By Jess Amato, edited by Charles Hamaker

Seattle, WA - Our Seattle Storm are about to play their last game of the regular season, a game that matters more than they’d like as their postseason hopes ride on the contest against expansion side Golden State. The Storm will look to close out their four-game regular season ending homestand the right way, having lost the last two contests of the set to the Sparks and Liberty after starting it off with a win over the Sky. The eighth and final seed in the playoffs is still up for grabs and if the Storm win tonight, they are in despite a winding and inconsistent season. They were primed to take a playoff spot before the All-Star Break, and a top four seed at that, but after going on that frustrating post break six-game losing streak and the clump of games that they’ve dropped in tight fashion, that dream is out of their reach and they must rely on this final spot. Seattle could also get into the postseason with an LA Sparks loss tonight, but the Storm prefer to handle their own business tonight at Climate Pledge Arena so that there’s no need for reliance on outside sources.

Seattle Storm forwards Dominique Malonga and Nneka Ogwumike, alongside forward/center Ezi Magbegor, will be critical to their teams paint presence in this season finale. (Photos by Sam Hotaling for Circling Seattle Sports)

Storm Need to Score in the Paint

Back September 1st in the second contest of this four game homestand, the Storm battled the Los Angeles Sparks and at the half, Seattle leading by 11 points. When the Storm only had 40 points, 10 of those 40 were scored in the paint. They had 50 points total heading into halftime. By the time the second half rolled around, the Storm continued to try and score threes and kept missing those efforts. Their lack of points in the paint in the second half was what cost them the game, and has been a negative for the team as the season has wrapped up: Seattle has only won the points in the paint battle twice in the last seven games. With the key players that they have in the post and their struggles to shoot the three consistently the last few years, it’ll be important for the Storm to establish a presence inside.

Threes are clearly important in any game in the modern era of basketball, but the Storm can’t afford to live and die by the three, especially in a must win game. Those twos will add up after a while, and could be their key to success in beating the Valkyries.

Give Nneka Ogwumike some scoring help

Year fourteen for all-star forward Nneka Ogwumike hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down or regression. Each game seemingly helps Madame President pass another legend on a top ten list in the WNBA record books while she’s led the Storm in scoring for a majority of the games in this brand new 44-game calendar. Her three-point shooting ability has been a key for Seattle in some of their wins this year, and it was noticeable in the loss to the Sparks earlier this homestand, showcasing that players can always add to their games. But, even noting how critical Ogwumike has been for the Storm, Seattle cannot rely solely on Nneka and we must see other players on the Storm roster bump up the scoring. Seattle has been at their very best when they’re starting five has largely even scoring distribution, plus getting that boost in pouring buckets in from Erica Wheeler and or Dominique Malonga also makes this Storm roster dangerous.

Don’t Over Play the Starters

Noelle Quinn has a habit of playing her starting five to the point where they cannot make plays and they just look exhausted on the court at the end of games over the last two seasons. Quinn must take advantage of the bench players to ensure that everyone on the team is playing to their full potential. She has already been doing this little by little, giving Erica Wheeler and Dominique Malonga more minutes on the court as the year has gone on, but she needs to continue to rest her starters. Utilizing the offensive tools that both Wheeler and Malonga provide, plus the length the rookie forward has to disrupt shots, is something many fans have wanted to see more of as the season has gone on. Skylar Diggins and Gabby Williams are two of the Storm’s best players and have had some of their highest minute totals of their careers, with Diggins carrying the highest usage rate of her career for a good amount of this season Quinn will want the pair of them to be healthy throughout the entirety of the game to give Seattle a better chance at the win given their responsibilities on both sides of the play.

Handle your own business

The way the WNBA runs the playoffs is changing. The first round of the playoffs will be a best of three matchup, and unlike earlier formats, this round will now follow a 1-1-1 structure, ensuring that each participating team gets at least one home game. The semifinals will be a best of five still and the finals will be a best of seven series. The Golden State Valkyries have already clinched their playoff spot coming into tonight’s contest. They have won two of the three games already this season against the Storm, including the first two on the year that were stunning defeats at the time given Golden State’s expansion team status and the talent on the Storm roster. If we were to use the season series as an example and make this game four of the semifinal round, Seattle would be out if they are to lose tonight against the Valkyries. The Storm need to treat this as the must win game that it is and obviously not rely on a Sparks loss tonight to get to the postseason. Finish strong and send yourself into the playoffs with some momentum in front of your home fans.

Frames from the Seattle Storm’s double overtime defeat to the Los Angeles Sparks on August 1st, 2025 at Climate Pledge Arena. (Photos by Bryant Garduque for Circling Seattle Sports)

A Sparks Loss Guarantees a spot

Both teams fighting for the eighth seed in the WNBA playoffs are active tonight, as the Storm taken on the Valkyries of course while the Sparks battle the Phoenix Mercury on the road. The Mercury have solidified their spot in the playoffs, one of the very best teams consistently in the Western Conference throughout the course of the 2025 campaign, and will present a big challenge for the Sparks. A loss tonight would give the Storm another avenue to punch their postseason ticket, but ideally Seattle won’t have to fall back on that in the event that they lose tonight’s game to Golden State.

An issue that could come into play is that the Sparks have one more game in the regular season, the Storm do not. This game is the Storm’s last chance to get to the postseason within their control, as a loss by Seattle opens the door to the possibility of the Sparks overtaking them for that eighth seed if LA were to win these last two games on their schedule.

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Check out our previous Seattle Storm articles here.
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Check out our previous articles with photography by Sam Hotaling here, and his portfolio here.

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