Storm @ Sun preview: Let Jacy Sheldon cook? Any better ideas?

Hey, remember where I pointed out a couple of weeks ago that the Seattle Storm could be a title contender, but they needed to get their defense back to the level it was last season?

Well, it was on full display Sunday as the Storm absolutely dominated the second half in an impressive 79-70 win over the defending champion Liberty in Brooklyn. Seattle is up to fourth in the WNBA in defensive efficiency (and also fourth in the standings, knocking on the door for second), holding New York to 35.3% from the field and just 26 points in the second half.

Leila Lacan and Dominique Malonga both earned silver medals for France last summer


Gabby Williams (who leads the W in steals) and Nneka Ogwumike are statistically among the best defenders in the league, Ezi Magbegor isn’t far behind, and with Dominique Malonga’s minutes now increasing, the Storm are going to be tough to beat in the second half of the season (they did lay a big egg at Golden State in an 84-57 loss last week).


On Wednesday morning (hurray, Camp Day), the immovable object will meet the stoppable force when the Storm’s defense gets to battle the woeful Sun offense that sits so far at the bottom of the efficiency table on offense that I’m not sure any of the other teams can see them at the moment. We’ve gone over some of the reasons for that in great detail here, but the Sun now have to deal with the Storm twice in three days, as the teams will fly across the country to meet again Friday night on the west coast.


Connecticut actually played one of its best offensive games of the season in their last meeting, scoring 81 and hitting 7-of-13 from behind the arc, led by Aneesah Morrow’s 20. Alas, the Sun was still down 82-55 after three quarters as their defense didn’t come close to matching the offense.  


The Sun will have a bunch of screaming kids cheering them on, will that help? Won’t hurt, I guess:





SEATTLE STORM @ SUN


Time: Wednesday, 11 a.m. EDT


Place: Mohegan Sun Arena; Uncasville, Conn.


Records: Seattle 12-7; Connecticut 2-16


TV: NBC Sports Boston, WNBA League Pass


Line: Seattle -16.5


Absences: Seattle - Katie Lou Samuelson (out, season ending knee).

Connecticut - Marina Mabrey (doubtful, knee); Jaelyn Brown (questionable, illness).


History between them: Other than the game two weeks ago, Seattle also routed Connecticut in a preseason game on the west coast, but that was long ago. The home team won all three matchups last season, but the Sun had won 6 straight in the series before that. The only time they met in the WNBA playoffs was the 2004 finals, with the Storm winning in three games behind MVP Betty Lennox.





What to look for: The obvious answer here is how the Sun plan on scoring. Tina Charles wasn’t 100% healthy for the game in Seattle, but it’s not clear she’ll be healthy for this one, either, as she’s battling a shoulder injury. So if she’s not giving Connecticut offense, they have to look to the guards and Jacy Sheldon’s 40.7% shooting behind the arc. I would love to see a game where Sheldon just says screw it (like Marina Mabrey would do, it does look like she will be back soon) and puts up 20 shots. But there aren’t a whole lot of good matchups for the Sun, so we’ll have to see who steps up.


On the other end, Malonga looked really good against New York and could create a giant mess if she’s in when Olivia Nelson-Ododa isn’t, because at that point it’s probably either Aneesah Morrow or Haley Peters, and that won’t work. Everyone shoots it for Seattle, except possibly Magbegor and Malonga, but the Sun can’t allow second chances. Saniya Rivers and Leila Lacan have the potential to be good defensive guards, but this is a tough matchup against a bunch of veteran guards for Seattle, led by Skylar Diggins. A good learning experience, at least?


Key players:  Seattle: Skylar Diggins - Diggins looked like she was slowing down a bit last season, but has been at the top of her game lately in her 11th WNBA season (and she missed two more for maternity). Connecticut has no answer for her in the last meeting, as they continue to struggle with point guards, and Diggins hasn’t really done off nights of late.


Connecticut: Jacy Sheldon - Just going to repeat what was written above, sorry, but add that she is now seventh on the Sun in field goal attempts per game, behind Nelson-Ododa and Morrow (who barely played early in the season). So the Sun have to get her some shots.


Advanced stat:  78.3 - Number of possessions Seattle is averaging this season, which is good for fourth in the WNBA, even though you don’t think of the Storm as a team that runs a lot.


Tactical spotlight: As I alluded to, the Sun could not keep Skylar Diggins from doing whatever she wanted to do in the first meeting. Leila Lacan had an impressive debut defensively, so it will be interesting to see if Rachid Meziane will try to play both her and Rivers together and match them up with Diggins and Gabby Williams. And can he play Lacan, Rivers, and Sheldon all at the same time (with Rivers at the 3 presumably)? Honestly, anything to get the younger players more minutes, the better.


Teams just don’t have to respect Rivers’ outside game at the moment, which is a shame, because she is getting a little better at getting to the rim. Again, there’s no great matchups when the Sun have the ball, but they haven’t been great at defensive rebounding, so that’s something maybe Nelson-Ododa or Morrow can take advantage of. Seattle is very good at turning teams over, and live ball turnovers will be deadly.


Inside the numbers: 3- Games the Sun are behind the 12th place team in the WNBA (Dallas). So they’re not making the playoffs this season, sorry.


Prediction: 84-72 Seattle



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