By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA – The Seattle Storm pulled away from a tightly contested game two against the Washington Mystics, sweeping them and advancing to the WNBA semifinals. A tie game at the half seemed to pit the teams for another close finish, but the Storm starters were able to let loose and pour it on. Seattle was able to contain Elena Delle Donne, and will now face the first overall seed Las Vegas Aces.
Seattle did a much better job of containing Elena Delle Donne in game two of the series (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Super Stewie
MVP frontrunner Breanna Stewart started out the game slow, having missed all five of her shots at the halftime mark. Stewart was impacting the game in other facets, helping to crash the boards and facilitate to her teammates. Coming out of the half, Stewart began to regain her form. She hit a three, and looked like her “best player in the world” self after that. Stewart would finish the game flirting with a triple double, notching a 21 point, ten rebounds, eight assist double-double. Seattle head coach Noelle Quinn discussed her superstar postgame.
“Stewie didn’t hit shots, but she did everything else on the floor. She was facilitating, she was assisting, and the rebounding was huge for us... It shows who Stewie is. No matter what it is, Stewie can provide it for us,” Quinn said.
Breanna Stewart flirted with a triple double today, falling two assists shy (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Complete team effort
Unlike a solid majority of the Storms games, Breanna Stewart’s offensive input did not solely carry Seattle. The Storm got an entire team effort, from all five starters scoring in double digits and the bench providing meaningful minutes. Tina Charles provided an early spark and aggressive paint presence, Gabby Williams was active until a concussion took her out of the game, Jewell Loyd hit shots all night, and Sue Bird herself had a great game. The greatest of all time contributed a double-double, and has been huge for Seattle down the stretch. Bird would discuss the team's offensive success in the win.
“I thought that we were really patient... there were things that we knew they were going to do, and we wanted to take advantage of those mismatches... we were super, super patient. We were picky about which moments to run, and we finally got some things going in transition late,” Bird reflected.
Sue Bird tries to come off of a screen by Breanna Stewart (Photo by Liz Wolter)
On to the Aces
Seattle played a pretty evenly matched Mystics team in round one, and they saw different results in the two games played. A close game led to big adjustments in the following contest, and those adjustments will be key in the Storms semifinal matchup against the Las Vegas Aces. The Aces tote the highest seed in the league, coming off of a dominating effort against the Phoenix Mercury. Seattle and Las Vegas face off in the playoffs for the first time since the Storm embarrassed the Aces in the 2020 Finals. Things will surely be different this time around, and it should be one for the history books.
Seattle faces a TOUGH test against the Las Vegas Aces (Photo by Liz Wolter)
Game one of the WNBA Semifinals between Seattle and Las Vegas begins on August 28th as the Storm go on the road. Tipoff for the first game of the series between the number four and number one seed is at 1PM PST, and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.
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