Storm Finally Win Part 2
Additional thoughts, discussion, and interviews from Seattle's win over Atlanta
Maybe all the Seattle Storm needed was the goodwill of the Canadian people. The Storm’s defense showed up in a big way, limiting Atlanta’s stellar perimeter players and holding the Dream to under 80 points as they snapped their six-game losing streak with an 80-78 win on Friday night. If you missed it, you can read my full game recap at the link here.
In Part 2, I wrote about what the Storm still have in front of them this season. I discussed the defensive adjustments that helped them defeat Atlanta. Plus, I’ve included audio interviews from both Seattle and Atlanta’s post-game press conferences.
It’s There For the Taking
Before Seattle’s six-game losing streak, they were five games above .500, and they were right up there with Atlanta and Phoenix, competing for homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. Then they lost, they lost, and lost some more. And everything looked and felt miserable.
And it’s just one win. The team is still 3-8 since the All-Star Weekend/Break. But as I spoke with Coach Noelle Quinn on Wednesday, the beautiful thing about sports is that teams can go on runs. We’ve seen it with the Las Vegas Aces this year, after they were very bad for a sizeable portion of the season. They had a losing record and were at risk of missing the playoffs. The Aces made some big adjustments. They traded for NaLyssa Smith. They moved Jewell Loyd to the bench. Las Vegas is 8-2 in their last 10 games and has won six games in a row. They beat the Phoenix Mercury 86-83 on Friday night down in Arizona. If Seattle manages to win against Phoenix on Sunday, then somehow, someway, the Las Vegas Aces will move up to the 4th seed in the WNBA standings. Honestly, that’s crazy to think about, considering the struggles they’ve had this year.
It was only a month ago, I was writing about the Storm possibly having two lottery picks for next year’s draft because both Los Angeles and Las Vegas were on the outside looking in. The Aces have 20 wins on the season. That’s only one win below both Atlanta and New York.
Similar to the Aces, despite a horrible portion of their season, the Storm still have everything in front of them. They control their own destiny with 10 games remaining. Although unlikely, if the Storm were to win out, they would be guaranteed a playoff spot. Despite having to play five of its next seven games on the road, Seattle has some winnable games coming up. It won’t be easy, but they can beat Phoenix on Sunday. That would be huge if they did, because then they play the Chicago Sky, Dallas Wings, and Washington Mystics. They also play an injury-depleted Indiana Fever team. And they get Chicago one more time to round out the month after a difficult road game against the Minnesota Lynx.
If they can go 5-2 over their next seven games to round out August, that would put them at 22-19 with three home games left in the regular season. Their game against Los Angeles on 09/01 is a MUST-WIN. It could literally be the difference in the Storm making the playoffs and getting a lottery draft pick, to having neither of those things.
The Storm probably need to go 7-3 to lock up a playoff spot. They’ll be competing with the Los Angeles Sparks (16-17), the Indiana Fever (18-16), the Washington Mystics (15-18), and the Golden State Valkyries (18-15) for one of the final playoff spots. The six-game losing streak cost them a top-four spot, but anything can happen if they just get into the playoffs. We saw the 2021 Chicago Sky win the Championship with a 16-16 record in the regular season.
Seattle’s roster is loaded with talent. It’s why this season has been a big disappointment, because their talent should have them finishing no worse than 5th place in the standings. But they have it all in front of them. They can change the narrative. They can change the story that’s being written. Instead of people talking about toxic locker rooms and coaches needing to be fired, they can define what Seattle Storm basketball is all about.
Defensive Adjustments
I would have to rewatch both games to do a real deep dive into all the defensive changes the Storm made in between these two games against Atlanta, but there are a few things I wanted to point out. The Storm did a significantly better job defending the perimeter. The Dream were 12-26 FG (46%) from beyond the arc on Wednesday, but just 2-13 FG (15%) on Friday night. You can view the shot charts for Atlanta from both games below.
They made 10 fewer three-point attempts in this game. Sure, some of that can be due to an off night on Friday, or that they were “on fire” on Wednesday. But I think it’s the shot attempts that stand out more to me. The Dream took half as many shots from long range compared to the previous game. They also took just three shots from beyond the arc in the second half and missed all of them, despite the fact that they were trailing all game. For a team like Atlanta, that loves to take as many three-point shot attempts as possible, I believe it was Seattle’s defense that took those chances away.
Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard together made 8-18 FG (44%) from deep on Wednesday. Maya Caldwell made 2-3 FG in that game. Gray, Howard, and Caldwell combined to go 1-7 FG from beyond the arc on Friday. Seattle’s ability to take away their three-point shot was a massive key to this win.
Coach Quinn changed things up. I spoke with her about the defensive adjustments and what she liked about her team’s defense in this game.
Quinn told me, “I believe they were 2 for 13 (from three-point range). I think that was important because they take a lot of threes and they actually make them at a high clip. You kind of switch the matchup we had Slim (Sykes) on Howard. I thought she did an excellent job. I put Gabby on Gray, stayed in her space. And, you know, the defense, you know, is a team effort. Starting on the ball to all of the actions that Atlanta runs, I felt that we were connected. I feel that we were communicative in the biggest things. I know that the stats don't show it, but I thought possessions, most possessions with rebound, limiting one rebound, limiting means one shot. And yeah, getting a big stop at the end. We were built for it. We have the personnel for it defensively. Now, it's just a matter of putting it all together for 40 minutes.”
Ezi Magbegor was also incredible down the stretch. She had two massive rejections late in the 4th quarter, and she also helped alter a couple of other shots. They don’t win if it wasn’t for Magbegor’s defense.
There has been a lot of criticism towards Coach Noelle Quinn regarding some of her coaching decisions and lack of adjustments. I think it’s appropriate to give her and her coaching staff credit for the changes they made in response to their loss against Atlanta just two days prior. They had the better game plan, and the Storm controlled most of the game.
Post-Game Press Conference
No video was uploaded by the team at the time of this writing. I’ve included my audio recordings below.
Seattle’s Post-Game Interviews (Players and Coach)
Atlanta’s Post-Game Interviews
Notes:
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