Instant Takeaways: Storm Swept By Fire in Season Series
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Seattle Storm forward Dominique Malonga assesses the floor in an 84-82 loss to the Portland Fire on Friday, Aug. 14, at Climate Pledge Arena. Credit: Courtesy of Seattle Storm [/caption]
The Seattle Storm erased a double-digit first-half deficit but couldn’t roll it into a second straight victory in an 84-82 loss to the Portland Fire on Friday, Aug. 14, at Climate Pledge Arena.
Portland (14-20) was led by a season-high 20 points from Holly Winterburn off the bench, and the Fire also got 14 points each from starters Bridget Carleton, Megan DiLeo and Carla Leite.
Seattle (7-29) couldn’t roll its momentum from Monday’s win into another victory. Dominique Malonga had a rough shooting night, scoring nine points on 3-of-15 shooting. Awa Fam scored a team-high 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Storm.
Here’s what we learned from the Storm’s 13th loss in their last 15 games.
What went well
The Storm won major statistical battles, including in total rebounds, offensive rebounds, turnovers and field goals attempted.
Considering they trailed by 12 at halftime, the Storm were right in it until the very end. It was never closer than at the very end, however, as a Natisha Hiedeman 3-pointer landed with 6.6 seconds remaining to make it a one-point game.
A missed free throw by the Fire allowed the Storm to attempt just a two to try and tie the game at the buzzer, but Hiedeman was off on a last-second attempt.
There are positives there. The Storm tend to fizzle out in the last few minutes of the game, which is why they can’t finish a long-attempted comeback or hold onto a late lead. This situation was the opposite, where the surge came just a little too late.
Too often, the Storm get their last gasp in the late third or early fourth quarters. This came later and was nearly enough to unseat the Fire’s advantage. Even though it didn’t hit that mark, it’s better to have it to the buzzer than have it fizzle out midway through the final period.
What went bad
Seattle was extremely inefficient from the field, posting their worst shooting percentage as a team (33%) since June 1 against the Dallas Wings (32.8%). It was their second-worst shooting night of the season, and their first below even 40% since June 20.
Credit has to go to the Fire — they played a lights-out defensive game and stopped the Storm from doing almost anything they wanted to do on offense. But it was also just an especially ugly game from Seattle, especially with Malonga’s poor evening.
The Storm might have won this game if Malonga was even slightly efficient. After Fam, Ezi Magbegor led the team with 13 points, which was a season-high for the fifth-highest-paid player in the WNBA.
They were outpaced in assists by four and simply didn’t play team basketball. It’s hard to win games at the bottom-barrel of the league when you can’t execute enough of your designed plays.
Johnson still out
Flau’jae Johnson missed her second straight game with an ankle injury, putting Jordan Horston in the lineup for another game. Horston, though she didn’t shoot efficiently, logged her first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds.
That’s a building block, but only if the Storm keep Horston around in 2027. Based on the body of work throughout the campaign, that seems unlikely at this point.
Up next
The Storm were swept by the Fire in the season series, and they will stay home for a game against the Chicago Sky at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 16, at Climate Pledge Arena.
Seattle is 1-1 against Chicago this season, winning their only game since July 9 against the Sky on Aug. 10. This will be another opportunity to get back in the win column after a disappointing loss.
