Storm Halftime Observations From Seattle’s Regular Season Finale Against Golden State
By Charles Hamaker
Seattle, WA - Taking on expansion side Golden State in a must win game in their regular season finale, our Seattle Storm - at the halftime break against the Valkyries. It’s been a tight and intense contest between the two West Coast based teams in front of a strong crowd at Climate Pledge Arena, but that was always to be expected for this date on the calendar regardless of the fact that the Storm need this game to punch their postseason ticket. Here are a few basic observations from the first half of this critical contest at Climate Pledge Arena from our seat in press row.
Scoring has been pretty evenly distributed so far
Seattle hasn’t had to rely solely on one or two scorers to produce offense in the first half of this crucial game against Golden State, as every player of the seven in the Storm rotation has scored with four pouring in six or more. Nneka Ogwumike, as per usual, leads the home team with seven points while Brittney Sykes, Skylar Diggins, and Dominique Malonga all have six points so far. The three point shooting isn’t quite there for the Storm quite yet, going just 2-8 in this opening half, but Seattle has been able to get into the paint without too much issue so far. We’ll want to see some better numbers from Gabby Williams (1-5) and Skylar Diggins (2-6) in the second half, but Seattle may not have to worry about that if the balanced production continues.
First quarter features too many mistakes
The Storm have had their fair share of hot starts to games, but tonight’s contest against the Valkyries was not one of them. Seattle struggled from the field with an abysmal 26.8% (4-14) percentage while missing the two three-pointers that they attempted early on. The home team struggled with turnovers in this one as well, giving Golden State six extra possessions but the Valkyries only managed four points off those turnovers. The Storm trailed by as much as eight in the opening frame as their shooting struggles and general lack of cohesion had things looking sloppy. Thankfully that started to turn as the first quarter came to a close.
Energy is present in the building
It was going to be interesting to wonder what the crowd was going to look like for this game against Golden State considering that there’s a Mariners game taking place down in SoDo, but it’s a largely filled out arena for Storm game capacity. With Seattle not opening the third deck for games at Climate Pledge Arena unless there’s demand, the lower bowl is mostly filled while the second level and suites are pretty packed. The crowd, mostly repping the Storm but with a clear Golden State presence, has been engaged in the game early and often including when there are questionable calls from this officiating crew. It’s gotten quite loud, particularly when Seattle has recorded steals.
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