Struggling Storm continue to face self inflicted issues, falling to Sky 75-90, to drop ninth straight loss
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – This young Seattle Storm team continues to struggle in the middle of their 2023 season despite the positive flashes they’ve shown throughout the year, as their losing streak hit nine games with tonight’s defeat against the visiting Chicago Sky. The trend of Seattle plugging one hole and another popping open continues to occur, as the Storm were heavily dominated on the boards. They’re solid shooting from the field, points in the paint numbers, and free throw percentage were positives, but the humiliation on the rebounding side of this game was a big factor in why Seattle was never able to get a lead as they dropped their ninth game in a row. If they continue to fail at addressing the major issues in their game, that losing streak should only get longer.
“The desire and the heart that it takes to go finish a play … that desire was not strong today, hence the early timeout to address it. There wasn’t really a change after that. You’re not going to win games if you’re not going to play at a high level every single night.”
Seattle Storm head coach Noelle Quinn points something out during the teams loss to the Chicago Sky on July 23rd, 2023 (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Poor starts return
In their first loss of the second half, a tough loss to the Las Vegas Aces that saw the Storm threaten to close in on the defending champions, Seattle was able to come out of the locker room with a strong start. Despite the strong shooting percentage that Seattle had overall in this game, at 46.7%, the Storm struggled in the first quarter to make their shots and take advantage of the few offensive rebounds that they did get to. Second chance points have been an issue that the Storm haven’t been able to fully address all season long, and even those are a byproduct of the teams rebounding struggles. Despite rookie Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu slotting into the starting rotation and helping on the boards, the team struggles in the rebounding department.
“A lot of times, rebounding isn’t a skillset. It’s a desire to box out. Our mindset around that wasn’t sharp. It wasn’t only one of us, it was all of us.”
“We’ve proven this season that we can get ourselves back into games, but we don’t want that to be the case every game. The first half, their offensive rebounds definitely extended that lead.”
Seattle Storm shooting guard brings the ball up the court during the teams loss to the Chicago Sky on July 23rd, 2023 (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Loyd struggles for second straight game
To begin the second half of the 2023 season, and while it’s only been two games, Storm superstar guard Jewell Loyd has struggled from the field as teams heavily focus on her. The Lincolnwood, Illinois native struggled in this game against Chicago as she made just two of the eleven shots that she took from the field and missed all four three pointers that she attempted. Most Loyd’s points came as she got to the charity stripe, making eight of nine free throws attempted. While it’s remarkable that the shooting guard was still able to get into the double digits despite the off night from the field, it’s tough to see the Storm not get the sort of production from Loyd that we saw in the first half.
Though, it should be noted that it isn’t entirely her fault. In the Aces loss on Thursday, head coach Becky Hammon and the defending champions employed what’s known as a box and one defense, which is strictly meant to frustrate a superstar player that has “lesser quality” players around them. While those words are harsh, it’s been true to an extent as Seattle has struggled to get scoring from their starters and roster overall outside of Loyd. Ezi Magbegor has been able to provide that next spark, but it hasn’t been enough with just two players producing points wise.
Seattle Storm center Ezi Magbegor has become the second scoring option for the team, but Seattle still needs consistent scoring from others (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Bench effort strong in loss
A positive to take from this game is the performance of the Storm bench, something we haven’t quite been able to enjoy for parts of this season as Seattle’s staff has opted to go with a shorter rotation. While they may work at times, and at others may be necessary considering the younger talent that isn’t in the starting five, the Storm got strong contributions from Jordan Horston, Sami Whitcomb, and Mercedes Russell. Those three, who all could arguably be starters on this team and around the league, were able to provide valuable scoring from a bench unit that at times fails to help their starters when a break is needed. While none of them really provided anything on the boards to earn more minutes than the starters that weren’t either, it’s hard to cast blame on them for something that the entire team failed to do.
Nearly all the Storm bench was deployed for some stretch of time during this game, all but point guard Yvonne Turner who was left on the bench as a coach's decision. It was an interesting decision to see that Turner didn’t get any minutes at all, partly considering that she began the season as the team's starting point guard, but considering her limited capabilities on offense it makes sense. It’s certainly a positive to see the remaining members of the Storm rookie class from this year getting their minutes, with Fankam Mendjiadeu in the starting lineup while Horston is essentially a sixth/seventh woman off the bench. Getting Jade Melbourne minutes off the bench is also big, as she is likely Seattle’s second point guard if Ivana Dojkic continues to pan out.
The Seattle Storm got valuable bench minutes from players like Jordan Horston and Jade Melbourne (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Quick notes
Ezi Magbegor led the Storm in scoring for the fifth time this season, tallying 14 points for her 18th game in double-figures this year.
Magbegor was one of four Storm players who scored in double-digits, alongside Jewell Loyd (12), Jordan Horston (12) and Sami Whitcomb (11).
Loyd’s 12 points included eight from the free throw line. She also helped with four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.
Horston led the Storm reserves with 12 points, marking her third-consecutive 10+ point game and eighth this season. She also contributed three steals, one rebound, one assist and one block while hitting 4-of-6 from the field in 17 minutes played.
Whitcomb fired up from the bench finishing with 11 points on 3-of-4 from the three-point line, in addition to two steals, one rebound, and one assist. Her trio of triples were the Storm’s long makes from long range.
This Seattle Storm team has talent and has shown flashes of how good they can be, but they must focus on the areas that they are weak in if they are to snap their nine-game losing streak (Photo by Liz Wolter)
What’s next?
Following this tough and obviously frustrating loss to the Chicago Sky, Seattle heads out on a three-game road trip that will feature a rematch against tonight’s opponent. The Storm begin their road trip on Tuesday, July 25th when they head to Brooklyn, New York for a battle against the New York Liberty. That matchup will be broadcast on ESPN3, with a tipoff time of 4PM PST as Seattle looks to complete an upset against a New York team that they’ve pushed to the brink in the times that they’ve met this season. After that, on Friday, July 28th, the Storm get their rematch with the Sky in Chicago. Things round out for their road trip and the month of July when Seattle heads down to face the Indiana Fever, another team that has struggled in the WNBA this year, but not as much as the Storm have.