Instant Takeaways: Storm Fend off Late Sky Surge For Bounce-Back win
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Despite having their fourth-quarter lead trimmed by more than 10 points, the Seattle Storm managed to hold off the Chicago Sky in a 94-88 road victory on Tuesday. Credit: John Mac [/caption]
It wasn’t pretty, but the Seattle Storm held off a fourth-quarter comeback attempt by the Chicago Sky in a 94-88 win on Tuesday, Aug. 19, at Wintrust Arena.
Seattle (18-18) has now won two of its last three games after dropping six in a row from Aug. 1-13. More importantly, it kept them in eighth place — the lowest placement the team needs to squeeze into the playoffs in September.
Even after leading by nearly 20 points in the fourth quarter, the Storm nearly relinquished their late lead in familiar fashion. Chicago, which was hot offensively in the final period, committed a few critical late turnovers to help Seattle seal the win.
Here’s what we learned from the Storm’s Tuesday victory over the Sky.
Storm create distance via second-quarter defense
Chicago went ice cold for most of the second quarter, shooting just 28.6 percent from the field (6 for 21) in the period. Seattle’s defense was mostly the catalyst for that, but the Sky also struggled to hit open shots in some situations.
There was nearly a swing late in the period — with Seattle leading 41-34 — where Chicago missed a toilet-bowl, should-be-in 3-pointer, followed by a missed wide-open layup by Angel Reese.
Reese was mostly held in check in the first half of her first game since July 29, adding just six points. She was on a pitch count, however, with just 11 minutes on the court.
That would have cut Seattle’s lead to just two points with little time left on the clock. Instead, the Storm finished the first half on a 14-5 run that helped them put plenty of space between them and the Sky. The Storm also forced six turnovers in the first half, scoring 11 points off those takeaways. That’s the type of defense that has won them games this season.
Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins and Gabby Williams combined for 32 points in the first half, accounting for most of their offense.
Sky defend to Storm’s strengths
Many of the best teams in the WNBA have sagged their defense off of the perimeter against the Storm, preventing them from blowing past defenders, pulling in the defense and kicking the ball out for a better 3-point or mid-range look. The Sky didn’t do that.
Chicago isn’t a great defensive team to begin with (10th in opponent points per game at 86), but the Storm thrive when their playmakers can get into the lane and keep the ball moving. They struggle in isolation situations that force difficult 3-point attempts.
Elite perimeter defense is needed to keep up with Seattle’s stars in press coverage. If that match isn’t there, the Storm will take advantage, get into a rhythm and begin pouring in points.
When you add fastbreak points off turnovers, that’s when they’re at their very best. Seattle is second in the league in that area (17.4 points per game off of turnovers).
Still harder than it needed to be
The Sky are averaging 75 points per game, the lowest figure by any WNBA team since 2021. Before Tuesday night, Chicago hadn’t scored more than 80 points since the last game Reese played in on July 29, and its 88 points were the most the team has scored since pouring in 92 against the Los Angeles Sparks on June 29.
Seattle led by 19 points with 7:12 left to play in the game before allowing Chicago to get as close as six at the very end. It wasn’t nearly as easy as the first meeting, when the Storm coasted into a 38-point victory over the Sky, who were without Reese at the time. The 2024 seventh overall pick’s presence makes a huge difference for Chicago.
Chicago shot 14 for 21 from the field (66.7 percent) in the fourth quarter as Seattle’s defense got increasingly gassed. The Storm still shot nearly 53 percent in the period, but it was the other side of the ball that was the problem.
However, regardless of the personnel on the other side, the Storm are still making the same kind of late-game mistakes as they were during their six-game winning streak.
No play was more emblematic of those lapses than one specific turnover with a minute remaining in the game. After letting the Sky trim their lead to seven, Ezi Magbegor inbounded to Williams, who tried to advance the ball to Brittney Sykes. Williams and Sykes were on completely different pages, allowing Chicago’s Kia Nurse to cleanly pick off the pass and put up a wide-open 3-pointer.
Had she sunk it, the Sky would have only trailed by four with no need to foul. It would have been a much more manageable situation for Chicago. Seattle got lucky on that one.
Ogwumike keeps climbing the ranks
Ogwumike is continuing to move up the WNBA’s all-time leaderboards this season — the 14th of her illustrious career. With her two steals against Chicago, Ogwumike moved to fifth in league history with 658. She passed former Houston Comets legend Sheryl Swoopes (657) and now trails fourth-place Alana Beard (710).
In addition to her steals, Ogwumike totaled 21 points, six rebounds and five assists against the Sky. Diggins posted a team-high 24 points and six assists.
Up Next
The Storm are through just one game of a five-game road trip. They now travel to face the Dallas Wings (9-26) at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 22, at College Park Center.
Seattle leads the season series with Dallas, 2-1, but lost the last matchup against the Wings by 24 points on July 22.
