Storm come up just short of Sparks, falling in season finale
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – In what feels like a microcosm of the entire 2023 season, the Seattle Storm came up just short in the season finale to the Los Angeles Sparks. Like most of their defeats in a year that sees them secure a lottery pick, Seattle put up a strong fight in this game but couldn’t do enough to put distance between themselves and their opponent, and Los Angeles used that to power a fourth quarter comeback. Though both teams were already eliminated from the WNBA playoffs days before tipping this game off, the Sparks and Storm put on a physical, fast contest in front of a strong Sunday crowd at Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle. Despite the down to the wire loss to the Sparks, Seattle has positives to look at with their team moving forward considering that Loyd has been extended, they got strong production from their rookie class, and a core group of veterans is under contract through next year.
High energy first half
Again, neither team coming into this game necessarily had anything to play for. The Storm couldn’t play spoiler to a Sparks team trying to make the playoffs since Los Angeles had been eliminated before today, Seattle’s draft odds couldn’t get any better with a loss. Team goals out of the way, outside of the obvious goal of trying to finish out the season strong with a victory, individual accomplishments were on the minds of the fans and slightly on the Storm. Ezi Magbegor came into this game with the possibility of becoming the all-time rebounds leader for a single season. Jewell Loyd was aiming to pass former teammate and current New York Liberty star Breanna Stewart (whose game ended just a few minutes before Seattle tipped off) for the all-time regular season points record in WNBA history. The current pillars of the Storm franchise hit those marks in a first half filled with good energy in terms of emotion and production for Seattle.
Loyd came out of the gates hot, scoring 15 of her 17 points as Seattle responded to the Los Angeles quick four-point start with a big run of their own, powered largely by the Gold Mamba. The Storm’s secondary scoring threat, Ezi Magbegor, chipped in on both ends of the court as her six points in the first quarter were second best on the team and her two blocks only helped as Seattle poured on for a 30-point effort in the first ten-minutes of the game. The shooting success continued in the second quarter for the Storm, as Kia Nurse (who has been finding her shoot down the stretch of this season) led Seattle with a quarter-high 12 points to help them carry a nine-point lead into the half. The Storm largely used Nurse’s output to buoy themselves, as they couldn’t do much outside of her shooting ability, and that forecast some struggles to come later in the game.
“We were running in transition, getting stops and running. A lot of those plays were just with pace, tempo. When you play in transition in their defense is unable to get set and be as aggressive. When we slow down and get to the half court, that’s when they set up their traps. That’s what was happening, we were playing early offense. ”
Fourth quarter collapse
While the third quarter itself could’ve been better, as the Sparks outscored the Storm for a second straight frame, it’s that fourth final quarter where Seattle struggled once again. Issues that were budding from the first half became prevalent in the second, as turnovers (eight of them in the third turned into ten more points for Los Angeles) quickly made the second half frustrating for the Storm. The inability to protect the basketball and struggles in the paint set the stage for what was a frustrating fourth quarter. Seattle only scored eleven points on a poor shooting percentage, and they failed to score the tying basket with just ticks left on the clock. Ezi Magbegor had a free drive to the basket as time expired, but her pull up jumper hit the front of the rim to top off the fourth quarter comeback for Los Angeles and put a sour ending on what had generally been a strong day for the Storm.
“Turnovers. I think we had eight or nine in the third, and timely ones in the fourth. Our offense stalled out, we got decent but not great looks and then just defensively, they were just putting pressure at the rim on us... They just kicked up their physicality and we weren’t very sharp offensively. ”
Season finale symbolizes what we saw this season
In numerous ways, this loss displayed issues that the Storm have had present all season long. Los Angeles tallied 27 points off 21 Seattle turnovers, with taking care of the ball being something that head coach Noelle Quinn has preached throughout the large majority of the second half of this season. The Sparks outscored the Storm in the paint by a margin of 54-38. Seattle only had eight second chance points in this game. The Storm didn’t do something enough that they’ve been tops in the league in for the large part of this season, and that was run in transition, which would’ve caught the Sparks out of their stingy defense more if they had. And by a minor margin, the Storm were outrebounded 38-33 by the Sparks. Those final few issues highlight Seattle’s issues in the paint as a whole, but also to be noted: the somewhat signature stalling of the offense came in that final quarter as the Storm only put up eleven points to the Sparks 20, as they shot a dismal 28.6%.
Quick notes
Today’s attendance for the Los Angeles Sparks vs Seattle Storm game was 10,728
Jewell Loyd scored a game-high 28 points marking her league-leading 21st games with 25+ points this season and the 57th of her career for seventh most in WNBA history. Loyd’s 24.7 ppg is the second highest in WNBA history and the highest since Maya Moore’s 23.9 ppg in 2014.
Ezi Magbegor filled her stat sheet with 16 points, eight rebounds, a career-high seven assists, two blocks and one steal. It was her 34th game in double digits this year. She finishes the season with 322 rebounds, the most in franchise history, and with 74 blocks, the second-most in a season behind Lauren’ Jackson’s 81 in 2002. In total, Magbegor had two or more blocks 25 times this season, the second most by a WNBA player in 2023.
Kia Nurse came off the bench to drop 18 points, only two shy of her season high. That was her second-straight game with at least 18 points and her ninth game scoring in double-figures this season.
Sami Whitcomb had nine points and connected on two from the three-point range, extending her streak of games with at least one three to 31-straight, the second-longest active streak, and tied for 15th-longest in WNBA history.
What’s next?
Following the tough loss to the Sparks, Seattle has wrapped up the 2023 season with highs and lows, but ultimately ending in a lottery pick. Since the Chicago Sky clinched a playoff berth, the Storm now have the fourth best odds at the top pick in the upcoming draft, but already have a positive look at the offseason considering the signing of Jewell Loyd to that two-year extension. Exit interviews are tomorrow, and then it’s into the offseason for Seattle. With Loyd locked up and a solid core in place, the Storm have free agency and the draft to add a point guard, a proven star next to Jewell, and some physicality inside. With the team's training facility opening early next year and the league’s top scorer on the roster, Seattle has a few obvious pro’s when it comes to attracting free agents. Backed by the league’s best fans, don’t be surprised if this Storm team is a playoff contender next season.
Instagtram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports
〰️
Instagtram: @CirclingSeattleSports Twitter: @CirclingSports Threads: @CirclingSeattleSports Tiktok: @CirclingSeattleSports Facebook: Circling Seattle Sports 〰️
Check out our previous Seattle Storm articles here
Check out our previous articles with photos by Mathew Bermudez here
Check out our previous articles with writing by Charles Hamaker