Instant Takeaways: Storm Set Multiple Season Lows in Loss To Dream
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The Seattle Storm huddle up during their 89-78 loss to the Atlanta Dream on Thursday, July 9, at the Gateway Center. Credit: Courtesy of Seattle Storm [/caption]
The turnover-prone Seattle Storm were unable to keep their winning ways on the road in an 89-78 loss to the Atlanta Dream on Thursday, July 9, at the Gateway Center.
Atlanta (13-9) snapped its five-game losing skid with the victory over Seattle (6-18), who are now an even 3-3 over their last six games. The Dream also got even in the season series after the Storm won the first matchup, 105-90, on June 27.
Allisha Gray had a game-high 22 points for the Dream, but Rhyne Howard (19 points), Angel Reese (18) and Jordin Canada (14) also scored in double figures. Reese logged a double-double with 11 rebounds.
The Storm were led by Natisha Hiedeman’s 20 points. Dominique Malonga added 15 points and nine rebounds, followed by Flau’jae Johnson’s 14 points.
Here’s what we learned from an underwhelming road loss for the Storm.
Physical Dream knock Storm off balance
An 11-2 run by the Dream changed the entire feeling of the game late in the first quarter. Atlanta’s post players were immediately more physical than the Storm’s, and that unsurprisingly resulted in 10 more free-throw attempts for the Dream in just the opening period.
Playing without fouling has been a struggle for Seattle, and Atlanta exposed that deficiency by attacking the rim. The Dream only attempted two threes in the first 10 minutes, but scored 29 points.
Atlanta shot 58% from the field in the first quarter, which helped them build an early lead. Then, in the second quarter, the Dream’s efficiency dropped, but they concluded the first half with 11 more shots than the Storm.
The physicality and aggressiveness of the Dream kept the Storm on their heels offensively the entire time, and Atlanta won the turnover battle 14-5 in the first two quarters. They scored 19 points off those turnovers.
Gray was the immediate aggressor for the Dream, and she scored 14 first-half points. Malonga led the Storm with 10 points as the only Storm player who was consistently penetrating Atlanta’s stiff defense.
Storm head coach Sonia Raman couldn’t seem to decide on an ideal lineup early on, playing 10 different players in just the first 20 minutes. That was much different than the Storm’s last win over the Dream, when there was a major emphasis on the starters.
Atlanta led by 17 at halftime, its biggest lead of the game to that point.
Perfection needed, but not found
The Storm needed to be perfect defensively in the second half, and they especially needed more production from beyond the arc. They checked neither of those boxes that were absolute musts if they wanted to make a comeback.
Seattle finished just 3 for 20 from 3-point range. Even though they shot a higher percentage overall, the Dream made twice as many threes and converted eight more free throws.
They did make a late push, however, which was encouraging. After trailing by as much as 20, Seattle did manage to trim it down mostly by generating points off of turnovers. But they couldn’t eliminate their own mistakes, ending up with 23 turnovers — the most in one game this season.
Malonga scored just five points in the latter two quarters. She was efficient, but not aggressive enough. Hiedeman and Fam also played more minutes by a small margin.
The turnovers were the major factor in this game, especially since the Dream scored 28 points off of them. That was nearly enough to account for the gap on the scoreboard alone.
Ezi Magbegor still a non-factor
This was Magbegor’s fourth game back after missing the first 20 with a foot injury. She hasn’t made a start, as Raman appears to prefer her lineup of Hiedeman, Johnson, Melbourne, Fam and Malonga. For the most part, that has been the best group, though it still has its deficiencies.
Magbegor entered the game averaging 4.0 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 blocks in 15.0 minutes per game.
She played just eight minutes against the Dream and totaled two points and five rebounds. Magbegor didn’t appear in the second half after sustaining an injury to her face. Her minutes played likely would’ve been much closer to her average had she not been injured.
Regardless, the Storm aren’t getting anywhere near a max contract value from Magbegor, even though she’s the fourth-highest-paid player in the league this season. If she isn’t going to start, the Storm should start shopping her around before the Aug. 2 trade deadline.
Pair of season-worsts
In addition to their season-high in turnovers, the Storm’s three 3-pointers were also a season-low for the Storm. Seattle hasn’t won a single game this season when they’ve made fewer than eight threes.
That’s a credit to the Dream’s defense, but it also highlights how inconsistent the Storm have been in that area. They just hit 10 triples in the win against the Los Angeles Sparks on Monday, then fell off a cliff in this one.
Seattle had been better about turnovers lately. It hasn’t turned in a game with more than 17 giveaways since June 6 in a loss to the Minnesota Lynx. The Storm just had no answers for the Dream’s defensive aggressiveness.
Up next
The Storm are just two games into a long five-game road trip. They now have to travel to face the Washington Mystics (10-10) at 12 p.m. on Sunday, July 12. Seattle and Washington have split the two-game season series thus far.
