Storm Week 12: Half Full or Half Empty?

It would be easy to see the cup as half-empty right now. After all, the Storm dropped two more clutch games this week, have a 6-game losing streak, and the worst record in the W at 6-23.

However, I genuinely don’t think they had a bad week. I think the cup is half full because they went toe-to-toe with the best team in the W, the Minnesota Lynx, and both games were 1-possession games with about 2 minutes left. Five of the 6 opponents on this losing streak are in position to make the playoffs and 5 of the the 6 games have been close late. Despite their last place record, the Storm have been playing like a middle-of-the-pack team. They’re a lot better than they were two months ago, and there’s a lot of reasons to be excited about the future, even if they don’t yet know how to close games.

Monday: Storm lose yet another heartbreaker

First of all, a hat tip to the Storm graphics team for having a familiar-looking raccoon image ready to run across the bottom of the jumbotron whenever the Storm hit one from deep, holding a sign in its mouth that said “Jimo-three.” The Storm were red hot in this game, so they had fully 13 chances to use it, and I smiled every time I noticed. 

Second, I was looking forward to seeing Olivia Miles in person in this game, and she was even more ridiculous than I was imagining. 32, 8, and 8 is a crazy line. Lynx beat reporter @willragatz points out it’s only the 7th time anyone has had that line (or better) in the history of the W, and the first time with only 1 turnover. No one could stay in front of her or figure out where she was going to pass it. If A’ja Wilson didn’t exist, she’d be on track for the Rookie of the Year. MVP double that has only been done once, by Candance Parker. To top it all off she was spotted at legendary local burger joint Dick’s Drive-In after the game. The hair, the goggles… just exquisite vibes all the way around. Am I allowed to have a favorite player who doesn’t play for my favorite team?

This game was good, and the Storm mostly looked good. They were taking on the literal best team in the league and went toe to toe the whole way. Yes, they lost another clutch game, their 4th clutch game in a row, all losses, but it’s hard to feel too bad about this one. I hope the team will be able to review specific plays and learn what could have gone better rather than dwelling on yet another loss. The biggest play of the game came with 21 seconds left when they had the ball down 1, and they failed to inbound it cleanly leading directly to a turnover. That was not good, but pair that with the final play of the game where the Storm got the ball down 3 and had just 4 seconds to go the length of the court and try to get up a 3 to send things to overtime. They executed that play beautifully and got Flau’jae a shockingly wide-open 3, but she just missed it. 

Flau’jae had a great game despite missing that final shot and getting to take that final shot can be nothing but good for her long-term development. She put up 26 points on 7 for 11 shooting (5 for 8 from 3-point range) and she’s now gone for 23+ points in 5 of her last 10 games after scoring no more than 17 points in her first 18. Her shooting percentage in these last 10 games is 43.7% whereas it was sitting at 36.9% before that Liberty win where she put up 28. This might just be a small sample size streak where I have chosen the end points conveniently, but I do believe we’re already starting to see improvement thanks to all the reps she got early in the season.

Zia Cooke also had a good game, and once she hit a couple of 3’s early, Sonia stuck with her to the tune of 28 minutes and 18 points.

Wednesday: Another Storm comeback comes up short

The Storm played the Lynx pretty much even in the first half, winning the first quarter by 4 but losing the second quarter by 3. Dom looked like the best player in the game even though Napheesa Collier was back on the court, with the Storm successfully feeding her inside for quite a few easy buckets. Dom wound up 9 for 13 on the game for 21 points plus threw in 9 rebounds and 4 blocks as well. Awa Fam also looked good and put up the first double-double of her career, with two blocks as well.

The Storm were not nearly as hot from 3 as they were on Monday, and wound up shooting just 5 for 32 (16%) from distance in the game. However, they out rebounded the Lynx 41-36 to make up for some of that. Ultimately, turnovers were once again a major problem for the Storm. Eighteen turnovers was just too many, especially when several were quite bad and led directly to Lynx points.

The Lynx took a decent lead in the 3rd quarter, going up by as many as 11. However, the Storm fought valiantly in the 4th and cut the lead all the way down to just 1 point when Flau’jae converted a steal directly into a layup with 1:42 left in the game. Unfortunately, those were the last points the Storm scored. 

Player of the week

It was another week where Flau’jae was the best player in one game and Dom was in the other. This week, I’m gonna go with Dom.

Next Two Weeks

I’m off on a 2-week vacation so no article from me next week.

The Storm will host the Fever Tuesday before heading on the road for a game against the Dream. The week after next, the Storm play a pair of games against the Liberty at Barclay’s Center (the first of which I’ll be watching in person during my vacation) and then wind up their road trip trying to finally get a W on the scoreboard in the third installment of the rivalry series against Portland.