Storm Crush Wings 95-60 Part 2

Additional thoughts, discussion, and interviews from Seattle's win at Dallas.

The Seattle Storm (19-18) had a dominant win over the Dallas Wings on Friday night. The team scored a franchise-best 62 points off the bench. And the Storm became the first team in WNBA history to have its bench outscore another team’s total points. If you missed it, you can read the full game recap here.

In Part 2, I wrote more on the Storm’s playoff chances and playoff seeding. I spoke with players and Coach Quinn about the positive turnaround lately, and I discussed the adjustments Erica Wheeler has had to make between being a starter and coming off the bench. Plus, I’ve included the post-game press conference in audio/video formats, and transcribed some of the top quotes from those interviews.

Playoff Positioning

The Seattle Storm (19-18) got some positive news from Friday night’s outcomes. With their win and the Golden State Valkyries' (18-18) loss to the Phoenix Mercury, the Storm have moved up to the 7th seed in the WNBA standings. They are also just a 1/2 game behind the Indiana Fever (19-17) for 6th place.

Indiana owns the season tiebreaker in their head-to-head against Seattle. However, the Fever just lost to the Minnesota Lynx on Friday by a final score of 95-90. They rematch again on Sunday, except this time in Minnesota. If Seattle wins their next two games, Sunday at Washington, and Tuesday at Indiana, they are guaranteed to move up to the 6th seed.

If we look at the standings ladder, realistically, I don’t think the Storm can do any better than the 6th seed. As of this writing, the New York Liberty are in the five spot with a 22-14 record. They’re tied with Phoenix, who is also 22-14, but the Mercury currently own the tiebreaker over the Liberty, so they are in 4th place.

For the Storm to move up to the 5th seed, they would need to finish around four games better than the Liberty over their remaining games. So if Seattle went 7-0, then New York would have to finish 4-4. If they went 6-1, New York would have to go 3-5, and if they finished 5-2, then New York would have to finish 2-6, etc.

Those results don’t sound very realistic, but I’m confident that Seattle will make the playoffs if they finish 24-20 (5-2 in their final 7).

While only the Minnesota Lynx (29-7) have officially locked up a playoff spot, I think it’s safe to say that Atlanta (23-13), Las Vegas (23-14), Phoenix (22-14), and New York (22-14) will all make the postseason. That leaves us with three spots for five WNBA teams. The Indiana Fever (19-17), Seattle Storm (19-18), Golden State Valkyries (18-18), the Los Angeles Sparks (17-18), and the Washington Mystics (16-20).

The Mystics’ playoff hopes were dashed recently after they lost back-to-back games to the lowly Connecticut Sun (8-27). If Seattle beats Washington on Sunday, I have a hard time seeing the Storm finish worse than 9th overall. As we enter the final two weeks of the regular season, Seattle is likely to finish between 6th and 9th place in the standings.

One thing that I find very interesting is that the Seattle Storm host the Golden State Valkyries for their final game of the regular season. That game could have a lot of different meanings and outcomes on the line. It’s possible that the winner gets into the playoffs and the loser is eliminated from postseason contention. It’s possible that the outcome could just impact the seeding for both teams. Maybe both teams have already clinched a playoff spot, but the winner of the game gets the higher seed.

There is one last outcome that I would find super fascinating. What if entering that game, the Storm have already locked up a playoff spot, but the Valkyries need to win to earn a playoff spot. And if they beat Seattle in that game, they knock the LA Sparks out of the playoffs, handing the Storm a lottery draft pick. What do you think would happen in that scenario?

Positive Turnaround

No team has better demonstrated that it doesn’t matter how you start, it’s how you finish than the Las Vegas Aces. Just a few weeks ago, they looked like they could miss the playoffs outright or be desperately fighting for the 7th or 8th seed. They were completely embarrassed by the Minnesota Lynx in a 53-point loss. But since then, they’ve been the best team in the WNBA. They’ve won nine games in a row and 11 of their last 12 games. That’s one way to turn a season around and completely change the narrative.

The Seattle Storm have that same opportunity. And they don’t even need to be as dominant as the Aces have been. Recently, the Storm lost six games in a row and eight of 10. Everyone was clamoring for the Coach to be fired. I wrote articles about how the franchise should blow it all up and undergo a full youth movement rebuild. The vibes were bad.

The great thing about sports is that the narrative can change throughout the season. And as long as there are still games left to be played, there is an opportunity to change things for the better.

Seattle has won three out of their last four games. They have more winnable games on this road trip if they’re playing at their best. Could they go 5-2 to finish up the season? That would have them at 7-3 in their final 10 games before the playoffs. That’s the type of momentum that they could build to not just make the playoffs, but ideally advance past the first round.

After Friday’s 35-point win over the Dallas Wings, I spoke with both Erica Wheeler and Coach Noelle Quinn about the positive trends they’ve seen after the team has won three of their last four games.

Wheeler told me, “I mean, just the ball is going in. Just being efficient in transition, I think that's been one of our biggest drop-offs. Now we're back doing pretty good. Our pace is way better. And we're also playing defense. Teams are shooting the ball. Teams are shooting tough shots against us. So I think as long as our defense stays tight, I think we'll be fine because, as you guys can see, we can score the ball. So defense is definitely going to be super key down the stretch.”

Coach Quinn added, “Yeah, I think the group understands the sense of urgency that we have to have, but it's also about the how. How we're playing. We want to make sure that we're disciplined, make sure that we're executing and playing the right way. And so I think, this stretch, we've had a lot of good production from a lot of good places. You know, the other night in Chicago, Sky had some good production. Tonight, E and Dom and our, honestly, our entire bench, Nneka's been steady-Betty throughout this entire thing, and then getting some good minutes from Gab as well. It's going to be a team effort. I think we have the wherewithal and the capability to put together a full 40. I think right now we're finding ways to be, one, starting with our defense. I think our defense has been very disruptive. I think we're finding ways to get stops and really play out of our defense. And then the thing that's happening right now is we're playing in transition a lot more, a lot more kick-aheads, a lot more early actions, and playing while defenses aren't set. And we're finding some success there, along with getting to the free throw line.”

Erica’s Adjustments

Erica Wheeler has been one of the best stories of the Seattle Storm’s season. The 10-year veteran quickly fit in with the rest of the team. She played so well in the first handful of games that Coach Quinn moved her into the starting lineup. Wheeler remained a starter for most of the season up until the team acquired All-Star Brittney Sykes at the trade deadline.

Since Sykes entered the Storm’s starting lineup in her second game with the team back on August 10th, Wheeler has struggled a bit returning to her original role off the bench. Before Friday’s contest against the Wings, Wheeler had put up 5 points, 6 points, 0 points, 8 points, and 0 points again in those five games. She had not looked like herself in any of those contests.

On Friday, she put up excellent numbers with 17 points on 75% FG shooting (6-8 FG), and she knocked down four three-pointers.

I spoke with Wheeler after the game about the challenges of having her role changed from reserve to starter, and back to the bench throughout the season. She gave a very candid and open answer, I thought.

Wheeler told me, “Definitely. As you know, man, it's very, very tough. But at the end of the day, I'm a team player. For me, it's more so about what the team needs. I trust the coaches; whatever decision they make, I'm with. And today was definitely a feel-good game, just being able to see the ball go in and get some minutes under my belt. But at the end of the day, like, it's a business, man. We got to win games and whatever the coaches decide, that's what I got to roll with. And that's what I've been trying to do.”

Despite their initial struggles after acquiring Sykes, the reality is that Seattle needed to make a move if they truly wanted to compete for a WNBA Championship this season. Skylar Diggins and Gabby Williams were wearing down, and Nneka couldn’t do it all herself. But here’s the real truth. They need Wheeler, too.

Sykes has been a positive addition to the team. She’s a great perimeter defender. She has a knack for getting to the free throw line, something Seattle has struggled with mightily this season. And, similar to Williams, she can help run the point at times.

Wheeler can be a “microwave scorer” similar to players like Jewell Loyd and Arike Ogunbowale. And the team needs her offense to be at their best. The Storm aren’t going to be able to beat teams like the Minnesota Lynx or New York Liberty without Erica contributing off the bench.

Seattle has a shot to compete with the league’s best if it’s getting strong contributions off the bench from Erica and Dominique Malonga.

Hopefully, this performance against Dallas will give Wheeler a boost of confidence in her new (old) role with the team.

Post-Game Press Conference

If you prefer to listen to the audio version, they are below.

Player Interviews

Coach’s Quotes

On the defensive game plan to stop Dallas and Paige Bueckers.

“Yeah, it started with our attention to detail with Paige. I thought Slim was very physical, stayed in her space. And the actions that we guarded her in, we were very aggressive, showed multiple bodies, and made her hesitant to use the ball screen a little bit. I thought we rotated well. And everyone who ended up being on page from E (Wheeler) on down, I thought we were very sharp in that area. And when you guard a player like Paige, it's not just relying on, your guards, whoever has a main matchup, but it becomes a team picture and understanding, rotations on the ball, off the ball. And I think the other thing that we did, you know, early on, we rebounded decently out of it. We didn't give up too many. I think it was 12 second-chance points at the half, but not a lot of deflating possessions after having a lot of deflections and things like that.”

Quinn on Dominique Malonga’s impressive offensive arsenal.

Coach Quinn told me, “Yeah, I mean, these are the things that we see every day, and she works on it. She reps it. She has a natural feel for the things that you're seeing, so it's just a matter of her comfort in understanding this league, the physicality, the game flow, our offense; she gets it. And, you know, it was interesting on the three. She just, the understanding of spacing. Dallas was rotating big to big, and she was going to be open because of that. And she works on her threes. She works on the rhythm ones. She has great touch around the rim. She's very dynamic and she's very agile and just has a great knack for, you know, her things around the rim she has great hands and you know it's cool to see the production level and the development real time in game so super proud of her as well.”

Notes:
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Thanks to Her Hoop Stats and Across the Timeline for being great resources.
Photo Credits: Seattle Storm/WNBA Photography

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