(Photo credit: Nate Small of smallworld-206-Photography.Merlin-Site.com)
Back on the court after their first win all month, the (7-29) Storm were defending their court against the (14-20) Portland Fire in the second game of their three-game home stand. Even though the Storm are 1-0 without star rookie Flau’Jae Johnson, they are 0-3 vs the Fire this season. Johnson will miss only the second game of her young career with a sore ankle.
In Johnson’s absence, the Fire’s Holly Winterburn had a career night. Starting with an individual 12-0 run late in the first quarter. Winterburn would finish that quarter with 16 points and 18 points in the first half. As they have so many times this season, the Storm showed some resolve and overcame another double-digit deficit to get back into this game.
“They do a good job with their full‑court defense. They’re trying to get you out of rhythm — whether it’s end‑of‑quarter situations or pressure after a dead ball. It bothered us early; five of our eight first‑half turnovers came in the first quarter,” said Storm head coach Sonia Raman. “Once we settled in, we handled it better, but that high‑pressure defense is designed to turn you over.”
The Storm shot 22 percent from deep and 30 percent from the floor in that first half, as compared to the 43 percent and 32 percent for the Fire. The Fire had three players in double digits in the first half: Bridget Carleton (10), Megan DiLeo (11), and Holly Winterburn (18). Jordan Horston carried the scoring load for the Storm in that initial half, scoring eight points on three of seven shooting while pulling down seven rebounds. Yet, her defense early on was more important than her scoring and rebounds.
Things appear to have evened out in the second half; the Storm stopped turning the ball over, enabling them to go on a 10-2 run to open the third. Ezi Magbegor drew a foul while shooting a bank shot off the glass, pulling the Storm within three points on a traditional three-point play, though the Fire answered right back when Carla Leite drained one of her two three-pointers on the night. The Storm scored 18 points in the third quarter to narrow the Fire lead to eight points to start the fourth.
As we all know, this is a game of runs. On July 4th, this Fire team held the Storm to eight for twenty-nine from three-point range. On Friday night vs the Fire, the Storm shot 30.7 percent from deep through three quarters. They would finish on somewhat of a flurry to make this game close; however, even with their 35 percent shooting from deep, it wouldn’t matter in the long run.
“I thought we got really good looks across the board — high shot quality. We hit 14 threes. The difference in the game was our paint finishing: 12‑for‑39,” Raman mentioned. “In every other category we were successful, but we didn’t finish in the paint. Sometimes that happens; you turn the page and be better next time.”
Storm fans finally got to see their trio of bigs play at the same time. While on a 14-4 run without Domingue Malonga in the game, coach Raman finally put her back in the game with 1:25 remaining. Why Raman has resisted forcing opponents to match up to their 6’6” Malonga, scored nine points and pulled down 12 rebounds, 6’5” Magbegor, who led the Stom with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including shooting 50 percent from the three-point line, and a 6’4” Fam, led Seattle with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including 4-for-8 from the three-point line, frontcourt remains unclear.
(Photo credit Nate Small of smallworld-206-Photography.Merlin-Site.com)
“It was cool. We’re obviously very tall — even though they list me at 6’6″, which I’m not, but I’ll take it. Defensively, we’re a big presence, and offensively it’s harder for teams to guard us because Awa is shooting well and we’re all mobile bigs,” Magbegor said when asked about her thoughts on the three-big lineups. “It gives a different look. I love playing with Awa and Dom, and hopefully we can use that lineup more moving forward.”
“We do want to get to that lineup. Tonight was a good opportunity — get Dom back in, use her length, and have multiple players who can switch and create activity,” Raman said of the reason she tested that lineup, but remained non-committal about the future of this lineup. “It’s a small sample size, especially late‑game, so I’m not taking too much from it, but they made it work.”
With their record being what it is, why wouldn’t they run with Malonga, Magbegor, and Fam, Flau’Jae Johnson, and Jade Melborne or Natisha Hiedeman. Few teams in the WNBA would be able to match up with the size this lineup presents. Raman herself mentioned that their “length” and ability to “switch and create activity” are attributes that make the Storm uniquely indefensible.
The Storm takes on the Portland Fire at Climate Pledge Arena on Friday, Aug. 14. Tipoff is at 7 p.m. PT and will be broadcast nationally on ION. The Sky will take on the Golden State Valkyries on Wednesday night, before returning to Seattle to play the Storm again and finish off their three-game road trip.
The Storm hosts the Chicago Sky on Sunday, Aug. 16 at 2 p.m. PT. The matchup will be broadcast locally on KOMO and CW Seattle and available to stream on Prime for users in Washington state. The Fire will travel to Phoenix to take on the Mercury on Sunday afternoon as well.
Share your thoughts on the Seattle Storm with me at https://x.com/whatsgoodnsport.
