Sparks Win 2-OT Thriller Over Storm 108-106
Los Angeles outlasted Seattle in an epic clash on Friday night.
(Seattle, WA) - Storm fans were treated to an incredible double-overtime game between the Seattle Storm and the Los Angeles Sparks. Unfortunately, they saw everything but a win on Friday night. The two teams battled back and forth in a game that saw 14 lead changes and 12 ties. Despite arguably Nneka Ogwumike’s best regular season game of her 14-year WNBA career (37 points and 12 rebounds), and some clutch made baskets by Gabby Williams, the Storm were unable to stop the Sparks’ best players in the final moments of regulation and OT. Skylar Diggins missed a shot in the lane that would have sent the game into triple-overtime. Instead, Kelsey Plum, Rickea Jackson, and the rest of the LA Sparks celebrated as they came out on top by a final score of 108-106.
Nneka Ogwumike was one point away from tying her career-high and three points from putting up a 40-point performance. She was incredible, hitting several impressive shots inside the paint and even a couple beyond the three-point line. She finished shooting 56% (14-25 FG). Ogwumike made 7-9 FT and pulled down a team-high 12 rebounds.
The rest of Seattle’s starters played well enough to win, but outside of Ogwumike, the team did struggle with its offensive efficiency. Skylar Diggins finished with 18 points and six assists, but had to take 20 shot attempts and made only seven of them. She was highly efficient from beyond the arc, knocking down 4-7 FG from the three-point line. In 43 minutes of action, Diggins didn’t get a single whistle and shot zero free throws. Coach Noelle Quinn called it “bullshit” in the post-game press conference.
Erica Wheeler scored 15 points on 5-14 FG. She also had six assists. Gabby Williams added 14 points, a game-high eight assists, a game-high five steals, and also grabbed five rebounds. Williams scored all 14 of her points in the second half or OT periods. She was held scoreless through the first 20 minutes of the game, but bounced back as the game went on.
Ezi Magbegor finished with nine points and 11 rebounds. She should have had a double-double, but missed an open layup late in the second overtime period that would have helped send the game to triple-OT. Magbegor finished with a game-high five blocked shots. Dominique Malonga added six points, eight rebounds, and two blocks off the bench. Seattle’s bench outscored LA’s 13-9. Despite being out-rebounded, the Storm had a 21-12 advantage in second-chance points.
This was a disappointing outcome to an otherwise great game. Gabby mentioned that it was frustrating that they didn’t get the win to reward Nneka Ogwumike for her incredible performance. It was also a costly loss for Seattle for several reasons. Not only would a win have helped keep the LA Sparks out of a playoff spot (something the Storm needs if they hope to get a lottery draft pick). But a win would have moved them into third place in the WNBA standings, and they would have been only 1/2 game behind the New York Liberty for the two seed. However, with the loss, combined with wins by Atlanta and Indiana, the Storm have now dropped from the 4th seed down to the 6th seed in the standings.
No one can ever say these losses don’t matter. This loss specifically cost them four spots in the standings. That’s how tight and competitive the WNBA is.
LA Sparks
Rickea Jackson and Kelsey Plum led the Sparks. Jackson scored a team-high 27 points on nearly 50% shooting. She also pulled down nine rebounds. Plum added 22 points and a team-high seven assists.
All five of Los Angeles’ starters had strong performances. Four of them scored over 20 points. Besides Jackson and Plum, both Dearica Hamby and Azurá Stevens added 21 points each. Hamby had a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Stevens knocked down 3-5 FG from long distance. Each three-pointer felt like a critical one during the game.
Julie Allemand finished with a near-double-double of eight points and nine rebounds. She also had five assists. Allemand was also a game-best plus-12 in the plus/minus category. Cameron Brink, in just her second game back from her torn ACL, had a large impact off the bench. She finished with seven points, four rebounds, three blocks, and two steals. She did pick up five personal fouls in under 12 minutes of action, which is something she will need to continue to work on as she gets more playing time this season.
The Sparks outshot the Storm overall 47% (41-88 FG) to 43% (40-94 FG). However, Seattle was a little better from beyond the arc, 34% (11-32 FG) to 27% (7-26 FG). LA scored an astonishing 60 points inside the paint. And outscored Seattle 60-50 in that category. Los Angeles also outpaced Seattle 19-8 in fast break points. The road team had six more free throw attempts and was a plus-four from the charity stripe. They out-rebounded the Storm 46-42. Despite committing six more turnovers than Seattle, they scored more points off turnovers, capitalizing in transition.
With the win at Seattle, the Los Angeles Sparks have tallied nine out of their 12 wins on the road this season. Their nine road wins are the most by any WNBA franchise this year. Despite the win, LA is currently two games out of a playoff spot as of this writing. They currently hold the tenth-best record in the W at 12-15.
Game Breakdown
Azurá Stevens was fouled and made both free throws to score the first points of the game. Skylar knocked down a three-pointer. Erica Wheeler banked in a jumper inside the paint. Los Angeles regained the lead with a 6-2 run that was capped off by an open-court steal and score by Julie Allemand.
LA’s defense was giving Seattle a lot of fits as they went up 14-9. Dearica Hamby finished with a strong AND1 layup and free throw. Rickea Jackson grabbed an offensive rebound and scored. Nneka Ogwumike scored the final seven points for the Storm in the first. Tiffany Mitchell nearly made a half-court shot to end the opening quarter. Seattle trailed 18-16 at the end of the first.
The Storm looked much more comfortable in the second quarter. Lexie Brown stole the ball and passed it up to Wheeler for the easy transition score. After Dearica Hamby split two free throws, Seattle went on a 9-0 run. Lexie Brown hit a midrange and later a corner three. Dominique Malonga made two free throws. Ogwumike hit one of her turnaround jumpers. That put the Storm ahead 27-19.
Kelsey Plum started a Sparks run with a jumper in the paint. Stevens hit a three-pointer. Hamby made some free throws at the foul line. LA went on a 10-5 run to cut their deficit down to three at 32-29.
Both teams played evenly the rest of the way. Seattle led over Los Angeles 39-36. Nneka Ogwumike led the Storm with 13 points. Dearica Hamby led LA with 12 points.
Rickea Jackson got deep post position and was able to score. Gabby Williams was fouled on a jumper and made her free throws for her first points of the game. Magbegor drilled a corner three. Stevens scored again for LA. Then Ezi got a big steal with a nice hustle play. Magbegor hit another deep two-point shot. Seattle didn’t get back on defense, and Jackson scored an easy layup in transition. Nneka scored back-to-back baskets to put Seattle up by seven at 54-47.
Out of the timeout, Gabby got a big steal and raced down the other end for two. Julie Allemand hit a three-ball, but the Storm responded with two quick scores by Williams and Magbegor. That put them ahead by 10 points at 60-50, forcing Coach Lynne Roberts to call a timeout.
Plum knocked down a three. Malonga was fouled but missed both free throws. Then Jackson was fouled on the other end and made both of her shots. Ogwumike and Tiffany Mitchell scored inside the paint. Plum responded with a layup and two more free throws. Wheeler made two foul shots at the end of the quarter to put the Storm ahead 66-59.
Cameron Brink knocked down a short corner shot to begin the 4th quarter. After a Seattle turnover, Brink made a three-pointer to cut the Storm’s lead down to two. She was visibly fired up, shouting and getting congratulations from her teammates as the Storm were forced to call a timeout.
Out of the timeout, they got the ball to Nneka Ogwuike. LA countered with a triple and an AND1 by Kelsey Plum. The Sparks quickly opened the quarter up with an 11-2 run. Diggins answered back with a corner three. Brink helped the Sparks regain the lead with an offensive rebound putback. She then had a massive block against Gabby on the other end and let out a huge scream.
Los Angeles continued to own the 4th quarter. The Sparks used a 6-0 run to take a five-point lead. Seattle used back-to-back three-pointers to retake the lead. Skylar then got a big steal and raced down the court just past the defense for two.
Seattle gave up an offensive rebound after Hamby made the first free throw and missed the second. That allowed Stevens to get an easy layup to take the lead. On the other end, Erica Wheeler got past the defense and scored right before the shot clock expired. Rickea Jackson scored to tie the game. Gabby Williams scored, but she went too early. That allowed Jackson to score again to send the game to OT.
In the overtime period, the Sparks scored immediately off the jump ball tip. After Ogwumike tied the game. Stevens hit a corner three and then scored quickly in transition off of Seattle’s miss. That put the Sparks up five. Diggins scored, but Jackson drew a late whistle and made both free throws to stay ahead by five.
Ogwumike countered with an AND1, but Rickea Jackson used her size advantage again to score. Wheeler was fouled on a drive and made both of her foul shots. Seattle got the stop they needed, and then Wheeler found Magbegor rolling to the rim for two to tie the game back up at 97-97. Julie Allemand raced past Skylar to put LA ahead by two. Diggins drove hard to the rim. Plum had a chance to win the game in the final possession of OT, but she missed.
As they did in the first OT period, the Sparks got on the board first. This time with a Plum basket. Nneka got to the rim to tie the game. Hamby scored inside again easily. Magbegor missed a corner three, and then Stevens made hers to give the Sparks a five-point lead. Seattle was forced to call another timeout. To the Storm’s credit, they continued to battle back. Nneka Ogwumike was fouled and made two more free throws. Gabby Williams hit a clutch three-pointer with 16 seconds left to tie the game again at 106-106. Unfortunately, the Storm gave up another score in the paint to Hamby, and Skylar missed her shot that would have sent the game into triple-overtime. At the final buzzer, the Sparks stole a game in Seattle over the Storm by a final score of 108-106.
Final Box Score
Up Next
The Seattle Storm (16-12) continue their homestand against the Indiana Fever (16-12) on Sunday at Noon. The Storm lost the first game in Seattle by a final score of 94-86. Aliyah Boston scored a career-high 31 points in that game back on June 24th.
Part 2
Part 2 will include additional thoughts and discussion from Friday’s game against the Los Angeles Sparks. It’ll be sent exclusively to paid subscribers. Due to the game going to double overtime and the fact that I had to catch a bus back home, Part 2 won’t be out in the early morning, but it will still arrive in your inbox on Saturday.
Notes:
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First, I’d like to say kudos to LA for bringing back Trammell as a special assistant coach. (Second note, whoever put Rickea on Sky as well was genius). I think Dallas pulled the trigger too fast on her (and Vickie Johnson before her). To those who have nothing good to say about Noey, I say we could be Dallas fans. Nobody can say the Storm haven’t given Noey a chance. I wish she’d said what she said about the refs sooner because I do feel like the squeaky wheel gets the oil.. We need to be in the ref’s ear and I don’t see that as often as I see opposing coaches do it.
So two things can be true. The refs are inconsistent and our defense fell apart.
I can’t find the stat break down per half, but I know they had 9FT to our 2…and I also know that Ezi was playing the 4th quarter and those 2 OTs with 5 fouls, and EW with 4fouls in OT getting her fifth on a ticky tacky foul that sent Plum to the line…
When your two best +\- are sitting with foul trouble (Ezi being our top defender), how do you defend? EW wasn’t doing anything that Plum was not doing to her. It’s hard for our best defenders to defend in foul trouble….and none of their (LAS) starters were in foul trouble until late into second OT…so they could keep playing aggressively.
Cameron Brink got into foul trouble in 12 minutes of gametime but she was also -12…It’s not like Hamby or Plum were playing any cleaner than Ezi or EW.
I don’t think we lost strictly because of the refs. Our bench is getting better, but lack of depth is definitely going to hurt us against deep teams…the thing is, LAS’ bench resembles ours. Cam Brink is a lot like Dom since she’s coming back from an injury she’s not quite herself yet…Burrell & VanLoo were not better than Mitchell or Brown this game…I just hope this lit a flame and wasn’t a soul crusher.
The refs did cost us this game, but our defense was really porous in this game. We let LA waltz to the rim for layups numerous times. IMO if Coach would have put Dominique in the game late along with Nneka and Ezi we could have stopped a lot of those killer layups and secured more rebounds, but Quinn has never used our 3 Bigs together for some reason and she lacks confidence in Dom in critical times, which is hard to justify. She needs to have more faith in Dom and I think she would have been rewarded if she did. Also, I don't know why AC wasn't playing at all. She could have played Skylar (or Erica) along with Gabby (or AC) plus our 3 bigs and I think we wouldn't be mourning a critical loss today. We fell from 3rd place to 6th place due to Noelle Quinn's mistakes IMO. That's not to say that LA is not a very talented team. They are stacked and getting much better. It was up to us to keep them from making the playoffs and we failed and we'll probably pay big time for that mistake.