The Storm had a real problem in this game, they could not get a rebound to save their lives. At one point during the game I think the Atlanta Dream were out rebounding them something like 40-20, which is wild as hell! The Dream kept getting second chance points and thus kept the game close through the first half, which ended with the Storm just up 2 points. This led to me being forced to gird myself for yet another close game (dear boss of all Seattle sports, are we cursed to only have close games now? Between the Storm and the Seahawks my old disgusting heart is being ruined). The Storm came out in the second half with a very novel solution to this rebounding issue, simply stop creating rebounds by making a shit ton of buckets. The Storm shot a not quite molten but still you probably do not want to touch it with bare hands level of heat 54/54/81 on all shots last night. That stratagem worked about as well as it could because the Storm sauntered off the court with a 24 point win and I could fucking relax for a damn minute.
Not to say it was all a delightful experience, the Storm’s pick and roll defense was at times The Vision, you know from Marvel’s WandaVision that was somehow inspired by BlacKKKlansman(?), level intangible at best. There was a stretch where the Dream players rolling to the hoop looked like they were doing layup drills. I know that there are still lots of new players and they need to integrate into a new system and blah blah blah but we’re ten games into the season and it seems like this might just be a problem. I do have one completely galaxy brained take on this though; much of the Storm’s offense is built to beat regular pick and roll defense with the extra pass, which is honestly euphorically joyous to watch when it works, and in practice they run their defense against that said same offense. I think this leads the defense to play the pick and roll as if they were playing a mirror version of themselves, waiting for the second pass and leaving that first pass wide open as hell. It can also lead to the help on those pick and rolls being a touch late, there was at least one possession where the big coming over to help waited just a moment thinking the roller would make that second pass. That moment of hesitation led to that roller getting position so deep that it didn’t matter that the help arrived because they were at the basket. Obviously this wasn’t a huge problem this game, something to monitor though.
All in all this game was a delight! Three pointers all over the place, sick as hell interior passing, Jewell Loyd continuing to make the case that she’s a total boss, and no starter outside of Stewie playing more than 26 minutes. This was a great win and central nervous system appreciates that.
BRAIN DRIZZLES
Is Noell Quinn reading this substack? Because tonight she took my advice to keep one of the Bird/Loyd/Stewart cerberus on the court at all times (minus the garbage times, which we thankfully got to see tonight) and ran with it. If you are reading right now, Noelle, feel free to subscribe! Obviously, Noelle Quinn is much smarter than I, your humble Storm substacker, and came to the conclusion that a full bench group on the floor was not cutting it after the first 9 games of the season.
Katie Lou Samuelson’s shooting finally returned from whatever baggage carousel it was left on when she got back to the states and it had excellent knock on effects for the whole roster. Pushing Stephanie Talbot to the bench gives that second unit a real outside threat and a check against defenses packing the paint like a bunch of people who work in a paint company canning plant (I do not know much about the international paint supply chain obviously).
We are now officially on Sue Bird Gets to 3000 Assists Watch with last night’s 6 dimes giving her 2950 for her career. I’ve got the Storm’s home game against the Sparks on July 7th in the office pool (the office is my kitchen table and my co-workers are my partner who lives with me and the various birds who come to our bird feeder neither of whom really cares when Sue Bird gets to 3000 assists so I think I’m going to win this one) a moment which would be cool as hell.
THAT’S ALL FOR NOW, see you after the second match-up against the Dream on Friday Night!