Storm Score 102, but Lose Part 2

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

The Seattle Storm (6-22) lost another close game. The theme of the entire 2026 season. But it was a fantastic game overall, and they were very impressive through large portions of the contest. Ultimately, late-game execution was their Achilles Heel as they fell 105-102 to the Minnesota Lynx (21-6). Danny Williams wrote the full game recap. If you missed it, you can check it out at the link below.

For Part 2, I wrote about Olivia Miles being the rookie of the year, but discussed why Flau’jae Johnson deserves to be in the conversation. I looked at the progress being made by the Storm while recognizing the team’s defensive woes. And I’m asking Dominique Malonga to do one thing. I’ve included the post-game audio interviews with Zia Cooke, Flau’jae Johnson, and Coach Sonia Raman.

Rookie of the Year

Olivia Miles is a safe bet to win the Rookie of the Year award. After Monday’s game, she is averaging 19.6 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 6.0 APG, and 1.3 SPG. Considering she’s been the catalyst for leading the Minnesota Lynx to the best record in the WNBA (21-6), I truly believe that Miles deserves to be in the MVP discussion as well.

While I believe it’s almost a 100% certainty that Miles will win Rookie of the Year, I think there is a legitimate argument that Flau’jae Johnson has been the second-best rookie in the WNBA this season.

If I remember correctly, when the voting is done for the MVP, media members have to put down their Top 5 choices, but for Rookie of the Year, I believe it’s just one name for who you believe should win. If that is correct, then I expect Olivia Miles to be a unanimous winner and receive every vote. Unless something crazy happens, Miles has proven to be the best rookie in the league and the most impactful. As I mentioned above, I think she legitimately deserves MVP consideration, and frankly, I’d love to see her win it. Candace Parker is the only player in WNBA history to win Rookie of the Year and league MVP in the same season (2008). I think it’d be really cool if Miles joined that list. I am more impressed by what Miles has been able to accomplish and how she’s made all of her teammates around her better than any other player has done this season.

But if it wasn’t for Miles’ incredible season, I believe that Flau’jae Johnson would be in the conversation for Rookie of the Year. Flau’jae has been more well-rounded than either Azzi Fudd or Sydney Tyalor. And she’s been a more consistent scorer than Awa Fam. Johnson has scored more than 20 points in five of her last 10 games and is averaging 18.8 PPG over her last six games.

I’d be curious to see what others (not Storm fans specifically) think as to who would be the ROY if Olivia Miles didn’t exist. I’m sure Azzi Fudd would win a lot of votes because of her more efficient scoring (45.9% FG to Flau’s 39.6% FG). Fudd has also generally been rated the better defender. She has more steals (43-35), but Johnson has the slight edge in blocks (24-22). Flau’jae has significantly more rebounds (147-45) and assists (82-47). To me, Johnson is impacting the game more than any other rookie that isn’t named Olivia Miles.

My WNBA All-Rookie Team

Olivia Miles - 19.6 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 6.0 APG, and 1.3 SPG

Flau’jae Johnson - 13.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 2.9 APG, 1.3 SPG

Azzi Fudd - 13.3 PPG, 1.8 RPG, 1.9 APG, 1.8 SPG

Awa Fam - 11.2 PTS, 5.8 RPG, 2.1 APG, 1.0 BPG

Sydney Taylor - 13.5 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 1.4 APG, 0.7 SPG

Honorable Mentions:
Pauline Astier - 9.7 PPG, 2.8 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.0 SPG

Kiki Rice (only 10 games) - 12.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.6 APG, 1.0 SPG

Progress Being Made

In the first matchup between the Seattle Storm and Minnesota Lynx, Minnesota completely outclassed Seattle. Olivia Miles took the Storm’s defense apart play after play. After a strong start in that game where Seattle led 24-16 at the end of the first quarter, they were outscored by 28 points over the final 30 minutes of the game and lost 88-68. That was Game 12 on the season. In game 28, around 6 weeks later, the Storm went toe-to-toe with the WNBA’s best team. The result in the win/loss column was the same, but the play on the court was significantly different.

Offensively, Seattle made a lot of improvements, as they scored 34 more points in this game than when they played in Minnesota. The young Storm team is learning how to compete in real time. Unfortunately for them, they just haven’t learned how to close these games out or out-execute their opponents down the stretch. And they’re still making costly mistakes. Something you would expect from a team with the youngest starting lineup in the WNBA.

I don’t think there is a simple fix for this. At least not this season. I think they just have to take their lumps, learn from their mistakes, and try to keep their head up. That last one is becoming a problem as the losses mount up. Flau’jae Johnson wore that frustration on her face after missing what would have been a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer. A wide-open look that the team executed to perfection. Flau’jae echoed that after the game.

“I wanted to take the shot. Wanted to make it. So, just disappointed… but the process was perfect. I mean, I think it was, it was a lot of people who was open. So, I think that was a great process, good pass by Dom. I just got to finish that, stay on my shot.”

It would be nice for the players to have the taste of victory during some of these moments. Hopefully, these tough moments are building character, and while I’m sure it’s difficult for them to see the larger picture after suffering loss after loss, they are getting better. They are improving. And the losses this season are better for the franchise long-term.

Seattle needs to go through their growing pains, and that might not just be in 2026. We might see it again in 2027. But with that said, they sure seem so close to winning so many of these games. Maybe it really is as simple as the Storm just needing to add a JuJu Watkins, Hannah Hidalgo, Madison Booker, Mikaylah Williams, etc.

Defensive Woes

In the last two games, the Seattle Storm have combined to score 209 points, and they’ve lost both games. They’ve given up 215 points in their last two contests.

Coach Raman was asked about the defense after the team gave up 105 points.

“Yeah, I mean, it wasn’t good enough. And, you know, McBride being able to take 10 threes. She’s a great shooter. can’t. People have to limit her attempts because she’s going to be really, really high percentage when she gets those up. So, that’s something that we talked about a lot going into the game, and we have to clean up and be better at just taking that away.”

Raman continued, “I think we want defense to be our identity for a lot of reasons. Obviously, you can rely on your defense when the shots aren’t falling. But it also helps us to like fuel our offense. So, able to get more stops, be able to get out and run. Obviously, we needed 106 to win tonight. So more stops would be helpful.”

The perimeter defense has been particularly troubling. Against the Indiana Fever, they gave up 45 points to Caitlin Clark and 30 points to Kelsey Mitchell. Both Clark and Mitchell shot over 50%. On Monday night, they gave up 33 points to Kayla McBride, 32 points to Olivia Miles, and 21 points to Courtney Williams. All three of them also shot over 50% from the floor.

Of course, of the five players listed, four of them have been named to the All-Star team this season. The one that wasn’t, Kayla McBride, is a 5-time WNBA All-Star. McBride is averaging over 18 PPG, and nearly a 50/40/90 split on her field goals, 3-PT FG, and Free Throws. She certainly could have been named to the team this season. But with that said, you’d still like to see better defense by Seattle.

Just because they’re playing against good teams doesn’t mean they should be giving up career-highs to their opponents every night.

There was a play, I believe in the 4th quarter, where Zia Cooke was guarding Olivia Miles. Miles got past her, and as Zia turned around to see where her help defense was, there was literally no one there, and Miles went straight to the rim for the easy bucket. Cooke had an expression on her face like, “Where’s my help!?”

That sums up Seattle’s defense right now. This is where the team desperately misses Ezi Magbegor. I am seeing some recent positive signs from Awa Fam in this regard, but in general, both Fam and Malonga need to be much better at playing in help and protecting the paint.

They aren’t the only ones, but the onus lies heavily on them because they are Seattle’s best interior defenders without Magbegor available and in the lineup. I hope that we see marked improvement over the final 15 games.

Stop Fading Away

Dominique Malonga was 2-9 FG on her shooting entering the 4th quarter, and a lot of those shots were fading away from contact, or settling for midrange/outside shots. You can see her final shot chart from this game.

But then something changed in the 4th quarter. She stopped settling. Malonga scored eight of her 14 points in the final 10 minutes. She went a perfect 3-3 FG in that period. And you guessed it, she got the ball inside as seen below.

Look, I understand that what makes Dominique Malonga such a special prospect is the fact that she is 6’6” and can play out on the perimeter. She’s solid at that, but sometimes we have to realize that basketball can be a really simple game.

Remember back when you were in grade school, and you’d play against a team that just had one player clearly taller than everyone else. And that player could literally just go 2-3 feet from the rim and score over and over and over again. And there was pretty much no stopping that play. That’s what Dominique Malonga needs to do because she can.

I feel I’m regurgitating the same thing over and over recently. Dominique Malonga is too big, too long, too tall for the vast majority of her opposition. She really is. She needs to play like that one giant kid who was taller than everyone else. Please stop fading away. Please stop settling for outside shots that aren’t clean looks. Get to the rim and take over the game!

Player Interviews

Zia Cooke and Flau’jae Johnson:

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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