Instant Takeaways: Storm Continue Season-Worst Skid With Loss to Aces
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Rookie No. 2 overall pick Dominique Malonga had the best night of her young career in a 90-86 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Friday, Aug. 8. Credit: John Mac [/caption]
Dominique Malonga’s career-high 22 points weren’t enough to complete a comeback effort by the Seattle Storm in a 90-86 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Friday, Aug. 8, at Michelob Ultra Arena.
The Storm dropped their season-worst fourth-straight game, falling to 16-15 on the season. Seattle is now just 2-6 in its last eight contests and sits in seventh place in the league standings — leapfrogged by the Aces with the loss.
Here’s what we learned from another disappointing Storm loss on Friday.
Aces build early lead
LV was red-hot coming into this game, and Seattle was the exact opposite. The Storm shot 38 percent in the first half, while the Aces converted 10 percent more of their attempts. That alone was enough of a difference for LV to build up an 11-point halftime lead, 47-36.
A’ja Wilson got everything she wanted around the rim with 18 first-half points. That led to a 22-8 point advantage in the paint for the Aces, consistently forcing the Storm into bad shots. Seattle couldn’t hit its 3-point attempts, however, which significantly hampered the team on offense.
The Aces wanted the Storm to shoot it from deep. LV sagged off on defense but closed out quickly, taking away Seattle’s driving lanes and tricking them into taking long-range attempts. Considering the Storm have shot under 25 percent from 3-point range in three of their last seven games, it was a sound strategy. Meanwhile, Wilson and the Aces pounded the ball inside.
Brittney Sykes, in her first game with the Storm, wasn’t afraid to let it fly. But she wasn’t converting efficiently early on, hitting just one of her first eight shots.
Storm fight back
The Aces built up a 19-point lead in the third quarter. Seattle was starting to look like a sunken ship until they responded with an 11-0 run midway through the period. Erica Wheeler and Gabby Williams led the way, combining for 16 points in the third quarter.
In addition to that duo, Malonga came on strong in the second half. She had 11 points in the fourth quarter alone. She scored nine straight points for Seattle during a critical stretch of the final period, tying the game at 75-75 after an and-one with 5:38 to play.
But then Noelle Quinn subbed her out, and the Aces mounted a 5-0 run. She came back in shortly after, but Seattle scored just two points in three minutes during the final 5.5-minute stretch. LV built up an eight-point lead in the meantime.
Seattle had another chance late after trimming the lead to four, but there wasn’t enough time remaining for another surge. It was too little too late.
After Malonga’s team-high total, Wheeler finished with 16 points and three steals. Williams had 14 points, three rebounds, four assists and two steals. Nneka Ogwumike had a slow night offensively with just 12 points and nine rebounds. Sykes totaled 14 points, six assists and two blocks in her Storm debut.
Diggins, in a frustrating night for the veteran, finished with zero points in 20 minutes played. It wasn’t due to foul trouble, either, as she had just one when the final buzzer sounded. Wheeler and Sykes were simply more effective.
Malonga’s career night
The 19-year-old No. 2 overall pick was simply spectacular, leading the Storm’s comeback attempt. She converted 8 of 11 shots in the game and posted her second double-double with 12 rebounds. Even then, Malonga played just 25 minutes while Quinn continues to remove her from the floor at curious times.
There’s simply no reason Malonga should’ve been taken off the court when she was in the fourth quarter. She had been on the court for only a little more than an entire quarter, but there’s no reason to think the youngest player in the league can’t handle that amount of consecutive playtime.
It’s another case of Quinn making curious substitutions (i.e., the July 26 loss to Washington, where the bench led an 11-0 run before the ice-cold starters re-entered the game and scored two points over the final four minutes) that are quite literally losing the team games.
The time is now to take Malonga’s leash off. There’s nothing left to lose as the Storm are plummeting in the standings and struggling to produce consistent wins.
Wilson dominates for the Aces
Aside from Seattle’s missteps, Wilson was flawless for LV. She posted a game-high 29 points to go along with 12 rebounds and three assists. Her shooting night was complete on 11 of 24 attempts.
Wilson has now scored at least 27 points in three of her last five games. The Aces, who have won five of their last six games and three in a row, will only continue to get more dangerous as Wilson keeps heating up.
Up Next
The Storm travel to the Los Angeles Sparks (14-15) for a 5 p.m. tip-off on Sunday, Aug. 10. LA has a game against the Valkyries on Saturday, meaning the Storm could be battling to not fall into eighth place in that game.
