On paper, a Seattle Storm team headlined by Jewell Loyd, Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins-Smith, and Ezi Magbegor should be contending for a WNBA championship this season.
But, the star-studded roster assembled this offseason hasn’t translated to consistent on-court play. At 18-11, the Storm have fallen to fifth overall in the WNBA standings, and they’ve lost three of four games since the Olympic break.
On Monday, Seattle fell to Washington, 76-74, after Mystics guard Brittney Sykes sunk a pair of game-winning free throws with a second to play.
Sykes was able to draw the foul on Storm guard Skylar Diggins-Smith, who was vocal in her frustrations with the team’s all-around play after the game.
“I f***ed it up at the end, and it’s a terrible foul — as a vet, you can’t make that play,” she said. “But it shouldn’t f***ing down to come down to that.”
Diggins-Smith lamented Seattle’s effort; they allowed the Mystics to score 24 first-quarter points, and seemed a step slow and disjointed defensively from the jump.
“In this league, if you aren’t ready to play, you’ll get beat every f***ing night,” Diggins-Smith said. “They were ready to play, and we weren’t — on both sides of the basketball. They deserved to win, if we’re going to play like that.”
Diggins-Smith finished the game with 10 points, 8 assists, and 4 turnovers. Nneka Ogwumike had 9 points (4-14 FG), 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals. Jewel Loyd struggled from the field but led the way in scoring, finishing with 16 points on 5-18 shooting.
For the Mystics, Sykes led the way with 20 points, while Emily Engstler added 12 points on 5-8 shooting off the bench.
The loss makes Seattle 5-5 in their last 10 games. If the playoffs started today, they’d face the two-time defending champion Las Vegas Aces on the road in the first round.
“We need to be hitting our stride right now, and we’re not there,” Diggins-Smith said. “It’s unacceptable how we’re playing on both sides of the basketball.”
Skylar Diggins-Smith was pretty heated after the Storm’s loss to the Mystics tonight:
“In this league, if you aren’t ready to play, you’ll get beat every fucking night.
“It’s unacceptable how we’re playing on both sides of the basketball.” pic.twitter.com/9LzVPA0WYl
— Noa Dalzell (@NoaDalzell) August 27, 2024
“We all have to look ourselves in the mirror and hold ourselves accountable,” said Sami Whitcomb, who added 11 points off the bench.
Storm head coach Noelle Quinn echoed her players’ sentiment that the team didn’t approach the game correctly, and took ownership for not having them ready to go.
“On offense, we weren’t connected,” Quinn said. “We didn’t play this game with the correct energy or mindset.”
Diggins-Smith urged the team to be better moving forward.
“We all have to step our game up. In this league, it only gets harder after the break,” Diggins-Smith said. “And that’s fine, that’s fine. But if we don’t come ready to play from the start, we’re going to f***ing lose.”
