Storm rally late, knock off Aces 86-83 to tie WNBA playoff series
The sellout crowd of 12,500 at Climate Pledge Arena never sat down in the final minutes.
And why would they?
The Storm rallied from 12 points down in the fourth quarter and pulled out an 86-83 thriller in the final seconds to beat the Las Vegas Aces in Game 2 in the first round of the WNBA playoffs on Tuesday night.
“We bought ourselves 40 more minutes,” guard Skylar Diggins told the fans after the game. “That was our goal tonight.
“After tonight, we might start our own streak.”
The Storm snapped the Aces’ 17 game winning streak and set up a much-anticipated rematch in Thursday’s Game 3 in Las Vegas.
Diggins sealed the win with a short jumper in the lane over Jackie Young with 4.4 seconds left.
The Aces had time to tie it, but Jewell Loyd’s three-pointer rattled out of the rim and time expired.
Nneka Ogwumike rebounded from a flat performance in Game 1 and tallied 24 points on 9-for-19 shooting with 10 rebounds and three assists. Diggins finished with a game-high 26 points, seven assists and two steals.
The Storm came out with more fight than they did during Sunday’s 102-77 loss when they trailed 17-5 in the opening minutes and never found their footing.
In front of a sellout crowd at Climate Pledge Arena, including a vast majority adorned in white promotional T-shirts, Seattle led 13-9 midway in the first quarter and finished the period down 22-21.
“Some games you let them come to you, and some games you got to go to the game, and that has to be tonight,” Diggins said. “We can’t have the start that we had last time. So, we have to play with some type of poise, some type of force to start the game and some type of resistance.
“We can’t let the moment be too big for us. We got to settle in a little earlier than we did last game. It’s to be expected, some nerves and some other things. But you know, the focus is really just on us and what we need to do better.”
The Storm kept pace with the Aces during the second quarter in which both teams scored 23 points and Seattle trailed 45-44 at halftime.