Storm Week 11: Struggles on the Road

The Storm dropped two more clutch games last week, limping home from a 1-4 road trip at 6-21 overall, the worst record in the league. It’s actually 3 clutch game losses in a row now, and they are 1-10 in clutch games for the season. If you just look at games that were within 5 at the final buzzer, it’s actually 0-10.

I thought they were decent down the stretch against Indiana, but Caitlin Clark was just better. Against Chicago and Washington, however, late struggles on offense, whether turnovers or just bad shots, doomed them. I guess it’s good that the young core is getting experience with these situations, but you’d like to see them learn lessons, improve, and win a couple of these.

Wednesday: Big comeback against Chicago comes up just short

This was a camp day game, which meant it tipped off at 9 AM Pacific time. Most teams do this once a summer; they have a game start at 11 AM or noon local time and fill it with kids from assorted summer camps as a way to introduce them to the W. They tend to be full of ear-piercing screams and mediocre play, as most players aren’t used to playing a game that early in the morning. In this game, it felt like the Storm defense slept through their alarm as they gave up 55 points in the first half. Part of the problem could be that Chicago hit more 3s than they usually do, but any half where you let the other team shoot 60% from the field is not a good look for your defense.

Dom also looked like she overslept and was visibly frustrated as she kept missing shots from about 5 feet away. At one point early in the 3rd quarter, she was 2 for 10 in the box score, but it was actually worse than that because she also missed 4 shots where she was fouled and could have gotten an and-1. Those don’t count as a field goal attempt unless you make it.

I actually liked Dom’s shot selection a lot—early in the season she was taking a lot of fadeaway shots, and I love how much more aggressive she has gotten at making moves toward the rim. Hopefully her hard work and talent will eventually result in higher efficiency on this new-and-improved shot diet. She wound up with 16 points and 12 rebounds in this game, which sounds decent, but 6 for 16 from the field isn’t great and 4 for 9 from the free-throw line is quite bad. The energy and the effort were there, so mostly I want to chalk this performance up to it being a camp day and/or some foul trouble preventing her from getting into a good rhythm.

The big story in this game was a massive Storm comeback in the middle of the fourth quarter. The Storm trailed by as many as 14, but a 9-0 run cut the lead to 2 points with about 4 minutes left. From there, the Storm offense went miss, turnover, turnover, miss and suddenly they were down 6 with 1 minute left. 9 missed free throws during this game certainly hurt as they shot 61% on 21 attempts, but those four blank possessions were ultimately what decided things.

One thing the Storm did well in this game was rebound the basketball. It certainly helped that the Sky’s starting center Kamilla Cardoso missed the game with a sore knee, but a season-high 45 rebounds was still nice to see. I would normally expect them to win any game where they outrebounded their opponent by 16. However, Chicago’s uncharacteristic 11-made 3 pointers offset that and added up to a game that was close late.

Friday: Storm drop wildly entertaining game to Caitlin Clark and the Fever

In the history of the WNBA, no one had ever scored 40 points and gotten 10 assists in the same game—until now. Caitlin Clark went for 45 and 10 in this game, setting not just a career high for herself with those 45 points but also a franchise record. The last month was a real slog for Caitlin as injuries have slowed her down and the joy has all but disappeared from her game. Friday night, she seemed to be fully back. That’s great for the league as games are more fun when she’s on her game, though less great for the Storm who were up 6 with 5 minutes left.

Aliyah Boston sat this game out to rest a lower leg injury in the first half of a back-to-back. The Storm took full advantage of the gaping hole in the paint where her defensive presence used to be and set a new franchise record for points in the paint. Dom went for 28 and 14 and all five starters scored at least 15. Dom did also have 6 turnovers and missed a couple of decent looks late, but then again, she also hit multiple buckets down the stretch.

Kelsey Mitchell started red hot and the Storm were down 17 at one point in the second quarter, but they managed to cut it to 3 by halftime. Awa Fam got hot in the 3rd quarter, hitting 4 3 pointers, including 3 in a row on consecutive possessions, causing the Storm to lead by 6 as the final quarter began. Unlike the last two games, I thought the Storm were better during clutch time. They certainly weren’t perfect, with a shot clock violation and a couple too many misses to keep up with the Fever, but they did score 11 points in the last 5 minutes. The problem was that the Fever scored 20.

Both Sonia and Dom complained in their post-game comments about the number of free throws Caitlin got to shoot in this game: she was 17 for 19. Only 5 players in the last 8 years have gotten to shoot that many. (A hat tip to @RichardCohen1 for that stat.) It did seem like a pretty friendly whistle for Indiana. Their real complaint, however, was not that Caitlin got too many, but why did Dom only get to shoot 2? She shot 22 times and 19 of those were in the paint where there is often at least some contact. Just one foul call does look light in retrospect.

The Storm weren’t perfect but, in my opinion, they didn’t blow this one. They made their fair share of plays down the stretch but Caitlin made more. It was very reminiscent of the Dallas game—a thrilling battle against a playoff-bound team where the Storm held their own, including down the stretch, but came up one possession short. And this one was on the road, too. Our record is now the worst in the league, but it’s misleading given that we’re 1-10 in clutch games. Portland has basically the same point differential as us, but they’re in playoff contention because they’ve won almost all of their close games. Then again, that 18-9 closing kick by the Fever does feel awfully familiar.

Player of the week

Flau’jae was the best player against Chicago and Dom was the best player against Indiana. Each was decent in the other game as well, so this decision comes down to what you value more.

Dom had a few more points (44 – 41), but Flau’jae shot a little better (54.5% – 50.0%). Dom had an amazing 26 rebounds to Flau’jae’s 12, but Flau’jae got her 10-6 on assists, 6-2 on steals, and 2-1 on blocks. Flau’jae’s 5 turnovers weren’t great, but Dom’s 8 were worse, specially since she’s expected to handle the ball less. I’m tempted to choose Dom since she is our best player and that’s an awful lot of rebounds, but steals and turnovers make up for a big chunk of those extra possessions. At the end of the day I do think plus/minus is a stat worth considering, especially as the sample size gets bigger than just one game, and I can’t ignore that Flau’jae was a net +1 across these two games while Dom was -23. Their minutes overlap a lot, so that’s a pretty remarkable difference and it leads me to give this award to Flau’jae this week.

Next week

The good news this week is that the Storm come home for a pair of games at Climate Pledge. The bad news is they are both against the Minnesota Lynx. The week for most of the Storm wraps up on Wednesday, but Dom will still have Saturday’s All Star game left to play. T will also be in action in Chicago: another 72-hour Stud Budz live stream on Twitch is likely to be one of the highlights of the weekend.