Not so clear Sky’s: Storm officially eliminated from playoff contention with frustrating defeat
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – Some predicted that this news was coming before the season even began, and although it was coming, it’s a bit disappointing to see it come to fruition. The Seattle Storm have been eliminated from playoff contention, the first time for the franchise since 2015, as the team fell apart offensively in the fourth quarter. Chicago took advantage, completing their comeback attempt and handing Seattle their 25th loss of the season. With today’s result, the Storm are well on pace to suffer the most losses in a single season in franchise history, surpassing the mark of 26 back in the very first year of the team's existence. There are bright spots on this roster, showcasing their talent today, but it certainly has been a learning and growing year for Seattle.
The Seattle Storm backcourt of Sami Whitcomb and Jewell Loyd helped get the teams offense going early (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Another strong start washed away
After a frustrating road trip that included a loss to this same Chicago Sky team, the Storm came out of the tipoff looking to make their mark and correct the mistakes that left them on the wrong side of the result. Seattle has statistically been one of the WNBA’s best shooting teams from beyond the arch, and that showed early into the first quarter as Jewell Loyd and Sami Whitcomb found their shot to kickstart the Storm offense. With the danger from the perimeter being displayed from Seattle’s backcourt, Mercedes Russell came off the bench and brought immediate impact in the paint as she tallied eleven points in that first frame.
Russell’s strong play continued, and the offensive harmony seemed to flow throughout the roster as the Storm got contributions up and down their rotation, even bringing in point guard Yvonne Turner, who has seen extremely rare minutes in the second half of the season. Interestingly enough, Ezi Magbegor’s stat line was relatively quiet by her standards in the first half, and while that would change later in the game, it was encouraging to see this Seattle roster find scoring from other alternative routes as opposed to the two players that they heavily lean on typically in Loyd and Magbegor.
“In the first half I thought Mercedes gave us a boost. I thought we had a lot of possessions; Sami had a couple of threes. Our energy level in general was high. Ezi wasn’t scoring in that first half, but she found a way to score in the second half and that was the difference…A stall out of our offense, we stopped moving the ball, stopped getting to next actions and a lot of missed layups and buckets in the paint.”
“Early on, we just saw that we were able to get in the paint and finish well. We continued to get in the paint throughout the rest of the three quarters. I think we just started missing little chippy shots, nor not making shots we would normally make during the course of the game. Toward the end, we just had a lot of empty possessions where we might have got a really great shot. But at the end of the day, that’s just basketball.”
Under the baskets shots in the Seattle Storm loss to the Chicago Sky at Climate Pledge Arena (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Fourth quarter meltdown
The first three quarters were strong for Seattle, building a lead as they shot well from the field and were getting contributions throughout most of their lineup. Ezi Magbegor had begun to find her scoring production, and the Storm were still able to get on the board a decent amount in the third frame to avoid a lull, something that has happened often for this team throughout the year typically in that frame. Yet, Seattle wasn’t fully in the clear towards a victory yet as the offense stalled out in the fourth and final quarter. The Storm only managed a measly ten points in the final ten minutes of the game, as Chicago took full advantage and took the lead with a little over two minutes to play. The Sky never looked back after taking the advantage, and the Storm were left wondering what had just happened.
“The ability to get into the paint and finish. They went small and we stayed with our lineup and just couldn’t find ways to get buckets or get to the free throw line.”
“Our offense stalling out, too many turnovers in the second half, too many possessions where we aren’t locked in defensively and just not finding ways to get over the hump in those moments. ”
Seattle Storm center Mercedes Russell continues to display strong play in the second half, including in today’s loss with a 13 point performance off the bench (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Mercedes is money
Seattle’s Mercedes Russell has seemingly regained her form from the 2021 season, and it’s been a big boost to this Storm team that has needed help in the paint. The current sort of play from the former Lady Vol brings a consistent double-double threat, with a sweet scoring touch and a big presence in the paint that this Seattle team needs on varying levels, from points to rebounds and so forth. Since the second half of this season got underway, Russell has brought that energy and focus, and it’s shown through on the court. After dealing with head injuries for the vast majority of last season, Mercedes is back to herself and should be part of Seattle’s 2024 roster at this rate.
“Our second half of the season success is no coincidence that it coincided with Cedes playing really well, really comfortably. Her production has been incredible. Every game we’re competitive or we win, she has been leading us in a lot of ways, statistically and not statistically. ”
Young stars like Ezi Magbegor and Jordan Horston can be the pillars of this Seattle Storm team for years to come (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Eliminated from playoff contention
We all likely knew that this was coming for this team during this season, but again, it still sucks to see it officially announced that the team has been eliminated from playoff contention. At the end of the day, this young and growing roster wasn’t expected to do much at all, and they’ve still been able to put up good fights in most of their losses while pushing some of the top teams in the league until the final buzzer. If you gave Seattle another proven scorer and they corrected the rebounding and paint problems earlier in the season, this Storm roster very well could fight for a playoff spot considering the level of play that they’ve displayed at times. That potential remains next season if Seattle is 1) Able to retain Jewell Loyd 2) Add proven scorers OR get big jumps from their players under contract, but those are problems to worry about when the offseason fully gets here.
Seattle has gotten strong, while varying, levels of production from three rookies in Jordan Horston, Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu, and Jade Melbourne. Those players should all be able to take somewhat of a leap next season with a full WNBA offseason and taking the lessons that they learned from this season. Ezi Magbegor has made huge progress this year and can continue to improve and really stick out as a star in this league. Gabby Williams, if she elects to return to the WNBA next season, is an excellent defender that can distribute the ball well and has shown the sort of potential that she possesses on offense. The pieces can certainly be there for Seattle, with the impending free agents or without It is going to be a very interesting offseason for the Storm.
Pregame sights and scenes ahead of the Seattle Storm loss to the Chicago Sky at Climate Pledge Arena (Photos by Liz Wolter)
Quick notes
Today’s attendance was 9,893
Jewell Loyd scored 19 points, her 36th consecutive game in double digits—the second longest active streak in the WNBA. Loyd, who leads the WNBA in scoring at 24.2 ppg, added six rebounds, six assists and two steals.
Loyd’s first three-pointer of the game was her 100th of the season. She joins Diana Taurasi, Kelsey Plum and Sabrina Ionescu as the only four players in WNBA history to record 100+ three-pointers in a season.
Sami Whitcomb also scored 19 points, draining five from beyond the arc to mark her 26th consecutive game with at least one three-pointer made. That is the fourth-longest active streak in the league, and the second-longest in Whitcomb’s career. That was also her fifth game with five or more 3pt FGM this season—the third most in the WNBA in 2023 behind Sabrina Ionescu (11) and Jewell Loyd (8).
Ezi Magbegor tallied 15 points and 14 rebounds, her 10th double-double of the season and 13th of her career. She also added two steals, one assist and one block, becoming the fifth Storm player to record these numbers or better in a game (Lauren Jackson, 3x; Natasha Howard, 3x; Breanna Stewart, 2x, Tina Charles).
Magbegor’s ninth rebound at the 4:30 mark in the fourth quarter gave her 280 for the season, moving past Natasha Howard as No. 8 in the Storm single season rebound record list.
Mercedes Russell came off the bench to score a season-high 13 points, including 11-straight Storm points during a three-minute stretch in the first quarter, adding two blocks three rebounds and an assist. She also attempted the first three-pointer of her career, a half-court heave that missed wide at the end of the first quarter.
Seattle tacked on four blocks for a total of 159 on the season, the most in franchise history.
What’s next?
Following today’s loss, the Storm only have five games remaining in the 2023 season and only one of them is at home. Their next contest following this defeat is on Thursday, August 31st when Seattle heads down to California for a battle against the Los Angeles Sparks. The Storm will be looking to play spoiler when the two teams go head-to-head with a 7PM PST tipoff at Crypto.com Arena, as the Sparks remain in the hunt for a playoff spot. That game will be broadcast on FOX 13+ and Amazon Prime Video here in the state of Washington, and Spectrum Sportsnet down in California. This contest begins a four-game road trip for the Storm.