SEATTLE — The disparity in size and experience told the story of the Storm’s historic 105-64 drubbing against Las Vegas.
The Storm came into Saturday’s season opener with the fourth youngest team in the WNBA and a roster comprised of six players who didn’t play in the league last season, including four rookies.
Meanwhile, the defending champion Aces rolled into Climate Pledge Arena with a veteran-laden lineup seemingly poised to capture a second consecutive title, and they hardly missed their coach Becky Hammon, who was serving the first game of a two-game league suspension.
“It’s going to be a work in progress for some teams and some teams are well oiled right now,” Storm coach Noelle Quinn said. “This was a tough challenge for this particular group, but the expectation to always be on point and to outwork, that’s not ever going to change.”
No amount of hustle or grit was going to save the Storm against a Las Vegas team loaded with four WNBA All-Stars from last season.
The discrepancies between the teams were keenly apparent when the Storm paired rookie Jordan Horston against reigning MVP A’ja Wilson.
The former Tennessee star had a several nice moments in her professional debut, including a fake that eluded Wilson before a step-through move for a scoop layup that gave the Climate Pledge Arena crowd of 11,299 a rare chance to cheer late in the second quarter.
More often, the 6-foot-4 and 195-pound Wilson used a significant size advantage over Horston (6-2 and 165 pounds) to overpower the Storm in the paint for 13 points and 13 rebounds.
“I talked to (Horston) yesterday and she said ‘I just don’t want to let anyone down,’ ” Storm guard Jewell Loyd said. “I said ‘Jordan, it’s basketball. It’s not life or death. Go out there and be yourself.’
“She’s learning. She just was in college and just graduated. She’s learning a lot. Once it clicks, she’s a problem. She’s super long and lengthy. She’s going to want to trust herself even more. We constantly encourage her to play and not defer to any of us. She’s young and athletic and wants to get better. She wants to compete. She has energy and fire and now it’s just letting the game come to her.”
Before the game Horston, who finished with eight points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals in her first WNBA game, felt a little awe-struck about playing against many of her idols, including Tennessee Vols legend Candace Parker.
“It’s crazy. There’s so many great players that I looked up to on this team,” she said. “I always compared myself to Chelsea Gray. … It’s surreal that I’m playing against them right now.
“But once you get on the court, there’s no friends on the court, so I just got to let that go out the window and compete. But after the game, I’m going to be the first one to dap them up and tell them I’m a fan of theirs. But when the clock is rolling, it’s all about Seattle.”
If first impressions mean anything, then this season will be a summerlong experiment that will test the Storm’s belief in their small-ball lineups that has Ezi Magbegor starting at power forward and Horston providing relief as a backup.
The undersized Storm were out-rebounded 50-32 and outscored 52-34 in the paint.
Quinn is hoping their 3-point attack and a hyperkinetic defense can overcome basketball physics which favors bigger players in most matchups.
When asked the three keys before the game, Quinn said: “We know they have a lot of firepower at a lot of positions. Being locked in on our schemes and our scout first and foremost. Second, I would say is rebounding. After we’ve rebounded and guarded our yard, [it’s] finishing possessions with rebounds.
“The last thing I would say is play with pace. We want to get out in run transition. Keep our turnovers low so we take shots on goal. If we defend at a high level and play with some pace, I think that’s a good starting block for us.”
It sounds good in theory, but on Saturday the Aces methodically pummeled and battered the Storm into submission with a blistering offensive onslaught while shooting 54.8% from the floor.
The Aces had six players score in double figures, including former Washington Huskies star Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young who both tallied a game-high 23 points. Gray finished with 14 points, Parker 12 and former Storm standout Alysha Clark 10.
Simply put, Las Vegas was too big and too strong thanks to Wilson and Parker. And when the Storm sent multiple defenders inside to help, Plum, Young and Clark combined for eight of the Aces 11 three-pointers on 18 attempts.
The Storm shot 32.1% on field goals, including 5 of 21 on 3-pointers, and didn’t have much of a counterpunch aside from Loyd, who overcame a horrendous shooting start — she was 0 for 8 — before finishing with a team-high 22 points on 7-of-25 shooting.
The other Storm starters combined for 17 points and no one on the team had more than eight points. Admittedly, Quinn was searching for answers which explains why 10 players logged at least 10 minutes.
“It’s a work in progress to see how people have worked during the week and throwing them into the game and seeing where matchups are and where they can excel,” Quinn said. “To me, we’re finding it. It’s going to be a work in progress at least at this juncture of the season.”
Horston’s short jumper tied the game at 14-14 late in the first quarter when the game slipped away from the Storm.
That’s when the Aces took control with an 18-2 run to go up 32-16 midway in the second quarter.
Las Vegas led 43-28 at the break outscored the Storm 62-36 in the second half.
“We can play defense,” Loyd said when asked how Seattle could combat Las Vegas’ offense. “I think that’s an adjustment. I think they didn’t feel us. When you have a team that’s together and understands how to win, then you have to play some kind of defense. And we weren’t there. They didn’t feel us. So that’s something we can fix. I think a lot of the mistakes we made tonight is on us. Vegas didn’t really do anything to bother us; it was us.”
Quinn stressed the importance of correcting the Storm’s mistakes before hosting Dallas on Friday and not overreacting from one loss — albeit their most lopsided defeat in franchise history and the largest margin ever in a WNBA team’s opener.
Seattle’s previous largest margin of defeat was a 102-68 road loss to Los Angeles on Sept. 5, 2019.
“Obviously, no one wants to lose,” Loyd said. “No one wants to lose this bad so we understand that. As professional athletes you got to come out with some pride and some integrity. We got a lot of new people in there that was kind of shocked, but for us it’s a good test playing the defending champion. You see what it’s like to get to that level.”
Note
Gabby Williams did not play Saturday for her French team ASVEL, and the Storm believe they’ll re-sign the restricted free agent with hopes of her playing in the WNBA this season.
