May 25, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Wilson official basketball with WNBA logo goes through the net during the game between the LA Sparks and the Las Vegas Aces at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
How well will the Seattle Storm be able to adapt?
After Seattle gave up 56 points in the paint during Sunday’s 93-86 loss at Connecticut, Storm coach Noelle Quinn said her team’s conditioning needs to step up when the teams meet again Tuesday in Uncasville, Connecticut.
“It’s not just about the post-ups,” Quinn told The Seattle Times. “It’s about driving to the rim and offensive rebounding. We’ll start there on defense because that’s not where you need to be.”
Connecticut’s Brionna Jones crushed Seattle on Sunday, scoring a season-high 26 points on 9-of-13 shooting from the field. The forward also grabbed six rebounds, including three offensive rebounds, as the Sun won for the fifth time in their last six games.
“Her skills are incredible,” Connecticut guard Tyasha Harris said.
Both the Sun (24-8) and Storm (19-13) have clinched playoff spots, but Seattle is fighting to regain a top-four seed, which guarantees home-field advantage throughout the best-of-three first round of the eight-team postseason that begins Sept. 22.
The Storm have gone from tied for third to the lone fifth seed amid a 2-5 stretch since returning from the month-long Olympic break. They enter Tuesday’s final a game down on the Las Vegas Aces for the final home-court advantage spot.
“We had a lot of Olympians, including myself,” said Quinn, who served as a senior assistant for the Canadian women’s national team at the Paris Olympics.
“This is a long season. There is some truth to that, but there are no excuses. We have to get back to playing the way we did before the break.”
Jewell Loyd has done it for Seattle, averaging 22.3 points per game since helping Team USA win gold in Paris. The 10-year point guard’s 20.6-point scoring average this season ranks fourth in the WNBA.
Connecticut, meanwhile, doesn’t have the same go-to scorer that the Storm has in Loyd. The Sun, on the other hand, rely on a balanced cast that includes six players averaging double figures, led by forward DeWanna Bonner and her 15.8 points per game.
“I like the fact that if someone has a day where they’re not in shape, we have another player that can come in and fill the void,” Connecticut coach Stephanie White said. “… We’ve pretty much solidified an eight-man rotation and we’re going to continue to grow on that.”
The second-place Sun enter Tuesday 2 1/2 games behind the New York Liberty.
–Field level media
