Instant Takeaways: Storm’s Diggins Logs First Career Triple-Double in Bounce Back Win vs. Sun
Channeling their frustration from Saturday’s brutal loss to the Mystics, the Seattle Storm led by as much as 32 in a 101-85 pummeling of the Connecticut Sun on Monday, July 28, at Mohegan Sun Arena.
The Storm (16-11) bounced back from an 11-point defeat that left the team looking tired, demoralized and unsure of what was next. It was the perfect time to get a confidence booster against the Sun (4-21) — the WNBA’s worst team. However, with a previous loss to Connecticut on their record, it wasn’t going to be a guaranteed victory.
Here’s what we learned from a decisive victory for the Storm on Monday.
Electric first-half offense leads to explosive third quarter
The Storm looked like a completely different team on offense from their Saturday loss to the Washington Mystics. Seattle scored 58 points in that game and had 57 in just the first half against the Sun. Gabby Williams and Nneka Ogwumike looked like they were tired of losing from the opening tip-off — the former relentlessly attacking the rim while the latter knocked down three triples in the first half.
Noelle Quinn put 10 different players on the court for at least five minutes in just the game’s first 20 minutes. That allowed the starters to stay fresh, indicating a possible rotation shift away from relying heavily on the starters in the first two periods and, in some cases, the entire game moving forward.
As a result, Seattle shot 23 for 37 from the field (62.2 percent) in the first half with 17 team assists. Skylar Diggins was dealing, with nine assists in just the first two quarters. The Storm took an 11-point lead into the locker room.
They didn’t stop in the third quarter. Instead, they built upon what was already shaping up to be their best shooting performance of the season. Outscoring the Sun 30-12 in the period, Seattle shot 13 for 15 from the field.
The Seattle bench essentially played the entire fourth quarter, which allowed the Sun to narrow the gap on the scoreboard a bit. Five players scored in double figures, led by Ogwumike with 26 and Williams with 16.
Diggins’ historic day
Diggins joined Temeka Johnson as only the second Storm player to record a triple-double in franchise history, and first since 2014. It was also the first of her 11-year career. Adding to the grandeur of Diggins’ day, she logged 11 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in just three-quarters of play on Monday.
With a huge lead already after three quarters and her new resume booster achieved, Diggins sat the entire fourth quarter. If the game had been closer and Diggins had been needed, she could’ve piled up one of the more impressive box scores ever by a WNBA guard. You could argue it still is, especially since it was done in just 30 minutes.
Diggins already earned her seventh All-Star nod this season, and entered Monday’s game averaging 17.2 points, 2.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.3 steals in 25 games played.
Dominique Malonga’s team-high minutes
One of the most peculiar trends to emerge from Monday’s win was Malonga leading the Storm with 25 minutes, a career-high for the 19-year-old rookie and No. 2 overall pick in this year’s draft.
Malonga totaled 12 points (6 of 12 shooting), six rebounds, one steal and one block. She was the third-leading scorer behind the top duo of Ogwumike and Williams. It wasn’t all in garbage time, either. Quinn had Malonga on the floor early and often, as Ezi Magbegor played just 17 minutes — her second-lowest total of the season.
Magbegor was stuffing the stat sheet when she was on the court, however, finishing with 10 points, five rebounds, three assists, one steal and four blocks. She now has 11 blocks over just the last three games.
What’s the catch?
As of late, even when the Storm are playing great basketball, it isn’t always a sign that they are about to go on a hot streak. They are now 4-4 over their last eight games, alternating victories and losses with each game.
Seattle’s average margin of victory during that stretch is 19.25 points. Its average margin of defeat is 12.5 points. There’s no consistency with this team currently, and at least right now, the Storm are either putting up title-contender-type victories or league-basement-dweller losses.
It’s great to beat the Chicago Sky and Connecticut Sun by a combined 54 points over their last two victories, but those teams have a combined record this season of 11-39. Two of their four wins over the last eight have been against Connecticut, also.
The Storm need to start stringing together wins if they want to maintain their current playoff positioning. They have plenty of talent to achieve that.
Up next
Seattle returns home from a three-game road trip to begin a three-game home stand. The Los Angeles Sparks (11-14) come to town for the first game in that series at 7 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 1.
LA is set to get 2024 No. 2 overall pick Cameron Brink back for its game against the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday, July 29, and she is expected to be available against Seattle. Brink is returning from a torn ACL she sustained as a rookie.
The Storm lead the season series against the Sparks 1-0 following a 98-67 road win on June 17.
