After difficult fourth quarter, Seattle Storm face elimination

But it wasn’t enough to finish off the Aces, who beat the Storm, 78-67, holding Seattle to just two fourth-quarter points and placing the Storm in an elimination Game 2 Tuesday night.

Seattle has some very good things they can take away from their opening game but more than anything they need to avoid another disastrous quarter and put together a full 40-minute performance. So how can they do it?

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Seattle Storm defense everywhere

The Storm defense completely stifled the Aces in the first quarter while finding offensive rhythm of their own. A’ja Wilson missed her first six shots before finally converting the seventh, telling media after the game that she was perhaps rushing her shots too much. 

But Wilson wasn’t the only Ace to struggle shooting. Vegas only scored 9 points in the first quarter to Seattle’s 18, their lowest scoring first quarter of the entire season.

Aces head coach Becky Hammon couldn’t quite identify what was off with her team to start the game, though Seattle’s veterans — Gabby Williams, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Nneka Ogwumike — all played the stifling defense they are known for. And there were other big contributors too.

A big factor in the Storm’s strong defense was veteran center Mercedes Russell. The 6’6 former Lady Vol started in place of Defensive Player of the Year candidate Ezi Magbegor as the Australian missed her fourth straight game in concussion protocol. 

Wilson struggled to shoot over Russell’s length and the long-time Storm player did a good job of staying straight up, not fouling. Her rebounding activity was also massive, grabbing 7 of her eventual 12 rebounds in that first quarter.

“I think that’s the biggest thing was the rebounding and the activity, and … the defensive effort,” Storm head coach Noelle Quinn told media postgame. “It was good to see her active, hands up, contesting, getting in a lot of plays and finishing up plays with rebounds… when Cedes is active and able to assert herself and utilize her size we’re better.”

Beyond having to guard Wilson, Russell has also seen her minutes more than double. Coming off the bench throughout the season Russell averaged just 13.5 minutes per game, that has jumped to 27.4 as a starter. While Russell is used to always being ready to step in when her team needs, it doesn’t make the jump much easier.

“Cedes has stepped up to the plate this last couple of weeks. I’m not surprised at all by what she has done in these last few games,” Ogwumike said of Russell following the game. “She might be like the smartest player on our team, and her wisdom is something that lends to great spacing. It lends to understanding schemes and making changes in the middle of the game. And it’s not easy to go double your minutes in such a big way, but I think she’s doing a great job of holding her weight and helping us.”

The terrific news for Seattle is that Magbegor is officially not listed on the injury report for Game 2 and should be available to play. It will be her first game since Sept. 13 against Dallas when she sustained the concussion.

It is unclear how many minutes Magbegor will be able to play after time away — averaging over 30 minutes per game throughout the season — but if Russell can continue to contribute at a similar level that will ideally mitigate any minutes restrictions for Magbegor.

“[I’m] very excited to … add some rim protection to our defense if we have the same defensive effort that we had today in Game 2, to add a little bit more presence, outside, inside,” Quinn said of Megbegor after Game 1. “We’re adding an All Star back into the mix.”

At the same time, Magbegor can’t be considered a fix for all of Seattle’s problems. “I don’t want Ezi to come in thinking she has to be superwoman and have to do everything for us,” Quinn said. “I want her to be exactly who she’s been for us all season and give us a lift.”

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Balanced production a must

Russell also contributed some scoring, but the majority came from Diggins-Smith, who has continued her impressive form since the Olympic break with 16 points and dishing 8 assists Gabby Williams has found her offensive rhythm more recently. The ‘French army knife’, tallying 14 points, hitting 2 of her 4 attempts from deep. 

Comparatively, Vegas’ two top scorers in the game, Wilson and Tiffany Hayes, recorded 21 and 20 points respectively, offsetting the lack of production from Kelsey Plum who only scored 2 points.

Jordon Horston added 10 points off the bench in 18 minutes of game time. The second-year player was efficient scoring in her minutes, also hitting 4-of-4 free throw attempts, but that is not what the team wants Horston prioritizing.

“Jordan’s No. 1 role is to be an elite defender, and everything else that comes with that is bonus and icing on the cake,” Quinn said. “Not saying that she can’t score or that that’s not important for us, because it is — her ability to get downhill, what she’s done with finishing around the rim… but she’s locked into her number one role, and we’re better when she’s in that pocket.”

Meanwhile, Seattle’s leading scorer this season, Jewell Loyd only put up 6 points in 25 minutes, well off her season average of 19.7. In a playoff game it is not unusual to see Loyd play closer to 35 minutes and be particularly important in crunch time hitting big shots, but the two-time WNBA champion was subbed out with 4:07 left and didn’t return to the court. 

Loyd had been ruled out of the previous three games due to a knee injury and playing through that could certainly have affected her performance, but she will need to return to form for the Storm to force a Game 3.

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*That* fourth quarter

For all the things Seattle did well they will unquestionably have to address the fourth quarter that was so disastrous it shocked the players themselves.

Seattle attempted 12 shots in the fourth quarter and missed all of them. Their only 2 points came from Diggins-Smith at the free-throw line. The players didn’t think it was a tactical change that Vegas made that disrupted the offense so thoroughly though.

“I think they had fire and we gassed out,” Ogwumike said. “I think we didn’t step up. We didn’t step up the energy in that fourth quarter for many reasons, but a team like that … there’s no way you’re winning the game with a 2-point quarter.”

Las Vegas did seem to turn up the intensity of their defense. After Ogwumike scored 13 efficient first-half points, the Aces sent a double to the former MVP every time she caught the ball and effectively shut her down. Ogwumike was scoreless in the second half. But Seattle also missed some wide open shots.

“I thought we got a lot of open looks, just gotta knock them down… I even think Nneka’s looks were good. I know she didn’t hit him [but] she was getting the same looks that she got in the first,” Quinn said. “She played hard first of all and gave us her all. And so, I’ll take misses on the offensive end when [what] she had to do defensively for us was tremendous.” 

Despite the offensive struggles, Seattle’s defense remained resolute throughout the game. Holding Las Vegas in check the way the Storm did in the fourth quarter could have been decisive had Seattle found any offensive production at all.

“It’s tough,” Quinn said. “I thought that our defensive effort was there … even though we had 2 [points], they had 14. So, we’re actually doing something decent defensively though it didn’t feel like it.”

So to simplify it: Seattle needs to play four quarters the way the Storm played the first three to keep its season alive.

“I mean, today we experienced a great start, which, to me, has been our Achilles heel the whole season and so we have to be able to finish,” Ogwumike said. “We have to put together four quarters of high energy, and that’s a mindset, not a skill set. So, we’re going to come in with that attitude.” 

Similarly, while the Storm must learn from this game, they also have to forget about it and not let it affect their belief in themselves in Game 2.

“You have to have short term memory. The only thing that we can do with such a short turnaround is to get better through film and address certain things in that capacity. This one’s over, can’t get it back,” Quinn said. “We are in a situation where it’s do or die. Do we extend the series, or do we go home … this one, we have to wash off our backs once we see the film.”