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The Storm will make its debut at the University of Washington’s Alaska Airlines Arena on Sunday, June 23 at 4 p.m. Including Seattle’s 2010 and 2018 titles, the first four Storm home games will feature five teams that have combined to win the last 10 WNBA Championships. Montgomery has connected on multiple threes in a game 15 times this season. For the third time this season,Jordin Canadaled the team in scoring with a career-high 21 points. The Most Improved Player of the Year candidate swiped five steals, bringing her season total to 61, matching the previous Storm single-season record . A sellout for a basketball game at Climate Pledge Arena is 18,100.
Stewart would become an all-star for the first time in her career and was one of two all-stars representing the Storm in the 2017 WNBA All-Star Game along with Sue Bird. The Storm finished as the 8th seed with a record but would lose yet again in the first round elimination game by the Phoenix Mercury. With the same lineup as the previous year, the Storm had much expectation for the 2011 WNBA season. But right in the second round a two-year home invincibility was broken by the Minnesota Lynx, who even left the Storm scoreless for the first seven minutes.
Welcome Home to Climate Pledge Arena
In 2012, with Jackson absent for the early season training with the Australia national team and injuries to most of the team, including Bird, only Camille Little and Katie Smith played on all the games of the regular season. Upon her return, Jackson missed some games due to a hamstring injury but reached 6,000 points on her WNBA career playing against the San Antonio Silver Stars. The record put the Storm fourth in the West, facing the Lynx, who posted the league's best record during the regular season, in the playoffs.
This would lead the Storm back into playoff contention as they finished as the 6th seed with a record under the league's new playoff format, but would lose to the Atlanta Dream in the first round elimination game. For the first six games of the season, the Storm alternated winning a game and losing a game. Through the month of June, they could not win more than two games in a row, and finished June with an 8–6 record. July was a streak filled month, with the team winning four games in a row, after starting the month with two home losses to Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty.
Game Schedule
The franchise has been home to many high-quality players such as former UConn stars Sue Bird, Swin Cash, and Breanna Stewart; 2004 Finals MVP Betty Lennox; and Australian power forward Lauren Jackson, a three-time league MVP. The Storm are four-time WNBA Champions, with victories in 2004, 2010, 2018, and 2020. They are one of two teams who have never lost a WNBA Finals, the defunct Houston Comets being the other. PAPILLION, Neb. – The Omaha Storm Chasers, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, announced scheduled first pitch times for all 75 home games at Werner Park in 2023.
In the second round, the #3 seeded Los Angeles Sparks proved to be too much for the Storm, and their season ended with a twenty three point loss at the Staples Center. During the preseason, two of the Storm's prominent stars were injured. Breanna Stewart, the 2018 WNBA MVP, ruptured her Achilles tendon while playing in the EuroLeague for Dynamo Kursk. Stewart underwent surgery, and is expected to recover in time for the 2020 season, but miss the entirety of 2019. Sue Bird underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove a loose body in her left knee and would miss the entire 2019 season.
Home Schedule and Theme Nights
Injuries hit multiple players, especially Lauren Jackson, who had to undergo hip surgery and missed most of the season. The regular starting five resumed play only in the last five games, but Sue Bird and Swin Cash kept the Storm competitive, finishing second in the WNBA with 21 wins and 13 losses. On the playoffs, a Mercury buzzer beater at the KeyArena eliminated the Storm in round 1.
Bird missed several games with a left knee bone bruise, but came back for the playoffs, in which the Storm didn't lose a single game. With Bird out, Canada stepped into the starting point guard role, finishing 2019 third in the WNBA in assists per game (5.5) and second in steals per game (2.3). Meanwhile, without Stewart and with Loyd missing seven games with an injury of her own, Howard became the focal point of the Seattle offense, scoring a career-high 18.1 points per game.
Regular season attendance
All games are broadcast to the WNBA LiveAccess game feeds on the league website. Furthermore, some Storm games are broadcast nationally on ESPN, ESPN2, CBS, CBS Sports Network and ABC. The WNBA has reached an eight-year agreement with ESPN, which will pay rights fees to the Storm, as well as other teams in the league. Fast forward to April 2015, the month of the WNBA Draft, where Seattle now held the #1, #3, #20 and #26 picks. Days before the draft, Notre Dame guard Jewell Loyd and Minnesota center Amanda Zahui B. Shook up the draft order, both forgoing NCAA eligibility and declaring for the WNBA Draft.
With Climate Pledge Arena to be closed during its renovation into a venue suitable for the Seattle Kraken of the National Hockey League, the Storm were forced to seek a temporary venue for their 2019 season. Since Washington's arena lacks air conditioning, and the WNBA requires that all games be played in air-conditioned venues, portable air conditioning units will be used during Storm games. The team later announced that five of its 17 regular-season home games in 2019, including the home opener, would be at Angel of the Winds Arena. The 2020 season saw the Storm play their games in Bradenton, FL. In the 2017 season, both Loyd and Stewart continued to get better and lead the Storm into playoff contention.
In January 2016, the team revealed a branding update that eliminated the use of red. The team logos retained the same overall design, but used the simplified color scheme. Along the way, Lauren Jackson was named WNBA Western Conference Player of the Week five times, and Western Conference Player of the Month three times, on her way to being named WNBA MVP for the third time. On November 30, 2007, Anne Donovan resigned as head coach, and was replaced by Brian Agler on January 9, 2008. The Everett arena will also host a battle between the Storm and the Washington Mystics, who Seattle swept 3-0 in the WNBA Finals in September, on Friday, Aug. 2.
The team is chasing the franchise’s third WNBA Championship , and has set the team’s second-best all-time record, currently at 24-8. The 2018 WNBA Playoffs are slated to start Aug. 21 with the first of two single-elimination games. Seattle, who owns a double-bye into the semifinals, will host the first two games of the best-of-five semifinals series on Aug. 26 and Aug. 28 at KeyArena, and an if-necessary game five on Sept. 4, also at KeyArena. The 2020 WNBA season was atypical, played entirely inside Bradenton, Florida's IMG Academy, dubbed the "wubble," the WNBA's version of the NBA's Bubble. The Storm entered the wubble with Bird and Stewart back, but without head coach Dan Hughes, whose cancer diagnosis made him a health risk.
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