Jewell Loyd

Seattle Storm Game Review: Aces High

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The Seattle Storm’s new “Big Three”

After being outscored 19-10 in the fourth quarter, the Seattle Storm were able to hang on for a 101-74 win Thursday night against the Las Vegas Aces.

The Storm broke a WNBA record by hitting 17 three-pointers, which came on just 26 attempts. It was that kind of night for Seattle as the team could hardly put a foot wrong. Jewell Loyd scored 20 points, her fifth straight 20-point scoring game, while Breanna Stewart led the team with 21 points.

A’ja Wilson was excellent on offense (21 points), but the Aces continued to struggle with three-point shooting. Las Vegas was 1-of-9 from beyond the arc.

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Seattle Storm Game Review: Let’s Never Speak of This Again

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Screen Shot 2018-05-30 at 10.47.13 AMThe Seattle Storm are now riding a four-game winning streak after defeating the Washington Mystics 81-77 on Tuesday night.

Laboring to a close victory over a full-strength Mystics squad would’ve been a nice result for Seattle. Washington, instead, was without Elena Delle Donne and Natasha Cloud, while Tayler Hill is still recovering from a torn ACL. The Mystics had an opportunity to tie the game in the final seconds and force overtime.

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Seattle Storm Game Review(s): That’s Called a Winning Streak

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Big mood

The Seattle Storm moved to 3-1 on the weekend with wins over the Chicago Sky and Las Vegas Aces.

Seattle outscored Chicago 25-14 in the fourth quarter Friday night to force overtime and eventually prevail 95-91. The Storm’s game against the Aces was the direct inverse, as they found themselves trying to protect a late lead against a surging Vegas squad. The Storm held on for a 105-98 victory despite giving up 63 points in the second half.

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Seattle Storm Game Review: Griner Denied

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I’ve made a huge mistake

The Seattle Storm earned their first win of the 2018 season Wednesday night against the Phoenix Mercury, beating the Mercury 87-71 on the road.

Jewell Loyd was the game’s leading scorer, dropping 29 points on 9-of-14 shooting. She was also a perfect 10-of-10 from the charity stripe. Loyd’s big night helped offset an uneven performance from Breanna Stewart, who narrowly missed out on a double-double (nine points, 11 rebounds) but had four turnovers and shot 3-of-12.

Defensively, the Storm did well to limit Phoenix’s supporting cast. Brittney Griner and Diana Taurasi had 18 and 23 points, respectively, but DeWanna Bonner (nine points) was the team’s next-highest scorer.

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Seattle Storm Game Review: Scorcher VI

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Here we go again, again

The Seattle Storm opened their 2018 WNBA season with an 87-82 defeat to the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday night in a game that offered reasons for optimism while also serving as a reminder of the team’s flaws.

Breanna Stewart filled up the stat sheet with 22 points, 15 rebounds, two assists, two steals and three blocks. Jordin Canada had a nice WNBA debut, finishing with nine points, one assist and four steals. Jewell Loyd struggled to get going, though, shooting 3-of-11 from the field to score 10 points.

The Storm had an opportunity to force overtime late in the fourth quarter. They inbounded the ball down 85-82 with 3.2 seconds remaining in regulation, but Stewart stepped out of bounds to give the ball back to Phoenix and extinguish any comeback attempt.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of the game.

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Seattle Storm Game Preview: May 20 vs. Phoenix Mercury

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When you’re ready for the season opener

The interminable wait is nearly over, as the Seattle Storm are set to open the 2018 WNBA regular season and continue what feels like a best-of-57 series with the Phoenix Mercury.

The Storm and Mercury have seen a lot of each other lately. Phoenix bounced Seattle out of the playoffs last year, and the two teams had a pair of preseason games earlier this month. And after Sunday’s game at KeyArena, they turn right around for a rematch Wednesday at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

Playing the Mercury not once but twice this early into the season can be both good and bad for the Storm.

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What’s the Seattle Storm’s Bar for Success in 2018?

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Where do you realistically set expectations for a team coming off back-to-back playoff appearances but still hasn’t had a winning season since 2011?

“It’s time to start winning,” Breanna Stewart said during the Storm’s media day, per the Seattle Times‘ Percy Allen. “I don’t want to come off as crass or cocky or anything like that, but losing sucks. It does. That’s just how I feel about it. And, no, I won’t ever get used to it. I can’t. That’s not how I’m wired.”

The Storm certainly intimated as much, too, when they hired Dan Hughes. They could’ve opted for a first-year head coach who would need a few seasons to grow into the role. Instead, Seattle chose a 16-year veteran who has the third-most wins (237) of any coach in WNBA history.

It’s not a title-or-bust kind of season for the Storm, but 18-20 wins are probably the minimum requirement to avoid another disappointing campaign.

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Seattle Storm 2018 WNBA Season Preview

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Doppler

A little over eight months after their 2017 season ended at the hands of the Phoenix Mercury, the Seattle Storm will open their 2018 campaign at home May 20 against Phoenix.

Before that, the Storm and Mercury will meet twice for a pair of preseason games in May.

To some extent, Seattle’s disappointing first-round playoff exit may benefit the team this year. The Storm could be the biggest post-hype sleeper in the WNBA.

Mechelle Voepel of espnW.com and Brian Martin of WNBA.com both listed Seattle at No. 5 in their preseason power rankings in 2017. Expectations were high, and the Storm got fans even more excited with a 4-1 start to the regular season. Then came a humbling 100-77 defeat to the Minnesota Lynx at KeyArena, and things were never the same for Seattle.

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Will Jewell Loyd Take the All-Star Leap in 2018?

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Since the Seattle Storm’s reboot truly commenced in 2015, no player has been more confounding than Jewell Loyd.

In some sense, Loyd is a microcosm for the Storm as a whole over the last three years; the results have been promising, but at the same time you can’t help but feel there’s a boatload of potential we’ve yet to see materialize.

Loyd averaged 17.7 points and 3.4 assists, and she shot a career-high 38.6 percent from beyond the arc in 2017. She was second on the team in player efficiency rating (19.1) and net rating (2.9) and third in win shares (2.8).

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The Biggest Offseason Questions Ahead for the Seattle Storm

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No WNBA team may face more pressure to upgrade this offseason than the Seattle Storm. There are no more excuses should the Storm fail to at least earn a home game in the opening round of the playoffs.

Heading into the 2017 campaign, both espnW.com’s Mechelle Voepel and WNBA.com’s Brian Martin ranked Seattle fifth in their preseason power rankings.

But the 2017 season was nothing short of a disaster. Firing Jenny Boucek in the middle of the year provided momentary relief, but it couldn’t prevent the seemingly inevitable first-round exit—this time at the hands of the Phoenix Mercury.

It was a fitting coda to a disappointing year. Brittney Griner had 23 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks, while the Storm scored 19 points outside of their big three (Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd and Sue Bird). All season long, Seattle struggled to guard elite post scorers, and the team’s lack of depth behind Stewart, Loyd and Bird was glaring.

More of the same in 2018 would mean wasting another year of Stewart and Loyd’s development—as well as what’s left of Bird’s playing career. It shouldn’t be a stretch to say general manager/team president Alisha Valavanis should also be out of a job. At some point, the front office has to point to more than just selecting Loyd and Stewart first overall in 2015 and 2016.

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