Instant Takeaways: Skid Continues as Storm Drop Third Straight to Aces
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The Seattle Storm dropped their third straight game in a 75-70 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday, June 1. Credit: John Mac [/caption]
Struggling to piece together early offense once again, the Seattle Storm looked drastically different in their second meeting with the Las Vegas Aces in a 75-70 loss at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday, June 1.
Seattle (3-4), after winning three in a row from May 19–25, has now lost three straight. All of those consecutive losses have been by seven points or less but unfolded differently than their previous loss to the Atlanta Dream on Friday. Instead of getting ahead and surrendering a late lead, the Storm played from behind and couldn’t complete a comeback.
Las Vegas (4-2) has won two in a row since their 20-point loss to the Storm a week ago. The Aces came back to Climate Pledge Arena with a vengeance, making Seattle look like a completely different team than the first time they met.
Here’s what we learned from the Storm’s narrow home loss to the Aces on Sunday.
Freestyle first-half offense
In Seattle’s three wins this season, they looked like a well-oiled machine on offense. The Storm’s active defense also led to their offense in those victories, with fastbreak points and points off turnovers fueling the scoring. In the losses, they’ve had none of those factors consistently — creating a disjointed offense that has no sense of direction in the halfcourt for extended stretches.
The Storm had 32 team assists against the Aces in the first meeting. They had just 19 in the second. The ball wasn’t moving efficiently, and players weren’t getting to their spots. It’s forcing the stars, like Gabby Williams, to make spectacular individual plays instead of scoring as a result of the unit’s effort.
We’ve seen how good Seattle can be when they’re clicking. With limited practice time and in-game foul trouble being a reality of WNBA basketball, head coach Noelle Quinn has had to adjust her lineups more frequently. It’s obvious when those specific lineups aren’t getting many reps together, as the offense nears dysfunction.
Conversely, the Aces aren’t relying on their starting lineup to be intact to compete. Las Vegas’ bench outscored Seattle’s 11-2 in the first half, with Dana Evans scoring nine points. That takes the onus off A’ja Wilson (10 first-half points) if she’s having an off night. Seattle’s stars currently can’t afford to take a night off if they want to avoid having to make a heroic comeback.
The Storm committed 19 turnovers against the Aces, with a team-high six from Skylar Diggins. Their previous season high was 15. Williams took over the point guard spot about midway through the game to allow Diggins to play off the ball, but that only gave the veteran guard a marginal boost.
Gabby Williams breaking out
Williams is already off to her career-best start to a season offensively, and she continued that on Sunday. She led the way in the first half for Seattle, scoring 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting (3-for-4 3PT). Williams finished with a team-high 20 points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
It was the second 20-point game of the season for Williams. She entered the season with just five such performances in her previous six WNBA seasons. Williams is also shooting a blistering 46.6 percent from 3-point range, which has been a major boost to Seattle’s offense at times so far this season.
In the first few games, Diggins and Nneka Ogwumike fueled the Storm offense almost exclusively. Over the last couple of games, that load has been spread more to Williams and Erica Wheeler off the bench.
Third and fourth-quarter surges come up short
Entering the third quarter trailing by 12, the Storm held the Aces scoreless for the first four minutes of the period. That allowed Seattle to mount an 8-0 run, fueled by five points from Diggins to bring the Storm within four points.
But it didn’t last. Seattle had plenty of opportunities to capitalize on a vulnerable stretch for the Aces. As we’ve seen multiple times this season, however, the Storm’s run ended short of where it needed to, almost exclusively from self-inflicted wounds.
The Storm’s offense cooled off once again with another string of turnovers and missed shots. Las Vegas rediscovered its groove, pulling back out in front by 14 at the end of the third period.
In the fourth quarter, Seattle’s bench finally arrived. Wheeler and rookie No. 2 overall pick Dominique Malonga contributed eight points each, bringing the Storm within three points with under a minute to play.
The Storm got the ball back with 13 seconds remaining, and Malonga missed a turnaround jump shot from about nine feet out — missing a wide open Wheeler at the elbow of the 3-point arc that could’ve tied the game. A pair of Jewell Loyd free throws for the Aces and a missed Diggins jumper ended any hope of a successful resurgence.
Is a lineup change coming?
After missing the Atlanta game due to a minor ankle injury, Alysha Clark returned to the starting lineup against the Aces, finishing with five points, two rebounds, one assist and two steals. Clark, despite playing more than 24 minutes per game, is posting her lowest scoring (4.6), rebound (1.8), assist (0.8) and made 3-pointer (0.6) averages since 2014.
Both Malonga and Wheeler have been far more effective so far, and Malonga showed she can defend some of the top offensive players in the league. Wheeler is by far the team’s top ball handler and has been much more of a 3-point shooting spark than Clark has been.
Clark’s specialty is supposed to be defense and long-range shooting. She’s 3-for-7 from beyond the arc this season, while Wheeler is 7 of 15. It might be time to make a change to avoid the slow starts Seattle has endured multiple times this season.
