Valkyries Defeat Storm 76-70 Part 2

Additional thoughts and interview quotes from Seattle's loss to Golden State.

The Seattle Storm laid an egg on Saturday night, losing to the Golden State Valkyries 76-70. They looked disheartened for most of the game. They took bad shots, they made sloppy passes, and they weren’t communicating on defense. They just played bad basketball. If you want to relive that, you can read my game recap I wrote here.

In Part 2, I wrote about how the Storm feel like two different teams on any given day, I praise Golden State Valkyries’ Head Coach Natalie Nakase, discuss the Li Yueru trade, and congratulate Sue Bird on her Hall of Fame induction. I’ve also included the audio from the Storm’s post-game press conference and best interview quotes from Alysha Clark, Ezi Magbegor, and Coach Noelle Quinn.

Will the Real Storm Please Stand Up?

In my league-wide Around the W summary, I called the Seattle Storm a “middle-of-the-pack” team. I think some fans may have taken exception to that. But as the season has progressed, I think that’s a pretty fair assessment of the team. I want to believe Seattle can be a title contender this season. It’s a lot more fun to cover the team when they’re winning. And the better they do, the more people are interested in reading about the team. As someone who spends a tremendous amount of time covering and writing about the team, it’s better for me when the team plays well. But it’s hard to ignore the inconsistency.

The Storm have had two incredible wins this season. Their 102-82 win over Las Vegas and their 94-84 win over Minnesota this past Wednesday. After both of those strong victories, they lost their very next game. Seattle had a three-game win streak and followed that up by losing three games in a row. They’ve had two narrow victories over a Dallas Wings team that currently has a 1-11 record. They’ve blown a 17-point 2nd-half lead in their loss to the Atlanta Dream.

Seattle was embarrassed 81-59 in the first game of the season against the Mercury in Phoenix. Gabby Williams later said, “That game never happened. That wasn’t us.” But their performance against Golden State on Saturday night sure looked very similar. The Storm at least made a comeback in this game, but they were soundly beaten for most of the game and trailed by more than 20 points in the 2nd half.

The New York Liberty have had four 20+ point blowout victories this season, including a 48-point win over the Connecticut Sun. The Storm have had one so far this year.

The way things are going, they’ll probably lose to either Los Angeles or Las Vegas in the next couple of games. And then turn around and beat New York or Indiana.

When they are at their absolute best, they can be an elite team. But their struggles are happening too frequently to be considered elite or a top contender right now. Until they can find that level of play consistently, they are going to be a middle-of-the-pack team. With Saturday’s loss, they’ve dropped back down to sixth place in the WNBA standings. And if they aren’t careful, they could fall to 8th place soon as both the Indiana Fever and Golden State Valkyries sit only 1/2 a game behind Seattle in the standings.

Will the real Seattle Storm please stand up?

Natalie Nakase

I have to take a moment to give Coach Natalie Nakase her flowers. I thought the Golden State Valkyries were going to be BAD this season. Like really bad. If someone told me that there would be a WNBA team that would have a 1-11 record to start this season, I would have picked the Valkyries to be that team. I’m not sure I even thought they’d win 5 games all season. I know I picked them to finish 13th and dead last in the WNBA standings.

Through 10 games, Coach Nakase has led the Valkyries to a respectable .500 record at 5-5. They are currently in a playoff spot if the season ended today. If Golden State makes the playoffs this year with the roster they have, I am on the record saying that Coach Nakase 100% deserves to win Coach of the Year. I hope the End of Season voters will factor in more than just which Coach got the most wins in the regular season.

Beyond the impressive record for an expansion team, you have to credit Nakase for her smart game plans. The Valkyries completely dismantled the Las Vegas Aces 95-68 by using a strategy to make life very difficult for A’ja Wilson. They sent multiple bodies at her constantly and forced the other Aces players to beat them.

She used a similar strategy to take Nneka Ogwumike out of this game. Multiple defenders consistently hounded Ogwumike as Golden State clogged the paint. They made her uncomfortable. Ogwumike finished with 6 points on 2-6 FG shooting. They also dared Erica Wheeler and Gabby Williams to beat them deep by playing a heavy 2-3 zone defense. Despite their recent hot shooting, they both struggled on Saturday. Williams and Wheeler combined for 1-9 FG from beyond the arc.

I’m really impressed with what Coach Nakase has been able to accomplish with her team so far. If she gets her team into the playoffs in Year 1, that’ll be quite the achievement.

Li Yueru Traded

Before Saturday’s game between Seattle and Golden State, the Storm announced that they had traded Li Yueru to the Dallas Wings in exchange for a couple of future draft picks. Those picks are Dallas’ 2026 2nd-round pick and their 2027 3rd-round pick.

I honestly think that’s a pretty decent return for the Storm. When the Chinese National Team or Federation is demanding a trade of one of your players, Seattle probably didn’t have a lot of options. And while Yueru has talent, she has not proven to be a dominant star in the WNBA. She was always going to be 4th on the post depth chart behind Nneka Ogwumike, Ezi Magbegor, and Dominique Malonga. Even though Magbegor has more years of WNBA experience than Yueru, Ezi is actually younger than Li. Ezi and Dom factor more into Seattle’s future plans.

By getting the 2026 second-round pick from Dallas, that could become the 16th overall pick in next year’s draft. That is the best-case scenario as the league is expanding from 13 teams to 15 teams in 2026 with the additions of Portland and Toronto. While that is the best-case scenario, it’s also a very realistic one. If the Wings continue playing as they are, they’re going to end up with the worst record in the league. If they don’t finish dead last, the only other team that realistically could would be Connecticut. Since that pick owns swap rights with Connecticut, that means if Dallas or Connecticut finish in last place, the Storm will have the 16th overall pick.

The Storm also currently own three first-round picks for 2026 as well. As of right now, those are projected to be #2 overall (from Los Angeles), 10th overall (Seattle), and 11th overall (Las Vegas). That means they might have four of the first 16 picks of the 2026 WNBA Draft.

Lastly, because the Storm did not receive any players in the Li Yueru trade, they are going to have to bring someone in. They currently only have nine healthy players. Coach Quinn said she expects to have another player before Tuesday’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks.

If they are looking for post depth, they could bring Mackenzie Holmes back. Holmes played well during the preseason. The move isn’t uncommon. The Storm made a similar move last season, where they cut Joyner Holmes (no relation) at the end of training camp but brought her back about one month into the season.

Some other options if Seattle decides to go in a different direction could be Aari McDonald, Haley Jones, Crystal Bradford, Kaila Charles, etc.

Sue Bird to the Hall of Fame

A huge congratulations to the one and only Sue Bird. It was announced that Bird will go into the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the 2025 class. Bird is Seattle’s most successful athlete, leading her team to four WNBA Championships. I’m glad I’ve been around to witness all of them in one capacity or another. It was an honor to have the opportunity to cover her starting in 2015 and ending with her retirement after the 2022 season.

Alysha Clark, Ezi Magbegor, and Coach Quinn all shared some thoughts about Bird after the game.

Magbegor stated, “Yeah, I mean, I think it was inevitable. So obviously, just for me to be able to say I played with Sue, I think it's obviously not something everyone can say. And I think some of my greatest moments I had were obviously on the court, but off the court as well. I think just her ability to impact a player, a person in the simplest of ways. And I think just being able to look up to her, too. I think kind of picking her brain a little bit, she kind of started out not always the loudest in the room, but she obviously grew into the leader that she was. And so I think just being able to kind of translate that into my game. Obviously, I'm not the loudest in the room, but just getting to know people on an individual level and leading in that way is something that I really took from Sue, but... Yeah, just congrats to Sue. Congrats to Syl (Fowles) as well.”

Clark added, “Yeah, congrats, Birdie. That's amazing. Sue's somebody that, I mean, she just embodies leadership, and she just embodies a champion. Everything that she does, from how she prepares for games, what she does off the court in her everyday life. So it was awesome being able to play with her for so long, and learn from her, win with, you know, win alongside her. And so, I mean, it's more than deserving. And this is exciting to see our greats being recognized and getting their flowers, and to be able to celebrate that. She's a legend of this game. So to be able to see that and know, you know, that we played alongside her is pretty awesome. So, congrats, Birdie!”

Quinn told me, “Sue Bird is Seattle. I have had an opportunity to play with Sue and coach her for a little bit. I understand why she is great because she puts the work in. She put the work in. She's a super cerebral player, and she's the ultimate competitor. To be in the Hall of Fame means you're one of the best ever to do it. And she is certainly that. And I'm super appreciative of my time with her and super, you know, amazing that she continues to do the things that she's doing even now, away from basketball, being a conduit of the game and really represent herself, her community, Seattle, and all of women's basketball. So, shout out to Sue for that.”

Player Interviews

On disappointment and frustration from this game after their big win against Minnesota.

Alysha Clark answered, “I mean, there's some frustration just because a lot of the stuff that we were doing tonight just wasn't characteristic. We got stagnant. We had 16 turnovers that I don't even know how many points it led to second chance. Like it led to s lot of points for them. And playing against a team that's scrappy, you know, Nat is a fiery, scrappy person. So that's how her team plays. And so when you're doing that against them, they're being aggressive. It's going to always favor the team that's more aggressive than the stagnant team. So, yeah, disappointed, but, you know, proud of the way that we just didn't give in. You know, these are early tests for us. When you're on the road and things get difficult, you know, how are you going to respond? And, you know, I'm proud of the way that we at least fought back.”

On the difficult environment of playing in front of 18,000 fans.

Ezi Magbegor said, “Yeah, I think we obviously know playing on the road is difficult. And we've seen the games where the Valkyries fans show up, whether it's 18,000, 19,000 fans. And so we knew it was going to, you know, be their sixth man on the court tonight. And so just being able to mentally prepare for that. I think in times like that, we have to stay connected on the court. And we do, I think, as AC said, just being able to come back in the third and fourth quarter, but just knowing like that's going to be the atmosphere from the jump, and so starting the game a little bit better. We didn't come out strong in the first quarter. It took us a bit to get back, but I think that's just something, as AC said, is uncharacteristic of us.”

On how the Valkyries’ defense took them out of their game.

Clark told me, “Yeah, you know, their zone is an aggressive zone. And, you know, I think that's where we got a little bit stagnant. We started second-guessing things in their team that once you put the ball on the floor, they come and attack. And so, you know, they were able to disrupt early. And I think that made us put us on our heels a little bit to where we were second-guessing our decisions, where, the other night, we were thinking we were just moving the ball and making cuts and reads. And I think we got a little, we got away from that a little bit tonight. So, definitely something we're going to look at and make sure that we do a better job of moving forward.”

On the challenge of playing a team they had never played before.

AC replied, “Yeah, that's where preparation comes into play. And, you know, I don't think we were underprepared by any means. And like you said, you have players that we're familiar with, but these players for other teams and franchises play different roles, so being able to see how they operate now in this new system under this new coach, the way they're taking on. I mean, you look at Kayla Thornton, and she was an important piece in New York and what she did, but her role here is completely different. So you're just seeing, I think, a more well, like a different version of these players and what we're used to. But, you know, these games, it's this now. Now we have an idea, you know, of the type of the way that they like to play. And so, just making sure that as we move forward, just having a better understanding of that.”

Coach’s Quotes

On the challenges of being consistent in this league.

Coach Quinn said, “Yeah. Saying it, consistency. Yeah. You know, trying to find some consistency and rotations to breed some consistent play. At the end of the day, our pros got to show up and be pros, get the correct energy, focus needed, no matter who we're playing. The consistency is going to come when we just stay disciplined. We're not there yet.”

On how the Valkyries dominated the paint despite being the much shorter team.

Noelle replied, “We weren't sharp on our ball screen coverages. That was one. A lot of just downhill penetration without much physicality or aggressiveness to combat that. And then on the flip side, they were able to set their zone defense. So if we can't score, kind of can't, you know, can't get stops, can't score. It's a recipe for disaster.”

On how Golden State took the Storm out of their game and what changed in the 4th quarter.

Quinn told me, “Yeah, we should have started the game a little bit more aggressive when we did, when we got more aggressive, that happened later in the game. We were able to get some deflections and steals, and some easier baskets because we weren't getting stops. We had no flow to our offense. Even when they were in the zone, the looks that we were getting, we were so tentative, not taking the open looks, or kind of being aggressive when we did have some good execution in the zone. But I thought later in the game, because we ratcheted up our coverages, that helped us.”

On whether the lack of a scout affected the game or in-game adjustments.

“I mean, we knew every player was on the court. The newest player was Aerial Powers, and she didn't play a lot of minutes. We knew everybody who was on their roster. To me, it was just an energy and a focus and a lack of execution of what we needed to do, we knew everybody who played, and we understood their what they could do on the basketball court. We just didn't execute.”

On the large home crowd for Golden State.

“It’s a great atmosphere here. I think there are points of the game where we couldn't really hear one another, which is really beneficial for the home crowd and getting behind the team, especially in certain moments. Certain moments felt bigger than they were, like the threes at the end of the first half, because of the crowd. That was their only two makes at that point, but it felt loud. The three felt loud because the energy was pretty loud. So, kudos to Golden State for having some good fan support.” Quinn said.

On Alysha Clark’s performance in this game.

“Yeah, AC played well. She gave us a really good boost off the bench, kind of moved there from four to three. And she's found some rhythm, hit some big shots. And defensively, I thought she was really sharp, talking and communicating in the huddles, and kind of being the quarterback on the floor defensively. And so I did. It's good to see a couple of go through for AC and how she can really help us at certain points. And with certain lineups, combating small ball and things like that. So really good minutes from AC and also really good minutes from Lexie as well,” Noelle told me.

Notes:
Thanks for all the great support! Please tell other WNBA fans about my coverage. Please share, retweet, repost, etc., if you enjoy my articles.
Thanks to Her Hoop Stats and Across the Timeline for being great resources.
Photo Credits: Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography

Social Media:
Follow me on Bluesky (@wnbastormchasers.bsky.social)
Follow me on Threads (@WNBAStormChasers)
Follow me on X/Twitter (@WNBAStormChaser)