Storm Defeat Dream 80-79 Part 2

Additional thoughts and interviews from Seattle's win over Atlanta

The Seattle Storm escaped Atlanta with an impressive 80-79 win. They did it despite being badly out-rebounded. They did despite the referees only blowing the whistle on one end of the court. And they did it despite their lead guard being very ill and under the weather. If you missed it, you can read the full game recap at this link.

In Part 2, there is a lot more to talk about. I wrote about Nneka Ogwumike making more history, the Storm’s impressive record against the top teams in the league, their rebounding woes, and how Seattle’s front office is playing some 4D Chess. I’ve also included the post-game press conference video, audio interviews, and top quotes.

4D Chess

I’ve been wanting to write about this for around two weeks, but I needed more time to pass before the argument held legitimate weight. I’m going to give Storm General Manager Talisa Rhea and anyone else involved in the Storm Front Office decisions (Pokey Chatman) a lot of credit and praise. I don’t know for certain that this was the plan with these moves, but I’d like to think it was.

On June 14th, the Storm completed a trade with the Dallas Wings that sent Li Yueru to Dallas in exchange for a 2026 second-round pick and a 2027 third-round pick. It was a decent albeit not spectacular return for the Storm.

The Storm gave up a talented, young (26), 6’7” Center prospect in Yueru in a move that I think may have frustrated some fans. Obviously, the Chinese government/basketball federation putting pressure on a deal that needed to be made likely impacted things. However, I think it’s fair to say that on the surface, the Storm got the worst end of their trade with Dallas.

Prior to the trade, I had suggested a possible trade with the Minnesota Lynx to acquire Diamond Miller. While it’s difficult to say whether Cheryl Reeve and the Lynx would consider that proposal, Minnesota needed another tall Center/post player to backup Napheesa Collier and Alanna Smith. And the Storm could use Miller’s scoring punch off the bench. It’s possible that the trade proposal was never even considered. Or that either Seattle, Minnesota, or both wouldn’t want to make a trade that could potentially benefit the other franchise, as they’re both hoping to win their 5th WNBA Championship this season. For whatever reason, the Storm went in a different direction.

Back to the actual trade that took place. Rhea and the Storm might end up looking like absolute geniuses when this season is all said and done. This is the “4D Chess” I’m talking about.

Since the Dallas Wings acquired Li Yueru, they have won five out of their seven games. Before the trade, the Wings had the worst record in the WNBA at 1-11. Yueru has had two double-double performances with 12 points and 11 rebounds in their most recent 98-89 win over the Phoenix Mercury. She also had 10 points and 15 rebounds in their 68-55 win over the Atlanta Dream. And 11 points and nine rebounds in their 86-83 win over Connecticut.

At initial glance, you would think the Wings winning would be bad for the Storm because the better they play, the worse their second-round pick that was traded to Seattle will become. However, if I understand correctly, the Storm also acquired swap rights with the Connecticut Sun. Meaning that they will get the better second-round pick out of Dallas or Connecticut. A few games ago, that was Dallas’ pick, but now it would be Connecticut’s.

However, it turns out that the more Dallas wins, the more it’ll benefit the Storm. Seattle owns the most coveted draft asset currently, the Los Angeles Sparks’ 2026 first-round pick. The Sparks finished with the worst record in the WNBA last season with an 8-32 record. The Dallas Wings weren’t much better. They finished 9-31, and they got lucky and landed the #1 overall pick, which turned into Paige Bueckers. After the Wings started this season 1-11, it looked like Dallas was in prime position to win the #1 overall pick again for 2026 as well. And then the Li Yueru trade happened.

The Wings have gone from the 13th spot as the WNBA’s worst team to now 10th overall in the standings. With their win over Phoenix and the Sparks’ loss to New York, Dallas has moved above Los Angeles in the ladder as LA has fallen all the way down to 12th. The Sparks are now only above the Connecticut Sun (2-15) in the standings. Because the Sun won the third-most games in 2024, they’re 17.5 games ahead of the Sparks’ current two-year record, which is pivotal for future draft pick odds.

Dallas surpassing LA in the standings is gigantic for a couple of reasons. If the Wings finish with a better record than Los Angeles, it all but guarantees that the Sparks will miss the playoffs. If Dallas finishes ahead of LA, for the Sparks to make the playoffs, they would need both Dallas and LA to move ahead of the Valkyries, Aces, and Mystics.

If Dallas finishes ahead of the Sparks, that might also lock LA (Seattle) into owning the highest odds to win the #1 overall pick in the 2026 draft. As we sit today, the Storm would have the highest odds of getting the top pick in the draft. As I talked about above, because Connecticut was so good last season and LA was so bad, there isn’t a realistic scenario where the Sun would have better odds. The other two teams besides Dallas that could be in play would be the Chicago Sky and the Washington Mystics. Currently, Chicago is around 6.5 games better in the two-year standings than LA. The Mystics are nine games better over the past two seasons. This is important because if LA finishes with the worst two-year record, it not only gives the Storm the highest odds to land the #1 overall pick, but it also guarantees them a Top 3 pick.

The draft lottery system works for the top two picks. They draw the lottery numbers for the first overall pick and then do it again for the second overall pick. All remaining lottery picks are based on the two-year record standings. If Seattle has the best odds, that means they can’t fall any further than #3 overall. With exciting prospects like Azzi Fudd, Olivia Miles, Flau’jae Johnson, and Lauren Betts expected to be in the draft, that puts the Storm in a very strong position.

A few more thoughts before we move on to the next topic. While I don’t think it’s too likely, there is a chance that the Dallas Wings have a similar resurgence that we saw the Indiana Fever have one year ago. If you recall, Indiana started last season 2-9 but finished 20-20 and made the playoffs. If Dallas could sneak into the playoffs, they might knock Las Vegas out. If that happened, it would give Seattle two lottery picks and might go down as one of the greatest trades in Storm franchise history.

Speaking of that, we’re seeing Jewell Loyd and the Aces struggle. Kelsey Plum has played better, but has still had her fair share of struggles as well. In a few years from now, Seattle’s off-season decision to move Loyd, acquire the #2 overall pick, plus Vegas’ first-round pick may be looked at as a franchise-altering moment. Especially, if Dominique Malonga can develop into an All-Star level talent, and the player they pick with the Aces’ first-round pick becomes either a future starter or a legitimate role player.

Rhea and the Storm’s front office are making some galaxy-brain, 4D chess-type moves, and I commend them for it.

Nneka Makes More History

Congratulations to Nneka Ogwumike on passing yet another major milestone (two in fact). With her 24 points against the Atlanta Dream, Ogwumike surpassed both Sue Bird and Cappie Pondexter on the WNBA’s All-Time Scoring List, moving her into 7th place.

After the game, Nneka downplayed it, saying she’s just played for a very long time, but Erica Wheeler shared her thoughts on Nneka’s latest milestone.

Wheeler said, “Well, Nneka's breaking records every day. Every time we play.”

Ogwumike comments about playing for a long time.

Erica continued, “Listen, yes. But I don't think anybody moved up the ladder two spots in one game. And that's what Nneka did. I mean, you guys know she's awesome. She knows it. We embrace it. She's one of our leaders. And we're just not surprised. Every day, I'm just like, Nneka, what you going to do today? You know what I mean? Because she's awesome. She is the prime example of a professional basketball player that love what she do and just set great examples with her actions. As you can see, she don't talk much and she don't like nobody talking about her, but we don't care. We're going to talk about you and we're going to praise you as much as we can. So it's awesome just to be, you know, in her presence and see the things that she's doing.”

Looking over the list, Candice Dupree is next up for Nneka to pass. I feel very confident that it will happen this season as she’s 80 points behind her. The Storm still have 26 games left to play this season. That should happen in the next 4-7 games.

Surpassing Tamika Catchings for 5th place in the All-Time scoring list this season will be a much larger challenge. Ogwumike needs to score another 566 points to move ahead of Catchings. That would require her to average around 22 points per game the rest of the season. While not impossible, Ogwumike is averaging 17.0 PPG this year. She would need to have multiple 30-point performances over these final 26 games in order to make up for the occasional games where she scores just 10-14 points.

With the WNBA continuing to increase the number of games each team plays per season, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that Ogwumike could move all the way up to #2 overall only behind Diana Taurasi (10,646 points) before she calls it a career. Of course, Tina Charles (#2) and DeWanna Bonner (#3) are both still actively playing. It’ll likely depend on how many additional seasons Ogwumike plays after they retire.

Tough Against Top Teams

With Seattle’s win at Atlanta, the Storm have now defeated the top four teams in the WNBA. They have a strong record against the top contenders currently. They are 5-3 in their eight games against the league’s very best. If they manage to beat New York on Sunday (still a big ask), then they would have two wins against both the Mercury and the Liberty. But even if they don’t, it’s a positive sign that Seattle has been very competitive with the other top teams around the WNBA. As frustrating as some of their losses have been this season, the fact that when they are playing at their very best, they can beat the very best is a very positive sign.

I believe the outlook of the team would be much worse if the Storm were 11-7, but nine of their 11 wins had come against teams like Connecticut, Los Angeles, and Chicago. Seattle has had a fairly tough schedule to start their season. They haven’t even played the Washington Mystics or the Chicago Sky yet (currently two non-playoff teams). They still have multiple games against Connecticut and Los Angeles remaining on their schedule as well.

There are definite concerns for the team if they truly want to win or even compete for a Championship this season. One of those things, I’ll talk about more below. But the team’s defense is very, very good. They have plus defenders at multiple positions and two of the very best in the WNBA with Gabby Williams and Ezi Magbegor. The team is well-balanced offensively. They have four players averaging double figures, and around six players who reasonably can score double figures in a game if needed. They’re #3 in overall field goal percentage (45.7%) and #2 in three-point field goal percentage (35.9%). They’re not far off from being #1 in both categories, and they have been at the top earlier this season. They’re also #2 in assists per game (21.7).

I asked Coach Quinn what it means that the Storm have been able to topple all the best teams in the WNBA, and what message she can tell her team.

“You know, we have to really understand who we are. When we are playing at a high level, when we are locked in, we're a really good team. And, you know, when we simply, when we're not locked in, the energy, the effort, the execution, we're just not a very good team. So I think to, for us to really own it, it's time to show and prove every single game. It's a difficult season. I know our schedule is really rigorous, but at the end of the day, we have players in our locker room who are committed to each other, committed to the success of the team. And because of that, we want it so bad, and I want it so bad for them. And in the times that it doesn't feel good, we know it, I don't beat them up about it, but at the end of the day, in order to be a top team, you have to beat the top teams, especially on the road. And when we really, when we really understand who we are, I think we'll kind of continue to, to find success and hit the ground running and have some consistency. It's about being confident in ourselves. And I think, that can't waver no matter the day. So I just want our team to continue to understand that we have the pieces to have confidence in each other and ourselves and continue to play some really good basketball.” Quinn told me.

Rebounding Woes

As good as the Storm have been this season, and I do believe they are talented enough to win a Championship if they play at their very best. Maybe they get some health/injury luck in a series. Or just get into playoff matchups that work better for them (they avoid Golden State). With that said, if they don’t improve their rebounding, it’s going to come back and haunt them. They probably should have lost this game to Atlanta on the sole basis of how badly they were out-rebounded. And how many offensive rebounds they gave up (Atlanta had a 15-3 advantage). The Storm are 12th (out of 13) in total rebounds (31.0 per game) and dead last in offensive rebounds (6.8 per game).

When I’ve coached AAU basketball and at the lower levels, I tell my teams the two easiest ways to lose a game are by committing turnovers and giving up offensive rebounds. It’s a philosophy I am very adamant about. Interestingly enough, in this game both teams were affected by that. Seattle was killed on the offensive glass and it should have cost them the game, but it didn’t because the Storm forced the Dream into 17 turnovers. The Storm did a better job protecting the ball, committing just 11 turnovers in the game and that allowed Seattle to have a 12-point advantage in points off turnovers.

I wonder how much of the Storm’s rebounding issues are due to the older age of some of their players. Alysha Clark (37) is the oldest player in the WNBA now that Diana Taurasi has retired. Nneka Ogwumike is up there as well (35). Skylar Diggins and Erica Wheeler are both 34. Diggins turns 35 in August. If 25 year old Naz Hillmon is out-hustling them for rebounds, is it really all that shocking? Speed and athleticism are the first things to go even with elite athletes.

If Seattle’s rebounding issues are just about age, then this isn’t likely to get any better; especially as the season progresses, and the older veterans are playing games 34 through 44 on the season. It can only improve if the Storm do a better job at boxing out, finding bodies, sealing them off, and being more intentional about their rebounding.

While watching this game, there were moments where Atlanta really put their bodies in the way of Seattle’s players. Never giving the Storm any opportunities to collect offensive rebounds. There were a couple of moments that really stood out. Atlanta also just hustled for more of the loose balls. Part of that is age and part of that is just how badly certain players want to win.

With a lot of Seattle’s shots, it doesn’t look like any of the Storm players are even making an effort to crash the boards. Some of that is defensive discipline. For instance, if you’re a three-point shooter, you better not run in for the offensive rebounds because that will allow the opposing team to leak out and be wide-open down the court for the easy transition score. But it would be nice to see some of the Storm’s players put more effort into positioning for rebounds.

With the Storm’s draft assets entering the 2026 WNBA Draft, they are projected to have four picks in the Top 16-20, including three first-round picks. I am generally a strong believe in drafting Best Player Available, and not specifically for need. But with either their last pick in the first round or their early pick from Dallas in the 2nd round, the Storm might want to seriously consider selecting one of the top rebounding prospects in the draft. Whomever that may be. Basically, the 2026 version of Angel Reese or Aneesah Morrow.

Post-Game Press Conference

Player Interviews

I spoke with Nneka Ogwumike after the game on how her team was able to come away with the win despite being badly out-rebounded and getting significantly less opportunities at the free throw line.

Ogwumike replied, “You know trying our best to get stops and deliver on our stops. We did not do a great job last game of getting stops and converting those so that was important for us. I still know that we can be better at rebounds you know it's not about the skill it's about the mentality and it's going to be difficult to win games that way so this is this is a really good team it was down to the wire because they kept getting more possessions and they they were being aggressive going to the rack and getting fouled. I think that that's been a point of emphasis for us too like going downhill and being aggressive and trying to get some more points at the free throw line so we're going to continue to do that too.”

Coach’s Quotes

During the pre-game press conference, I was able to ask Coach Noelle Quinn about their first game against Atlanta, how Seattle had a lot of success against Brittney Griner and the Dream’s bigger lineup, but then struggled after Atlanta made adjustments with Naz Hillmon. I asked Quinn the keys to winning this time, if Atlanta made similar adjustments in this game.

Quinn answered, “Well, first we can't have seven AND1s in a row. We can't give them, we have to have foul discipline. With Naz, she's an energy player, so we have to match or exceed that energy level. We know that there's this particular player that she runs. We have to be locked into that, not give her momentum there. But also the offensive rebounds were an issue within that stretch as well. So the adjustment will be to make sure that we're locked into the coverages that are necessary, when she's in the game, the rebounding has to go up a notch, from literally like our focus of boxing out, finding a body and going to pursue rebounds. and another thing that I think that we didn't do well, is when she is on the floor, we have opportunities, to punch it in, whether it's as your neck and not necessarily to score, but to create some variety to our offense. On that side of the floor, we had to make them defend. We were very good in the middle third last game. I think that was something that, you know, we can continue to find some success with. But at the end of the day, Naz's energy level ignited a lot of what they did. And we had to really focus in on that matchup.”

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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