The Seattle Storm are having troubles on the offensive end, with a chance to find the bottom of the net more often when they face the Indiana Fever on Sunday night in Indianapolis.
The Fever continue to be concerned about their defense.
“We’ve got to be able to defend all the time,” Fever guard Caitlin Clark said. “When things aren’t going well, we’ve still got to find a way to defend. There’s an opportunity for us to improve in that area.”
The Storm (1-2) are wrapping up a three-game road stretch that most recently included Wednesday’s 86-73 loss to the expansion Toronto Tempo.
After 19 turnovers, Seattle is addressing ball security.
“Cleaning up some of our spacing,” Storm coach Sonia Raman said. “There’s a lot of work to be done there, but I think this is a group that is ready to tackle that.”
Center Dominique Malonga has led Seattle in scoring in two of its three games. Malonga combined with center Stefanie Dolson for 15 of the team’s 27 made baskets against the Tempo.
“I think Dom and I just found openings where we could,” Dolson said. “We did our best to get (people) open. … We just have to build that chemistry together. It’s a young group. We don’t know how to play with each other completely yet.”
Storm starting forward Jordan Horston did not take a shot in 18 minutes during Wednesday’s game.
“She’s still trying to find her spots and where that offense is going to come from for her,” Raman said.
Indiana coach Stephanie White said there are times the Fever appear to be resting on defense, and that was a concern following Friday’s 104-102 overtime loss at home to the Washington Mystics.
“We put a lot of pressure on our offense to be perfect when we don’t consistently defend,” White said. “The energy has to be dictated at that end of the floor and that’s a mindset.”
The Fever rolled on offense in the fourth quarter by shooting 61.1% from the floor and getting a game-tying 3-pointer from Clark with 3.1 seconds remaining in regulation.
“We showed the ability to make tough shots,” White said. “We just have to have more of it consistently.”
Indiana’s Aliyah Boston had no field goals for the first time in her career on 0-for-3 shooting Wednesday at Los Angeles and then departed from Friday night’s game with a lower leg injury after nine points in 21 minutes.
–Field Level Media
