Oh what a relief it is! It's so nice to get a blowout win even though Dallas had 4 players out injured including Li Yueru and Arikè Ogunbowale. Now we have to keep our small winning streak going against the Mystics on Sunday so we can still make the playoffs. I loved that Dom was our leading scorer and I think that she had another double-double. I was counting her rebounds and I think that she had 11 but they only gave her credit for 9. Maybe one was a team rebound but that still would have given her 10. I love seeing Dom become more DOMinant!! I think that she can start taking over games and she'll be a real problem for other teams in the playoffs. It's also nice to see EW get back on track shooting like we know she can. That was sweet.
I definitely believe there have been single seasons where one team blows out the other. I'm sure it happens probably almost every season. But it also depends on what is your criteria. Like is it 15 points each way, 20 points, or does it have to be 25+?
How many 20-point games does Dom have now? Is 6POY a realistic goal for Dom? If so, that would be really cool since she can't get the ROY which is going to Paige Bueckers of course. Dom will be on the All-Rookie team. Let's see how many more 20-point games she can get this season, preferably with 10 or more rebounds, too. I love seeing her blocking more shots and hitting some 3-pointers, too.
Malonga has had three 20+ point games this season, and they've all occurred in August. The Storm are just now starting to campaign for her to be 6POY, but I don't think that's realistic. Seattle never gets national media votes and the Storm PR isn't as aggressive as other teams in promotion. Sadly, Dom Malonga might not even make the All Rookie team, which sounds crazy, but if voters just look at stats, she might be out of luck. If I had to bet, I say she probably doesn't make it, unless she starts averaging like 15/7 the rest of the way. There are TONS of rookies that have had great seasons this year. There are 3 that are 100% locks in Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron, and Kiki Iriafen. Then you have Saniya Rivers, Monique Akoa Makani from Phoenix, Janelle Salaün from Golden State, Leila Lacan from Connecticut, and there are some others too like Aneesah Morrow, etc. I think Dom was on the bench too much early in the season and that'll cost her some of these "awards".
We absolutely had to win that big for team and fan psyches. I was so happy and relieved to see our starters get their rest. I can’t help but wonder if we’d had better rotations some of those tight games if it would have changed the result. I also sadly can’t get too excited over walloping a (somewhat depleted even) Dallas. Every time, I think we’ve made progress, we have an inexplicable loss. For now, I’ll take the win
I agree, we shouldn't be too high on this win, although it's good that we walloped them like we should. I'd say we also shouldn't have been too low about the losing streak (except for what it did to us in the standings) because a lot of those games could have gone the other way with a few better bounces.
Washington can still be a dangerous team. They still have Sonia, Kiki, Shakira...
My favorite version of the Dom stat is that she now has a majority of all the 20-point games by teenagers in the history of the league. (It's her with 3 and Liz Cambage with 2).
I don't know if scared is the right term. But if I were other WNBA teams, I would definitely have concern about what Malonga is going to be able to do over the next several years. There are times this season, as a 19 year old rookie from a foreign country, having to adjust to so many things being in America and playing in the WNBA for the first time, and she is already dominating multiple games this season. And that's with more than half the season where Coach Quinn didn't really play her. But that's not a knock on Quinn because they have been developing her and working with her behind the scenes. And now she's had multiple 20-point performances, more than any other teenager in WNBA history as you mentioned. The ceiling is so high for her.
I'm not sure she's up to "dominating" yet? In particular, people seem to have figured out how to score around her. Her length has given some people some problems, for sure, but I can't lose the image of Hamby driving circles around her to win the last Sparks game. She has looked fairly unstoppable on offense in several games, though mostly against second units. All in all I agree with your sentiment, and I am begrudgingly impressed with the way Quinn has brought her along, building confidence, increasing her minutes load, etc. I'm just nervous for what's going to happen to our defense when Ezi signs somewhere else this off season. Dom certainly seems to have the tools to be good on that end, she just isn't there yet.
Nope, they were never on the court together. But Ezi and Dom played a lot together. You can view WNBA Lineup Data through their Advanced Stats page. Here is a link I filtered to show lineups that included Dom and Ezi together from yesterday's game, and Nneka is never listed as a 3rd player.
Oh what a relief it is! It's so nice to get a blowout win even though Dallas had 4 players out injured including Li Yueru and Arikè Ogunbowale. Now we have to keep our small winning streak going against the Mystics on Sunday so we can still make the playoffs. I loved that Dom was our leading scorer and I think that she had another double-double. I was counting her rebounds and I think that she had 11 but they only gave her credit for 9. Maybe one was a team rebound but that still would have given her 10. I love seeing Dom become more DOMinant!! I think that she can start taking over games and she'll be a real problem for other teams in the playoffs. It's also nice to see EW get back on track shooting like we know she can. That was sweet.
I wonder:
Has any pair of teams ever exchanged blowouts like this in a single season?
Is there any other bench player in the league with more 20 point games than Dom? 6POY?
I definitely believe there have been single seasons where one team blows out the other. I'm sure it happens probably almost every season. But it also depends on what is your criteria. Like is it 15 points each way, 20 points, or does it have to be 25+?
How many 20-point games does Dom have now? Is 6POY a realistic goal for Dom? If so, that would be really cool since she can't get the ROY which is going to Paige Bueckers of course. Dom will be on the All-Rookie team. Let's see how many more 20-point games she can get this season, preferably with 10 or more rebounds, too. I love seeing her blocking more shots and hitting some 3-pointers, too.
Malonga has had three 20+ point games this season, and they've all occurred in August. The Storm are just now starting to campaign for her to be 6POY, but I don't think that's realistic. Seattle never gets national media votes and the Storm PR isn't as aggressive as other teams in promotion. Sadly, Dom Malonga might not even make the All Rookie team, which sounds crazy, but if voters just look at stats, she might be out of luck. If I had to bet, I say she probably doesn't make it, unless she starts averaging like 15/7 the rest of the way. There are TONS of rookies that have had great seasons this year. There are 3 that are 100% locks in Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron, and Kiki Iriafen. Then you have Saniya Rivers, Monique Akoa Makani from Phoenix, Janelle Salaün from Golden State, Leila Lacan from Connecticut, and there are some others too like Aneesah Morrow, etc. I think Dom was on the bench too much early in the season and that'll cost her some of these "awards".
I wouldn't count Dom out though, she's making a big splash right now and people are noticing.
Great questions
We absolutely had to win that big for team and fan psyches. I was so happy and relieved to see our starters get their rest. I can’t help but wonder if we’d had better rotations some of those tight games if it would have changed the result. I also sadly can’t get too excited over walloping a (somewhat depleted even) Dallas. Every time, I think we’ve made progress, we have an inexplicable loss. For now, I’ll take the win
I agree, we shouldn't be too high on this win, although it's good that we walloped them like we should. I'd say we also shouldn't have been too low about the losing streak (except for what it did to us in the standings) because a lot of those games could have gone the other way with a few better bounces.
Washington can still be a dangerous team. They still have Sonia, Kiki, Shakira...
My favorite version of the Dom stat is that she now has a majority of all the 20-point games by teenagers in the history of the league. (It's her with 3 and Liz Cambage with 2).
I don't know if scared is the right term. But if I were other WNBA teams, I would definitely have concern about what Malonga is going to be able to do over the next several years. There are times this season, as a 19 year old rookie from a foreign country, having to adjust to so many things being in America and playing in the WNBA for the first time, and she is already dominating multiple games this season. And that's with more than half the season where Coach Quinn didn't really play her. But that's not a knock on Quinn because they have been developing her and working with her behind the scenes. And now she's had multiple 20-point performances, more than any other teenager in WNBA history as you mentioned. The ceiling is so high for her.
I'm not sure she's up to "dominating" yet? In particular, people seem to have figured out how to score around her. Her length has given some people some problems, for sure, but I can't lose the image of Hamby driving circles around her to win the last Sparks game. She has looked fairly unstoppable on offense in several games, though mostly against second units. All in all I agree with your sentiment, and I am begrudgingly impressed with the way Quinn has brought her along, building confidence, increasing her minutes load, etc. I'm just nervous for what's going to happen to our defense when Ezi signs somewhere else this off season. Dom certainly seems to have the tools to be good on that end, she just isn't there yet.
Was there a point in the Dallas game where Ezi, Nneka and Dom were on the court together?
Someone seemed to mention that, but I didn’t notice it .
Nope, they were never on the court together. But Ezi and Dom played a lot together. You can view WNBA Lineup Data through their Advanced Stats page. Here is a link I filtered to show lineups that included Dom and Ezi together from yesterday's game, and Nneka is never listed as a 3rd player.
https://stats.wnba.com/lineups/advanced/?Season=2025&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&TeamID=1611661328&GroupQuantity=3&LastNGames=2&DateFrom=08%2F22%2F2025&DateTo=08%2F22%2F2025&CF=GROUP_NAME*E*Malonga:GROUP_NAME*E*Magbegor