SEATTLE — Whether they lost by five or 25, the Storm were guaranteed a rematch against the Las Vegas Aces with a chance to even the best-of-three playoff series on their home court.

But dang, Sunday night’s first-round opener — a 102-77 Storm loss — was an epic beat down that was never truly in doubt after the opening minutes.

It’s interesting to note both teams flew to Seattle after their game and the Storm — one of the oldest teams in the WNBA — took the day off Monday to rest, while the Aces held a two-hour afternoon practice in preparation for Game 2.

Tuesday’s 9:30 p.m. ET matchup at Climate Pledge Arena is the result of a new tweak in the playoff format that assures a first-round home game to the lower-seeded team.

Although it’s not necessarily an advantage for the No. 7 seed Storm considering they were 10-12 in Seattle and the No. 2 seed Aces were 13-9 on the road during the regular season.

“As much as our fans deserve for us to play well and win in front of them, we have to figure out how to do it no matter what,” forward Nneka Ogwumike said. “And that’s going to be the test on Tuesday.”

It won’t be easy.

Las Vegas has won 17 straight games and has beaten the Storm in five of their last six playoff meetings, including a two-game sweep in the first round last year.

The day off should help the Storm physically, but it remains to be seen if they can make the adjustments off the court and do what’s needed on the floor to overcome their Western Conference rivals who have eliminated them in two of the previous three years.

“It’s between our ears and understanding that is going to take more than energy, it’s going to take execution,” Storm coach Noelle Quinn said. “It’s going to take all the other intangibles in order to get this thing back to Vegas.”

Here are three questions the Storm must answer to win Game 2 and force a Game 3 in Las Vegas on Thursday.

Can Nneka keep pace with A’ja?

In playoff basketball, nothing is more valuable than a superstar and the Storm know this better than anyone.

During each of their four WNBA championship runs, they had superstars for Sue Bird to work with in Lauren Jackson and Breanna Stewart who were considered among the best players in the league. Jackson won the MVP award in 2004 and finished second in 2010 while Stewart won it in 2018 and was a runner up in 2020.

The Storm’s roster is loaded with four All-Stars (Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, Gabby Williams and Brittney Sykes), but the Aces have a trump card in three-time MVP A’ja Wilson, who is a favorite to win the award for an unprecedented fourth time.

Wilson, who leads the league in scoring average (23.4 points) and blocks (2.3) and is second in rebounds (10.2), had her fingerprints all over Game 1.

She tallied a game-high 29 points, seven rebounds, two assists, three steals and two blocks while shooting 10 of 18 from the field and 8 of 10 on free throws in 30 minutes.

To win Game 2, the Storm need to dampen Wilson’s production or find someone who can match and possibly exceed the Aces star.

The most likely candidate is Ogwumike, a 2016 WNBA MVP who is vying for all-league honors.

It remains to be seen how much the 35-year-old veteran has left in the tank after playing a 44-game schedule — the longest in league history.

In three losses to the Las Vegas this year, Ogwumike is averaging 10.6 points — nearly eight points fewer than her team-leading 18.3 points per game.

How will the Storm slow down the Aces?

It’s borderline malpractice to install a defensive game plan that heavily relies on a zone against a proficient shooting Aces team that set the WNBA record of 23 3-pointers in Thursday’s regular-season finale.

Leaving Ezi Magbegor, Dominique Malonga or Ogwumike in one-on-one coverage against Wilson didn’t slow down Las Vegas, which shot 50.7% from the field and connected on 14 of 29 three-point attempts (48.3%).

Barring a change in schemes, there’s no reason to believe the Storm will fare any better Tuesday night. If their post defenders are left on an island to defend Wilson, then she’s going to dominate once again.

Expect the Storm to increase their physicality, which is what teams do after a lopsided loss. But that’s a potential problem for the Storm, considering the Aces attempted 21 free throws in the opener and they had 11.

The Storm’s other option is sending an extra defender at Wilson.

The Storm are hesitant to leave Aces guard Jackie Young, Jewell Loyd or Chelsea Gray unguarded because of their scoring prowess and ability to knock down perimeter shots.

It may prove to be prudent to surrender more shots to fourth-year forwards Kierstan Bell and NaLyssa Smith, who have combined for three career postseason starts.

If it’s a game of pick your poison, anyone other than Wilson is the correct choice.

What’s Plan B on offense?

The Storm led the WNBA in steals (8.5 per game), blocks (5.1), points off turnovers (17.6) and fast-break points (12.9).

But what happens when their defense can’t account for a league-leading 21.4% of scoring from turnovers?

On Sunday, Las Vegas committed just seven turnovers in the first half, which directly impacted the Storm’s offense that shot 30.6%, including 2 of 10 on 3-pointers and trailed 45-25 at the break.

The Diggins-Ogwumike pick-and-roll, which is the Storm’s primary weapon, was moderately effective. The Aces packed the paint and forced the Storm into taking contested jump shots. The Storm attempted just one free throw in the first half.

The Storm fared far better in the second half while shooting 57.1% from the field and 5 of 8 on 3-pointers while being outscored 57-52.

In her first playoff game, Malonga converted 1 of 8 shots in the first half before finishing with 12 points.

Williams, who scored 10 of 16 points in the second half, and Diggins, who tallied all 12 of her points in the third quarter, also rebounded from slow offensive starts, which possibly bodes well for the Storm on Tuesday.

“It’s not going to come down to one or two players,” Ogwumike said. “It’s going to come down to us collectively.”

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