Storm searching for ways to put things together, falling to Liberty as numerous growing pains remain
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Lessons continue to be learned for the Seattle Storm, as some growing pains remain prevalent in their third straight loss, falling today to the New York Liberty. Many of the issues that have plagued the Storm were present in this game, from overall lack of paint presence, while issues such as turnovers that had been better as of late were a factor in why Seattle wasn’t able to get back within striking distance of this game. These lessons learned and growing pains experienced will surely help the Storm in the long run, but the frustrations felt from them are visible in the current moment.
“I think we’re growing; I think we’re better than we were at the beginning of the season. For a team like us who are still trying to figure things out, that’s where you want to be. We understand who we are, where we’re at. You will see inconsistency. We’re trying to figure out how to make that consistent. That’s on us getting better. It’s still a long season, and it just comes down to little things, that fundamental stuff. That’s on us, I don’t think it’s anything more the coaches can really do. That’s just on us. Just valuing who we are, knowing who we are, staying confident in that. And I think that’s really what it comes down to, just keeping our confidence high, believe in each other high and get better every day.”
Seattle Storm mascot, Doppler, as seen through today’s game (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
Poor shooting start sets the tone
Following the opening tipoff for this game, the Storm missed four shots as the Liberty began to build their lead. Seattle’s inability to hit these shots to open the game was a bad start on its own for this game, but also foreshadowed the short of struggles that hindered the Storm’s chances at winning this game. Seattle’s poor shooting tonight was a big factor in their inability to go toe-to-toe with New York, who got production from all five of their starters with little help from their bench. Even the top scoring players for the Storm today, Jewell Loyd and Ezi Magbegor, didn’t have efficient nights from the field while the Seattle bench failed to add scoring outside of Sami Whitcomb, who was also inefficient. Of the many areas of issue in this game for the Storm, shooting and getting consistent scoring from numerous faces in the lineup remains a problem that still hasn’t been solved by Seattle.
“You have to listen and just coach them up. There is a level of accountability as well. We are grown and we are professional. And it is watching film, it’s communication. It’s constant emphasizing and re-teaching. And at some point it is obviously, opportunity, appropriate preparation meets opportunity, we find success. And so yeah, it is constant communication, constant transparency. And that’s how that’s how we have to work as a group.”
The strong effort from Seattle Storm shooting guard Jewell Loyd was once again not enough for her team, needing more support (Photos by Mathew Bermudez)
Second half surge not enough to get over Liberty’s prowess
Coming out of the halftime break with a deficit of 17, the Storm were in a tough position given the uphill battle they faced in terms of points and talent that they were up against. The push didn’t start immediately for Seattle, as New York pushed their lead up to as much as 22 after Sabrina Ionescu’s three-pointer with 7:24 left in the third quarter. It was after that shot, that the Storm started to dig themselves out of their own hole as Kia Nurse and Jewell Loyd hit three-pointers and Seattle started to get to the free throw line. Even with the shots from beyond the arch and some solid defensive effort to slow down the Liberty for a bit, the Storm weren’t able to go on a run big enough to overcome the double-digit deficit.
“It is quite difficult. I think we’ve proven as the season has gone on that we can get ourselves back into games. But that’s not what we want to do, we want to start well, we want to be able to compete with teams from the jump ball and not have to play catch up, we do expend all that energy in the second, third quarter trying to maintain that lead and you know, not extend it. I think our starts are something that we do have to work on and just know that if we can stay in games, we can come back. But yeah, like I said, that’s not what we want to do.”
Broken record?
While it was expected that this Seattle team would struggle heavily throughout this entire 2023 season, the frustration with the Storm currently stems from the fact that their issues are ones that haven’t been fixed all year long. Seattle continues to search for consistent rebounding and better effort in the paint, something that has seen very limited adjustment but nothing’s that stuck. An issue that the Storm had somewhat fixed in some of their recent contests was limiting their turnovers, but turning the ball over in this game was a big issue as Seattle gave the Liberty additional opportunities to score in addition to what they were already getting. Finally, a third prominent area of concern was the fact that New York dominated Seattle in fast break points, an area where the Storm have been tops in all the WNBA.
“Ah, turnovers are one. Specifically, the live ball turnovers. I’ve seen in the course of a game, we’re going to turn the ball over, but it’s the type. Being in a rush, not being fundamental. I think those are tough to handle, early on with a team that has a lot of firepower. A couple of just defensive awareness things. I thought that our pick and roll defensive coverages were just a little all off. And then we clean those up at half after halftime and I thought we were better in the second half.”
Fixing the issues that they continue to deal with will be the difference between whether Seattle sees actual results in the standings or if all the changes, growth, and adjustments aren’t something that will be quantified into team victories. The frustration with the lack of learning turning into action has showed over this three-game losing streak, while obviously over the course of the whole year, as players and coaches alike seem to be sick of having to patch the same holes or preach the same lessons that have already been applied to this team.
“Honestly, I think for this team, the more we think, the worse the play. When we know when we’re confident in what we’re doing and we’re just reacting, that’s when we’re at our best. So when we’re trying to do different schemes and personnel, sometimes it’s different. For example, you have Jordan, we have five different things, and we had to tell her, Hey, this is what we’re doing, it’s different than coming from college, where you have one thing, right? Being able to just understand the details of what we need to do with who, personnel wise. That’s just communicating a little bit better, get more comfortable, understanding who you are. I think it really comes back to just understanding who you are, and having confidence in that. And then when you’re confident, you’re able to do things aggressively. When you’re not confident, you’re timid. That’s on us to kind of constantly build each other up, be confident in what we’re doing, and then we’ll see a different effect.”
“I wouldn’t say a rut, I just think that we’re growing and trying to find who we are consistently. Our lineups have been different, haven’t been as consistent and just trying to find some physicality, some rebounding, some energy to kind of jumpstart us. And I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t classify it as a rut as much as it’s this new group, figuring out how to play, how to win games and how to be consistent on both ends of the floor. ”
Quick notes
Ezi Magbegor’s 12-point outing was her eighth straight double-digit game and 14th in the last 15 games.
Rookie Jordan Horston returned to action after missing three straight games with a right shoulder injury. She did not score, but did have three assists and two rebounds in 17 minutes.
With 10 points, Sami Whitcomb logged her fourth straight double-digit game, the second-longest stretch of her career. It was her 200th WNBA contest, 144 of which have been with Seattle.
Turnovers once again were costly for the Storm. They had 20, leading to 19 New York points. They had 19 turnovers in Thursday’s 99-97 overtime loss to Minnesota, which the Lynx converted into 15 points.
New York hit 10 more field goals than the Storm, 33 of 71 (46.5 percent). Seattle was 23 of 65 (35.4 percent).
The Liberty's Courtney Vandersloot, a product of Kentwood High School just southeast of Seattle, had a double-double of 18 points and 12 assists. New York, which averages a league-leading 23.8 assists per game, had 30 on 33 baskets.
What’s next?
Today’s loss to the Liberty was the last home game that the Storm will have played prior to the WNBA All-Star break. Seattle doesn’t return home to Climate Pledge Arena until July 20th, hitting the road for three games during that span. With All-Star weekend on July 14th-15th, it’ll be interesting to see where the Storm are able to leave off before that break comes around. Before they get to that point though, the Storm begin their road trip on Thursday, July 6th when they battle the Connecticut Sun with a tipoff time of 4PM PST. That game will be broadcast on Amazon Prime Video and will be just the sixth road game that Seattle will have played this season so far.