them ahead of Seattle as the number one overall seed. While that didn’t matter very much in 2020 with every team playing away from fans inside the bubble environment at IGM Academy, it will certainly matter this season!

Lastly, a lot of money is also on the line as a win by Seattle would almost guarantee they would represent the Western Conference in the Inaugural Commissioner’s Cup tournament championship. Seattle is currently 5-0 in the Commissioner Cup standings and Las Vegas is 3-1. If the Storm improve to 6-0, they would need to only win two of their remaining four Cup games to reach the Tournament Championship game and would be guaranteed a nice payday.

This game will air nationally on ESPN at 1:00 PM on ESPN.

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! Photo Credits to Neil Enns/Seattle Storm/WNBA.