After a bright start to the season with a young core, the Washington Mystics have become a shadow of their dominant selves. In the first three games, the Mystics had clinched two impressive away wins over the Toronto Tempo and the Indiana Fever. But since then, they have faced back-to-back defeats. The latest one came on Sunday against the Seattle Storm, in an intense, physical foul fest. Yet despite that, head coach Sydney Johnson isn’t pointing fingers at officiating.

“I don’t want to comment on the officiating,” Johnson said while speaking in the post-game presser. “But I’ll say with the three-point shooting, your spacing is as good as your three-point shooting. And you know, percentage-wise, I think they’re top-five.”

“So, you know, you have to respect that, and there’s some spacing where you get stretched out a bit, and I think we’re going to learn and grow in terms of our rotations and when we need to react and when we need to stay home. I know that we’re going to get better, and I see small gains. But, obviously, these last two games in particular, I thought we haven’t done the job that we want to in terms of guarding the three-point line,” she added.

The Mystics-Storm game turned into more than just a physical battle. A total of 54 fouls were called in the game. It included Storm’s 28 and Mystics’ 26 on the night. Overall, the game felt like another example of the league’s stricter officiating, where the referees aren’t hesitating to call fouls.

Of course, the Storm got 32 points from the free throw line courtesy of these fouls. A cleaner play or a less stringent officiating could have tilted the game in the Mystics’ favor. But Johnson diminished the officiating arguments. Because deep down, he knew that his team wasn’t perfect.

The Mystics were on par in almost every aspect of the game. Johnson’s team (40%) had a similar scoring night from the field, in comparison to the Seattle Storm (44%). But the three-point shooting is where the Mystics really struggled. Washington allowed the Storm to score 46% from beyond the arc, leading to 39 points.

On the other hand, Johnson’s team could manage just four. It’s a dismal difference in volume, and failing to bridge it is one of the critical reasons they lost this game. Storm guard Natisha Hiedeman nailed 4 of 6 alone from the deep. Flau’jae Johnson, Stefanie Dolson, and Zia Cooke scored twice each as well.

Now, Sydney Johnson’s perspective is true. The Seattle Storm is currently one of the hottest teams in three-point shooting. According to the WNBA’s official site, the Storm ranks joint second with the Dallas Wings at 36.2%. Furthermore, they are ranked fourth in total three-pointers made this season (59).

To limit such mayhem from beyond the arc, Washington needed to be much sharper defensively. But they failed to do it decisively, allowing easy looks to the Storm players. And to add to Washington’s woes, this isn’t a one-off incident but a recurring one.

Sydney Johnson’s team has given away over 40% from beyond the arc in all of their last three games. They gave away exactly 40% against the Indiana Fever, despite clinching a win. On top of that, they conceded 46% against the Dallas Wings, resulting in a 92-69 blowout defeat.

It’s an aspect of the Washington Mystics that they will have to address quickly. Because Johnson’s team isn’t a volume three-point scoring team. In fact, they are last in three-point shooting percentage with just 25.5 this season. Thus, they just can’t outscore the opposition from deep like the LA Sparks and Dallas Wings do.

Thus, they will have to find ways to keep games under control defensively by disrupting the opposition flow. Mystics center Shakira Austin also echoed the same when asked about allowing Seattle a high three-point shooting percentage. “I think we just didn’t disrupt enough from the beginning,” Austin said. “I think we waited a little too long to get more physical. And they had a great flow with everything they wanted, whether that was ball screens or pin-downs.”

But was the three-point shooting defense the only caveat for the Washington Mystics in the Seattle Storm game? Head coach Sydney Johnson doesn’t think so.

Sydney Johnson Highlights Washington’s Struggles With Ball Movement

The defense was just a part of the error-laden game that the team had on Sunday. Offensive aspects of the court were lagging behind for Sydney Johnson’s team as well. The Mystics didn’t capitalize on second-chance opportunities, finishing the night with just six offensive rebounds.

Speaking in the post-game press conference, Johnson emphasized that the team’s ball movement wasn’t sharp enough either.

“I thought there were moments where it did stick,” Johnson said. “Especially, I felt in the second quarter is something that we had and felt as we went into halftime…It’s really important for me as a coach to stay balanced. And yes, there’s a stretch of stagnant play, but it doesn’t define us. I’m not sure it defines the full game.”

Sonia Citron led the scoring for the Mystics with 16 points. Georgia Amoore, Kiki Iriafen, Shakira Austin, and Angela Dugalic also scored in double figures. But they weren’t enough to cover the cracks the team had created through their perimeter defense.

But Johnson has always kept a hopeful tone, looking forward to improvement in the near future. And it’s understandable, given that his team is one of the youngest squads in the league (average age of 24), and they will need time to gel together. But they will have to be immensely cautious as they move into the next games because they don’t want to keep piling up losses this season. They will face the Seattle Storm yet again on May 27 at the Climate Pledge Arena.