The Seattle Storm dropped both their games this week and now stand at 1-3 on the season. Wednesday’s game at Toronto was highly competitive until Toronto used some hot 3-point shooting to pull away late and win 86-73. Sunday’s game at Indiana, however, was never closer than 9 after the opening minutes. With Dominique Malonga missing due to a concussion, Seattle just did not have the talent or especially the size to compete, though they did fight gamely to pull back within 11 at the end, losing 89-78. The Storm now return to Climate Pledge Arena for a 4-game homestand, with 2 games each against the Sun (who they already beat and who are the only winless team left in the league) and the Mystics (who are the youngest team in the league).
The Storm continued to be a very balanced offense in week 2, with 6 different players scoring between 20 and 26 points. Jade Melbourne led the team for the second week in a row with those 26, though Dom had 21 in her one game this week and leads the team in points per game. Jade also led the team in assists, also for the second week in a row, but my pick for player of the week is Flau’jae Johnson. Flau’jae, at just 5’10”, stepped up and led the team in not only rebounds (with 12), but also in blocks (with 5!). She wasn’t particularly efficient shooting the ball this week, needing 21 shots to score 21 points, but I am giving her bonus points for making a side trip to Baton Rouge on Saturday to walk at her graduation from LSU.
Toronto Tempo Game
The Storm offense looked good early against the expansion Toronto Tempo, with Natisha Hiedeman feeding a couple of beautiful passes into Dom in the post, plus Dom and Stephanie Dolson each hitting multiple 3’s. That 3-point shot is definitely a thing Dom worked on in the off-season and it was a great sign to see a couple go down (in fact it was the first game of her W career with multiple 3-point makes). However, Toronto was able to force some turnovers and claim a lead of their own by the end of the first quarter.
The Storm won the 2nd quarter and had a 1-point lead at the half, largely because the Tempo had no answer for Dom. Jade Melbourne also looked good off the bench once again, leaving Maria Conde in the dust on one particularly savage cross-over as she continued to rampage toward the basket.
The game stayed close until the middle of the 4th quarter, but in the end the Storm could not survive a barrage of 3-pointers from Marina Mabrey and Maria Conde. Mabrey in particular can be one of the most explosive offensive players in the game when she gets hot, and she was 6 for 11 from distance in this game. The final score looks somewhat ugly at 86-73, but this was still a 4-point game halfway through the 4th quarter (when Mabrey promptly hit a pair of triples and led her team to an 11-2 closing kick). Turnovers were the Storm’s other problem in this game as they gave up 26 points on 19 of them while only scoring 14 points off Toronto’s 12 turnovers
Following up on last week’s conversation about the new points of emphasis for WNBA referees, this game featured quite a few illegal screen calls but not a lot of fouls overall. In addition, it was over less than two hours after it began, so maybe the refs have begun adjusting. However, Dom mentioned in her post-game interview that she felt she got beat up pretty badly in the game, which surprised her given the alleged emphasis on removing physicality from the game. In a directly related note, Dom went into concussion protocols after the game having hit her head on the court after a rough fall during the 4th quarter.
Indiana Fever Game
Dom missed this game while in concussion protocols. (She had finished that Toronto game, though, so that’s … not great.) With Dom out the Storm started Jade Melbourne, who has been tremendous off the bench in all 3 games this season, while sliding Jordan Horston into their power forward slot. With Indiana’s star center Aliyah Boston missing the first game of her WNBA career due to a lower leg injury, the Storm may have figured they could get away with going small. Realistically, though, they just figured Jade was the best player on their bench and deserved a chance to start.
It did not work and they got beaten 18-4 on points in the paint in the 1st quarter. That particular stat got a little better as the game went along (they lost 50-30 for the game), but they never really threatened to make it a close game. That said, there were several things the Storm could feel good about after this game: 1) T (aka Natisha Hiedeman) had her best game of the season, including 19 points and 3 for 6 shooting from 3-point range. 2) You do also have to give the Storm credit for holding on to the rope and fighting back after several Indiana runs. 3) Turnovers had been a big problem in previous games, but the Storm only had 8 of them this time around. It probably helps that the Fever are a team that prides itself on their offense, not their defense, but it was still nice to see the Storm take such good care of the ball.
This was somewhat of a homecoming for Mackenzie Holmes, who starred for Indiana University in college and wore an Indiana football national champs shirt as her pre-game fit. With Dom out, she and Grace VanSlooten both got a lot of playing time. Interestingly, despite being a rookie it was Grace who was the one who came into the game first and Grace also played the most minutes (18 to 10), putting up a nice fantasy-friendly line of 5-2-3-2-2.
Roster Update
The Storm signed Taylor Thierry to a development squad deal, filling their second slot. Thierry was drafted in the 3rd round last year by Atlanta after a solid 4-year career as a wing for Ohio State where she was particularly known for her defense. Thierry made the Dream squad last year, but mostly only played in garbage time. This year she was one of their last cuts coming out of training camp. With the Dream focusing on winning now, it makes sense to me that they wouldn’t have room to develop her, whereas the Storm might be a good fit.
One intriguing aspect of this signing is what it means for the players currently on the Storm’s main roster. They’ve been carrying 13 because they don’t have to cut down to 12 until Awa Fam finishes her overseas commitments and reports to the team. Once she does, the expectation has been that the second spot on the dev team would go to whoever gets cut (assuming they clear waivers). This year’s 3rd round pick – Grace VanSlooten – seemed the obvious candidate, though she seems like she might have moved above Mackenzie Holmes in the rotation lately. It’s hard to imagine they would bring in Thierry only to replace her a week or two later, so now it seems that Awa Fam’s arrival will just result in a cut. VanSlooten and Holmes fill a similar role (young, undersized big but with enough skill to be effective at times anyway) so probably the team just picks one to keep. In addition to being 4 years younger, VanSlooten has shown a 3-point shot that Mack doesn’t have so she would be my guess. However, with Ezi still injured and Dom out with a concussion, maybe 31-year old Lexie Brown enters the conversation. Lexie looked amazing when she got hot against Connecticut, but with just 3 total points scored across her other three games while leading the team in turnovers, it’s not insane to imagine the Storm cutting her and keeping both of those young post prospects for now.
The Storm waived Grace VanSlooten between me writing and publication. Apparently she had moved ahead of Mack in the rotation just so the Storm could get a closer look at her. She did look good in stretches and turned a few heads with some nice play, but apparently that was not enough to climb above Mack on the depth chart. Cutting Grace opens up the roster spot they need in order to activate Awa Fam (see below). Cue the wringing of hands from her fans as Mackenzie Holmes fans breathe a sigh of relief. Meanwhile the Storm could still sign Grace to a dev spot, but only a) if she clears waivers and also b) if they cut either Taina Mair or Taylor Thierry as there is a max of 2 developmental roster spots.
Congrats to Awa!
Speaking of Awa Fam’s overseas commitments, she helped Valencia sweep the finals of the Spanish League 2-0 on Sunday. Down 1 with 25 seconds left Valencia needed a stop and a score, and that’s exactly what they got. Awa Fam started, played 23 minutes and had 6 points and 4 rebounds (hitting a pair of 3-pointers in 5 attempts, while attempting zero 2-point shots). She also set the pick on the pick-and-roll that turned into the buzzer-beating, championship-winning basket. (This result also means Leonie Fiebich and Raquel Carrera are both free to join the New York Liberty now. Fiebich will start for them so this is a big deal for the Liberty.)
Last year when Dominique Malonga’s French team played beyond the beginning of the Storm’s training camp, they told Dom to take some time off before flying to Seattle. Head coach Sonia Raman said on Sunday that she looked forward to having Awa in Seattle “soon” but I wouldn’t be surprised if it takes her as long as a week to actually get here.
Around the W
Every team in the WNBA has already lost a game. None of them could manage to get to even 3-0. In addition, every team but one (Connecticut) has already won a game as well. Is this a result of parity? Is it a result of teams scrambling to put their rosters together at the last minute after the CBA was finally signed? Is it that some key players haven’t begun to play yet (due to injuries or overseas commitments)? Is it that the W’s relatively short training camps always leave teams still figuring out who they are in the early weeks of the season? Honestly I’m sure all 4 play some role, but I do also think this is shaping up to be a hard-fought season where a lot of teams are evenly matched.
Maybe 2-3 teams will eventually run away from the pack. (Vegas would be a great candidate for this if they hadn’t lost their opener by 33 points (!!) to Phoenix. Probably that’s just a fluke that we can chalk up to the emotions of ring night as Vegas has looked deeper than they have ever been while winning 4 road games since then.) But how many teams are you sure won’t make the playoffs right now? 0-4 Connecticut looks like they are headed to the lottery, but everyone else has shown us a little something that they could build on. The Tempo already have 2 wins while the Fire have one over the Liberty. The Mystics are 2-1 with a win against the Fever. Seattle would probably be the next worst team in a power ranking, but even they should get significantly better once they get their 3-headed post monster online. I think half the playoff spots could come down to the last week or two of the season and half the league could still be in contention for them.
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