Instant Takeaways: Late Storm Comeback Falls Short vs. Sky
[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="2499"]
Seattle Storm guard Flau’jae Johnson drives into the paint during their 95-90 loss to the Chicago Sky on Wednesday, July 15, at Wintrust Arena. Credit: Courtesy of Seattle Storm [/caption]
The Seattle Storm erased an 11-point halftime deficit against the Chicago Sky but fell short in another close loss, 95-90, on Wednesday, July 15, at Wintrust Arena.
Seattle (6-20) was led by an efficient 25 points from Flau’Jae Johnson (11 of 17 FG), but it wasn’t enough to push the Storm over the edge. Dominique Malonga (16 points), Awa Fam (14), Jade Melbourne (11) and Katie Lou Samuelson (11) also scored in double figures.
Snapping a two-game losing streak, Chicago (8-16) was led by 20 points from Azura Stevens and 17 from rookie Sydney Johnson. Chloe Bibby added 14 points off the bench for the Sky, who have also been struggling to win close games this season.
Entering the game, the Storm were 0-7 in games decided by five points or less. Chicago was 1-3 in such games, but the Sky have more veteran leadership to help guide them.
Here’s what we learned from the Storm’s narrow matinee loss to the Sky on Wednesday.
Johnson tried to keep Storm alive
It was a slow start for the Storm, who first allowed the Sky to build up a lead via a 9-2 run midway through the first quarter. Chicago took that advantage and pushed their lead up to seven after one period.
Following two early buckets by Malonga and Samuelson, the Sky mounted another big run that pushed their lead as high as 13. Taylor scored seven points for Chicago in a rapid-fire 10-0 run.
Taylor, an undrafted rookie, was a tough matchup for Johnson. She, along with Stevens, was the driving force behind the Chicago offense.
Johnson was trying to keep the Storm in the game. She totaled 16 points in the first half alone on 8-of-10 shooting, but it wasn’t enough to outpace the combo of Stevens and Taylor.
The Storm trailed 56-44 at halftime, staring down another much-needed comeback if they wanted to get back into the game.
“Who do we wanna be? That was the message at halftime. What kind of team do we wanna be?” Johnson said after the game. “It shows up in spurts, like we are a really good team. But if you wanna be a great team, you can’t play in spurts. [Raman’s] message is for us to just stay composed and keep getting better day by day.”
Comeback falls just short
The third quarter was a good start to that. Even though the Sky held the Storm at arm’s length for over half the period, Seattle whittled the Chicago lead down to eight heading into the fourth.
Seattle was much more balanced in the third quarter, with the offensive output being spread out beyond Johnson. The Storm were dominating the Sky on the boards, but Chicago sank seven more 3-pointers in the game. Those advantages for each team balanced each other out.
The Storm made a final push midway through the fourth quarter, sparked by four consecutive buckets from Melbourne, Fam, Malonga and Johnson. An 11-point lead for the Sky quickly shrunk to just two with more than four minutes remaining.
It was a completely new game. At least until, leading by three with just under two minutes left, the Sky’s Natasha Cloud drilled a 3-pointer to push Chicago’s lead back to six. The Storm got it down to three again multiple times, but the Sky had an answer every time.
Chicago sank their free throws on intentional fouls, and Seattle ran out of time while down two possessions.
What’s next step to winning close games?
The Storm’s last two losses have been by exactly five points. They’re now 0-8 in games decided by that many points or fewer, highlighting how much different their season could look currently if they were able to close those out.
It’s expected with the lack of veteran leadership on the current roster, however, and that’s exactly what Johnson highlighted after the game.
“We got to continue to play and have the mentality of ‘next play,’” Johnson said. “I think us being so young, we kinda get too focused on the small things, and I think kinda just getting out of ourself and getting those reps in those clutch times to know ‘This is how you do this; this is when you do this,’ communication, etcetera. I think it’s just growing pains; we just got to figure out how to win. That takes time.”
Turnovers have been a piece of that struggle. Seattle turned it over eight times in the fourth quarter of their loss to the Washington Mystics on Sunday, and they have a few more critical giveaways late against the Sky. That’s an area Storm head coach Sonia Raman and the team are working on.
“This is something that we just know is where we have to grow and where we have to be better,” Raman added. “Players, with more usage, with more time with the ball in their hands, this is just kind of part of it, in addition to the fact that we play fast. So, when you’re trying to play fast, sometimes you’re going to have a little bit more turnovers than a really slow, methodical half-court offense.”
Johnson back to showing glimpses of superstardom
If Johnson can turn in these kinds of performances more regularly, the Storm would be in a much better place. She currently has a very high offensive ceiling, but also a low floor.
Raman complimented Johnson’s mentality against the Sky as she led the way for the Storm and kept them in the game early on.
“[She was] in attack mode, right from the beginning. … Being able to get her going in the open floor is always great, and then just being really high-level with her reads tonight.”
The Storm have a promising score-first duo of Malonga and Johnson moving forward. And the top-end performances should eventually start leading to more wins, even if it takes until the 2027 season.
Up next
The Storm have one game remaining on a long, five-game road trip that concludes with a 4:30 p.m. PST game against the Indiana Fever (14-9). Seattle lost its first game of the season against the Fever, 89-78, on May 17.
