Through three quarters on Sunday night, the Seattle Storm were playing the perfect game. Their defense was on point, they were controlling the glass and finding just enough offense to stay in front of the defending champion Las Vegas Aces. Against the odds, they were just 10 minutes from pulling off an upset win in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.
And then, they turned in the worst quarter of playoff offense in WNBA history.
The Storm did not make a single shot in the fourth quarter. They went 0-of-12 from the field, and their only two points in the frame came on a pair of free throws by Skylar Diggins-Smith. It’s not as if the Aces were spectacular down the stretch themselves. They only managed 14 points in the fourth, but it was more than enough to pull away for a 78-67 win and a 1-0 series lead.
“I’m still kinda shocked after that fourth quarter,” Gabby Williams said.
The Storm’s two points in the fourth are tied for the fewest in a single quarter in playoff history (the Sacramento Monarchs also had two in the fourth quarter of Game 4 of the 2006 Finals) and they are the first team to miss every shot in a quarter since the league switched from halves to quarters in 2006.
For those who…
