Instant Takeaways: No Malonga Spells Doom for Storm in Loss to Fever
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Seattle Storm guard Natisha Hiedeman (2) drives inside during the Storm’s 89-78 loss to the Indiana Fever on Sunday, May 17, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Credit: Courtesy of Seattle Storm [/caption]
Stumbling out of the gates with sloppy offense and minimal-resistance defense, the Seattle Storm fell to 1-3 on the season with an 89-78 loss to the Indiana Fever on Sunday, May 17, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
The Storm were without leading scorer Dominique Malonga, who suffered a concussion in Wednesday’s game against Toronto. Seattle’s remaining lineup, which was much smaller than normal, couldn’t minimize mistakes to keep up with a potent Fever attack.
Natisha Hiedeman had her best game as a member of the Storm, scoring a team-high 19 points while adding two rebounds, two assists one steal and one block. Flau’jae Johnson (14 points), Zia Cooke (13) and Jade Melbourne (12) also scored in double figures.
Indiana (2-2) was led by Caitlin Clark’s 21 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists. Kelsey Mitchell and Sophie Cunningham each added 17 points.
Here’s what we learned from a disjointed Storm loss to the Fever on Sunday.
Worst start of the season
The Storm began the game abysmally. They committed five turnovers in the first five minutes, conceding 10 points off those giveaways, and fell behind 20-7 rather quickly. Seattle tried to push the pace but did so to its own demise, unable to keep the ball from the clutches of Fever defenders.
It doesn’t help that the Storm also have had one of the league’s worst defenses so far this season. The Fever converted 11 of their first 16 shots, and many of those buckets came largely uncontested.
Indiana knew it could shake the Storm’s young, inexperienced group with pressure, and they gameplanned to make even simple operations difficult for Seattle. That was highlighted in the first quarter when Grace VanSlooten tried to make a long inbounds pass to Natisha Hiedeman, and it turned into a tumbling jump ball competition.
“I think number one is just playing with more pride, and making sure we’re sticking together,” Cooke said of what the team needs to improve on in her postgame interview. “We just get in our heads a little bit, and I think this next game [against Connecticut], we just need to make sure we stick together, we play together.”
Clark poured in eight points for the Fever in the opening period, leading Indiana to a 32-19 advantage after 10 minutes. It would’ve been much worse for the Storm if not for Cooke, who also had eight points in the first quarter.
The second quarter was more evenly matched. Seattle cut into the Fever’s lead, but another few turnovers began to kill that momentum again. When this Storm team speeds up, good things can happen. But they just don’t have the chemistry yet to consistently avoid disaster and turn it into a net positive.
The Storm did a good job of not letting the first half spiral out of control, but they also couldn’t make up much ground from what they surrendered early on. Indiana led by 11 at the break.
No Malonga, big problem
Malonga’s absence weighed heavily on the Storm’s offensive output. That’s 16 points per game of output gone, and Seattle couldn’t make it up.
Running a smaller lineup was part of the problem, but it was also the fact that opposing teams have to respect the Storm inside when Malonga is on the floor. That at least helps their 3-point shooting opportunities a bit, even if they haven’t been making them consistently.
The Storm were 6-of-23 from three against the Fever, and that’s a major reason they shot just 35% from the field in total.
Offensively, the Storm are underdeveloped. They don’t play effectively as a group, instead relying on individuals to make heroic plays on their own. Head coach Sonia Raman has a lot of work to do to get this roster to have some cohesion, but it starts with getting Malonga, Ezi Magbegor and Awa Fam on the court together.
“I think that we just have to settle down on both ends … The hunger was there, and the effort was there, but I think that we just had to settle down after that first quarter,” Raman said.
At the WNBA level, you can stay in a game by relying on regular isolation plays. But it’s not going to win many games, even for those with far more superstars than the Storm.
The Fever led by as much as 20 at various points throughout the second half before getting some garbage-time buckets to narrow the gap.
Help is on the way
No. 3 overall pick Awa Fam finished her season with Valencia in Spain on Sunday as well, winning a championship on her way out of the club. It’s still unclear exactly when she will be arriving in Seattle, but that will be the first step to getting her on the court.
Magbegor is still expected to miss another two to four weeks under the current timeline. Malonga could miss one or two more games with a concussion.
When the Storm have their full lineup, we will be able to see the actual potential of this group. And it should help take some pressure off current frontcourt players Stefanie Dolson, Mackenzie Holmes and Grace VanSlooten.
Up next
The Storm have a few days off before they host the Connecticut Sun (0-4) at Climate Pledge Arena at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, May 20. Seattle’s lone win so far this season was against the Sun in an 89-82 victory on May 10.
