Storm Lose to Fever 110-107 Part 2

Additional thoughts, discussion, and interviews from Seattle's loss to Indiana.

It was an incredible game between the Seattle Storm (6-21) and the Indiana Fever (15-10) that ultimately resulted in a 110-107 win for the home team. Dominique Malonga finished with 28 points and 14 rebounds, but it wasn’t enough as Caitlin Clark set a new career-high, scoring 45 points. If you missed it, you can read the full game recap here.

For Part 2, I wrote about the showtime performance in front of a national audience, talked about Awa and Dom, and Seattle’s search for a closer. Plus, I’ve included written quotes and the audio interviews from Awa Fam, Dominique Malonga, and Coach Raman.

Showtime!

The Seattle Storm and Indiana Fever played as part of a doubleheader for ION’s Friday night WNBA basketball. Similar to the NFL, I believe some regions got the other games with the Atlanta Dream’s win over the Toronto Tempo, and the Chicago Sky defeating the LA Sparks. But with Caitlin Clark, I have to imagine most of the country got to watch the Storm face off against the Fever.

Early on, it looked like it was going to be a one-sided beatdown as the Fever looked to run the Storm out of the building, pushing their lead to nearly 20 points early in the second quarter. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. Instead, the TV viewers saw a lot of heart, grit, and determination. And maybe more than anything else, they witnessed a lot of talent from the players in the white jerseys.

What could have been a laugher turned into one of the most competitive WNBA games we’ve seen this season. Very similar to Seattle’s 112-110 OT loss to the Dallas Wings. The game featured a 40-point performance, a 30-point performance, and nearly a 30-point and 15-rebound performance. Plus several other impressive plays. If you’re a fan of basketball, it was a treat!

On the broadcast, the commentators gave Seattle some praise for how they play much better than their record indicates. And I hope that more people witnessed the potential that is brewing in Seattle. It obviously wasn’t a statement win for the Storm, but hopefully it was a statement nonetheless.

After the game, I spoke with both Dominique Malonga and Coach Raman about what they showed from this game to the national viewing audience.

Malonga responded, “I think that we showed resiliency. We went down, I don’t know, almost 20, in the 2nd quarter, came back before half. I think, of course, this is an amazing gym to play in, even if it’s really hostile, of course, from some of the fans, but yeah, it’s just always an amazing atmosphere to play in. It just fuels us with a lot of energy. Yeah, so it’s really, really good to play in those arenas. I think overall, as I say, energy, but it’s always hard. It’s hard, you know, when you don’t play against just the opponent team, you play against the refs, too; that’s really hard, but we’ve been in that position before.”

Coach Raman on what they showed in this game.

“I think that our team is resilient and they’re going to battle and they’re going to compete. They’re going to take pride on both ends of the ball. And I think they showed that, I think especially kind of getting run off the court, like you said, you know, in the 1st quarter. The way that they responded to that was really high-level, and I’m proud of them for that. I think it shows what they have as young players and that mental toughness to be able to just climb right back into it. Doesn’t really matter what the score is. They always are going to play hard, and they’re going to find ways. They did a really good job with that.” Raman stated.

Awa and Dom

I continue to be impressed with Awa Fam’s outside shooting touch. She has a very smooth stroke and a very fast release. After a 4-5 FG performance from beyond the arc on Friday night, Fam is averaging better than 37% from the three-point line this season. After she hit four three-pointers in the third quarter, I tweeted out, “Put Awa in the 3-PT shooting contest!” It was sort of a joke, except not really. I honestly think that’d be fun if she could participate in the All-Star weekend festivities. Unless I am mistaken, they haven’t announced any of the participants for the additional All-Star events besides the game itself.

Whether that happens or not, one thing we’ve learned this season is that Fam can stretch the floor with her shooting. That is going to be critically important moving forward for this season. Especially because they have such a dominant force down low in Dom Malonga.

Entering the 2026 WNBA Draft, I generally felt a “worst-case” scenario would be if the Dallas Wings selected Azzi Fudd #1 overall, and the Minnesota Lynx took Olivia Miles #2. That would leave Seattle with the decision to go Best Player Available (Awa Fam) or more for need (a player like Kiki Rice). I felt Miles would be the most obvious pick for Seattle because they needed a replacement for Skylar Diggins, and she could be a great complementary piece to Malonga. Just look at the All-Star season Natasha Howard is having in Minnesota as evidence of that.

Even with Fudd, I thought her outside shooting would complement Malonga very well because she would be able to burn any teams that tried to collapse on the interior against Dom, and hurt them with her sharp-shooting from the outside.

With Fam, I wasn’t certain of the fit, especially as Seattle already had both Malonga and Ezi Magbegor. Both of them can technically shoot from the outside, but that’s not where they are best at. If Awa wasn’t a shooter, then that creates a logjam in the interior. And while sadly, due to Ezi’s injuries, we haven’t really been able to see if the three of them work together at the same time, we can safely say that the Awa and Dom pairing does work.

The two spoke after the game about the outcome and their performances.

Awa started with, “It was not the outcome that we wanted, but we need to be proud of us. I think that we will continue keeping, like we are growing up. I think what we did in the 3rd quarter, it was amazing. I think that we pulled out 100% our energy, and when we play like that, we can do that type of thing. So we need to be proud of that, but we need to put more energy in all the quarters. Not just the fourth quarter or the third quarter.”

Fam continued, “But yeah, I am proud of Dom too. Dom had an amazing game. She can do these things. We are just like putting the ball for her, and she’s going to do whatever she wants, you know, so I’m proud of her, but we need to put that 100% of our energy all the time because that’s the thing to win games.”

Malonga added, “Yeah, like (Awa) said, I think the biggest thing for us is just having that energy for 40 minutes. Then Awa’s 3rd quarter was amazing, but that’s what she does, though. I am not even impressed. Like that’s how she is, she’s an amazing player and an amazing shooter. People have to respect her (shooting) because 100% she has done it. So I’m just really proud of her and happy that she can step up when we need her the most.”

I’d like to see Awa get more touches inside and continue to develop that part of her game during this season, especially when Dom is not on the floor. But Malonga is becoming so dominant inside with her scoring and offensive rebounding that I understand why Fam hovers around the perimeter a lot. The two of them should have several years to build chemistry with each other.

Into the Fire

I thought Percy Allen asked a great question to Coach Raman about designing plays at the end of games for Dom to win or lose the game, and asked if she was searching for a closer on the team.

“Yeah, I mean, we trust Dom, we trust everybody. I felt like she had it going a little bit today, right? So, being able to find her and really trusting her to make the right decision as a playmaker, as a scorer. She’s taken so many strides, and she’s really come a long way this season, and we have a lot of trust in her to have that ball in her hands at the end of the game.” Raman answered.

This is one of those important moments in the season for their growth. Even if it often hasn’t resulted in success. I don’t recall off-hand which game it was, but I remember a game where the Storm had a chance to either win the game outright or at least send it to OT, and they got the ball to Dom, and she tried dribbling closer to the rim because she caught the ball further away, and multiple defenders collapsed, and one of the smaller defenders was able to knock the ball away, and the Storm lost the game.

Sorry for the somewhat vague recollection. It’s a moment that really stood out to me, but I just don’t remember who the opponent was. It was a failed attempt, but these are all major lessons and learning points for a player that I believe could be a future MVP in this league.

I know Coach Raman has also gone to Hiedeman in some of these moments, and that also hasn’t worked out well. Sadly, she missed a crucial free throw late in this game as well. Although there was a lot of confusion happening in that moment, where the ref handed her the ball, then took it away, to allow Caitlin Clark to check back in.

They really haven’t been able to find their closer yet. It makes sense that they would put the ball in Dom’s hands because she is the team’s best player, and she is a physically dominant player with her height and length. It’s why Brittney Griner was always one of the absolute best with the game on the line. If Phoenix needed a score, they got the ball into Griner.

It also reminds me of how Stewie was historically very bad with game-winning shots, and Jewell Loyd was incredible at it. That wasn’t to say Stewie couldn’t take over a game. Breanna Stewart was often so good that she would take over to the point where the game was never in question. But if she had to specifically hit a game-winner, that’s where Loyd was clearly the more clutch player.

Over the next few years, we’ll see if any Storm player can step up big in those moments. Maybe it’ll be Dom, maybe it’ll be Flau’jae, or maybe that player isn’t on the team yet.

Player Interviews

Dominique Malonga and Awa Fam:

Coach’s Quotes

Coach Ramam post-game:

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

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