Growth, but not the result they want: Storm drop first game of road trip to Lynx in double overtime
By Charles Hamaker
Minneapolis, MN – The mindset of this WNBA season being a marathon, not a sprint is an important one to have considering how little time teams have to gain chemistry and get their systems in check, and that’s proving ever relevant for the Seattle Storm early into their 2024 campaign, as they dropped their second game of the season at the hands of the Minnesota Lynx. It isn’t a total loss of a result as the Storm showed some strong growth in the latter part of this contest and appeared to be headed to a comeback victory, but even with the growing moments there will be understandable frustration with the fact that Seattle couldn’t put it all together to get the win. Facing a Lynx team that didn’t get enough offseason appreciation for the threat that they could be, the Storm have learned about themselves early on and will look to take those lessons with them through the rest of this road trip.
First half proves to be more of the same
The first half of this road game against the Lynx proved to have many of the same issues for the Storm, as Seattle was struggling to get much of anything shot wise through the first two quarters as they tried to get aggressive and go downhill in an adjustment from the first game. All the Storm’s shots came from within the arc, missing four shots on or behind the three-point line in a continuation of an issue from game one, but Seattle was able to nail three shots from deep in the second quarter. The effort was certainly there for the Storm throughout the first two quarters, as Seattle stayed largely in step with what Minnesota was able to get on the scoreboard, but the Lynx looked evidently as though they wanted this game more as they pulled away a bit to get a seven-point lead at halftime. Minnesota’s physicality and strong effort level was forcing the Storm into some bad shots once again, just as it had in game one, and Seattle was going to need to find ways to get around those struggles if they were going to be able to avoid another defeat or this game getting worse, and thankfully they were seeing that corner turn a bit, partially behind the effort of Skylar Diggins-Smith, who was getting to the free throw line as the first half ended.
A late push is nearly, but not quite, enough
It was Minnesota who started the scoring in the second half, but the Lynx couldn’t fully pull themselves away in this game as the Storm attempted to claw their way back into this game inch by inch. This game went into the fourth quarter with the same seven-point deficit that was seen at the halftime mark, but the beginning of the final quarter of regulation was where the Storm started to get the necessary traction to bring themselves close to level with the Lynx. Despite a scoring drought after an early shot of life from Mercedes Russell and Jordan Horston, Seattle’s offseason acquisitions were helping to drag the Storm back. Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith were getting to the rim for Seattle and making it count at the charity stripe, and it was at the free throw line that this game was tied. Jewell Loyd converted on all three attempts of a three-point play to tie things at 78 points with just 15 seconds left in regulation. We’d press on into overtime after Loyd wasn’t able to hit on a three-pointer to win it with two seconds left.
The Storm were the ones to get on the board first in the opening overtime period, but Minnesota wasn’t going away easily despite Seattle taking leads early. It became an example of take an inch, give an inch, and both teams were all tied up at 88 after those first five overtime minutes after Napheesa Collier missed her second free throw of two with just two seconds left. The Storm came within three points of the Lynx in the second overtime period but never more than that, as Minnesota took advantage of missed shots and turnovers to get the win, their second in a row against Seattle.
“I thought we were resilient tonight, obviously made some mistakes and we were playing from behind there from the second quarter on. I thought we kind of locked in, we played an even third quarter and won the fourth quarter to get us back in... We were able to execute defensively, get to the line, I thought we were resilient through that and I thought the effort was there tonight. I feel like the effort is there, we’re encouraged, we know we can correct some of the mistakes that we made going forward.”
Progress is okay when you’re two games in
As always with early season struggles and how they should be viewed, there needs to be some space and grace for the Seattle Storm just two games into their 2024 campaign. It’s been stated by the organization, whether its players involved or coaching staff, and it’s not as though they’re folks who don’t know what it takes in this league. Given how short WNBA training camp is ahead of this season, with the league fitting 40 games into 101 days due to this being an Olympic year, there isn’t much time in the beginning of the year for new teammates to get integrated with each other to gain that chemistry or time for the group to fully immerse itself into a coaches system. We’ve seen some improvement in that from game one to game two here tonight, but the puzzle isn’t all thrown together quite yet, and there are individual circumstances to consider as well: Skylar Diggins-Smith said that it’ll take a few games, six to seven to be exact, to get herself fully back into the player shape she was in a few seasons ago.
There are a few aspects of their game that I’ll certainly keep an eye on, such as the poor shooting percentage (5-20 in this game), turnovers (25), fouls, and some poor shooting from some key players such as Skylar Diggins-Smith and Jewell Loyd, but it is just the first two games of the season. There will be negative trends over the course of the season, and there shouldn’t be maximum stake taken in the struggles that the team has seen so far, and I’d rather be concerned with the results and the happenings of the team if they didn’t respond in a way that instilled belief that they could turn things around. Whether it’s how they’ve seemed calm and steady in the press conferences or the adjustments that the team has made in game, there are positive takeaways from the way that things have gone from game one to game two. I’m of the mindset that Seattle is going to turn the learning lessons into results, and that could very well come as soon as Sunday.
“It’s two different games. I’m encouraged to grow from tonight after evolving from the first night, I still think that what we saw in the fourth quarter and overtime can be sustained over the course of the game. I credit Sky, she really changed the energy in overtime and we feed off of that. In the second overtime we didn’t start off sharp enough, and you’ve only got five minutes. That’s a learning opportunity... I feel encouraged.”
Quick Storm notes
7,208 was the announced attendance at the Target Center for tonight’s Seattle Storm loss at the Minnesota Lynx.
It’s the seventh time in franchise history the Storm has had three players with 20+ points in a game, and the first since June 4, 2021 vs. Dallas.
Jewell Loyd fouls out with 20 points, six rebounds, six assists, and two steals. While it’s the first time she has fouled out of a game in her career, she recorded her 97th game scoring 20+ points, tying her with teammate Skylar Diggins-Smith for the 20th most 20+ point games all-time.
Loyd has started the season shooting 7-40 in the first two games.
Ezi Magbegor notched her 500th career field goal with a driving layup to the left side at the 5:00 mark in the third quarter, becoming the 11th Storm player to make 500 career baskets.
Skylar Diggins-Smith tallied 22 points and added five assists, three steals and three blocks.
Jordan Horston recorded three steals to become the seventh fastest Storm player to reach 50 steals. She added six points and 11 rebounds, her sixth career 10+ rebound game.
Sami Whitcomb dished out her 290th career assist on a pass down low to Mercedes Russell to pass Swin Cash for 10th in franchise history.
Both teams committed at least 25 turnovers in the game, but Minnesota turned Seattle’s 25 turnovers into 35 points, while the Storm converted the Lynx’s 28 into just 22 points.
The Lynx connected on 13 three-pointers in the game to Seattle’s five.
Nneka Ogwumike scored 20 points for the second-straight game to lead the Storm offense. It was her 118th career game with 20+ points, breaking a tie with Maya Moore for the 12th-most in WNBA history. She notched her first double-double as a Storm player—the 102nd of her career— she added 11 rebounds and five steals.
Both teams set team records for steals tonight, with Seattle snagging 20 and Minnesota 18.
It’s the seventh time in franchise history the Storm has had three players with 20+ points in a game, and the first since June 4, 2021 vs. Dallas.
What’s next?
Following tonight’s double overtime loss to the Minnesota Lynx in Minneapolis, the Seattle Storm will continue a three-game road trip in just two days in the nation's capital. The Storm will battle the Washington Mystics, who have started the season out with an 0-2 record after facing tough early matchups against the New York Liberty and Connecticut Sun, with a tipoff time of 12PM PDT at the Entertainment and Sports Arena in Washington, D.C. while being broadcast on 106.7 The Fan, FOX 13+ / Amazon Prime Video - Seattle, MNMT. With the growth shown late in this game and facing a different opponent, the Storm will look to take the positives they had in this game and apply them to what could be their first victory of the season on Sunday, but they’ll have to do so without Nika Mühl as she continues to await VISA approval and may be without Nneka Ogwumike who rolled her ankle in tonight’s effort. The early season challenges continue to mount for the Storm, but with a strong veteran group in place and plenty of talent, Seattle seems poised to pull themselves out of this hole to begin the 2024 campaign.
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