Guru’s WNBA Report: Breanna Stewart Leads Seattle to a 3-0 Sweep of Las Vegas and Fourth League Championship

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

How sweep it is for the Seattle Storm who finished off the Las Vegas Aces 92-59 completing a 3-0 wipeout in Game 3 for their second WNBA title in three seasons and fourth overall Tuesday night at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

 

Former Connecticut collegiate star Breanna Stewart who, along with ex-Huskies great Sue Bird, powered the Storm (18-4), earned her second playoffs MVP after both of them were on the sidelines last year because of injuries following their championship in 2018 over the Washington Mystics, who then came back and beat the Connecticut Sun in five games last year..

 

“It’s just a high level of basketball,” said Seattle coach Gary Kloppenburg of the competition in the league. This summer he had to fill in for Dan Hughes in Florida after Hughes was recommended not to go because of his cancer surgery at the beginning of last season.

 

 “I’m just proud of proud of our group,” Kloppenburg said. “They stayed together through a lot of weird stuff. Just kind of weird playing a season in the bubble, but it’s been historic for our team and the league.” 

 

The conclusion also completed a job well-done for the WNBA itself that fielded the entire league in the Florida “wubble” and executed in a coronavirus-shortened 22-game regular season with a delayed start in late July and the 12 teams playing virtually every other day until a larger gap occurred between the first two rounds and the semifinals in the playoffs.

 

Other than inconclusive Covid-19 results to three Seattle players that delayed the start of their semifinal series with the Minnesota Lynx by two days, the league made it through the summer 100 miles away from where the NBA is using the Wide World of Disney as their bubble without any player or coach producing a positive reading.

 

The league saw a major rise in television ratings across the summer and into the finals even while competing against major pro sports who would mostly be out of season, which was excellent since the players were motivated to use that platform in the cause of social justice and pushing a turnout for the coming presidential election.

 

The Aces’ Angel McCoughtry was behind what became the move to have the name of Breonna Taylor, the innocent Black medical worker gunned down by police in a botched raid in Louisville while she slept, on the back of their jerseys and when WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert handed out the championship trophy she began by mentioning Taylor’s name and several other Black  victims of police violence.

 

In finals history, the Storm after beating the Connecticut Sun for their first title 2-1 in 2004, have now in championship series play swept the Atlanta Dream 3-0 before going 3-0 on the Washington Mystics in 2018 and then this season going 3-0 over Las Vegas.

 

This game had a bit of a wrinkle compared to the first two in this round in that the Aces (18-4), who had swept Seattle 2-0 in the regular season to earn the top seed off a tie-breaker, got off to a fast start and seemed poised to perhaps extend things when Stewart went to the bench with her third foul.

 

But the Storm regrouped for a two-point lead at the end of the first period, went to the half ahead 43-34, and then, unlike the third period in the previous games that featured Aces runs, broke it wide open outscoring Las Vegas 32-14.

 

The differential grew to 35 near the end of the game though still setting a finals record when the result settled to a 33-point triumph.

 

Stewart finished with 26 points to become the first to go through all six combined semifinals and finals contests scoring more than 20 points in each.

 

“”You know I remember where I was last year during the WNBA Finals, “ said Stewart, who was on camera during the zoom interviews from the media in remote locations across the country, as she wore goggles and took swigs from a bottle of champagne during her session.

“There’s plenty of champagne in the bubble,” she joked of the extended celebration just ahead.

 

“I was with my family in North Carolina. And it was hard for me not to be upset because I wanted to be part of the league. To be able to be here to get through all that we’ve gone through as a team, obviously individually, it’s an amazing feeling.

 

“There’s so much you don’t know after rupturing my Achilles. … really proud of just being able to be back.”     

 

Jewell Loyd, the former Notre Dame great, had 19 points and nine rebounds, while Alysha Clark scored 10, and reserve Jordin Canada out of UCLA scored 15. Bird has five points and seven assists but with the game out of hand early in Seattle’s favor, she got to be a spectator on the bench during the closeout as Kloppenburg tried to get the rest of the Storm some playing time at the finish.

 

Despite rising to a very elite player category in a short amount of time since her graduation from UConn, where she won four NCAA titles, Stewart said she had just one thought in a season in which the Storm was favored at the outset as one of the few teams whose roster was in excellent shape arriving in Florida the first week in July.

 

“I wanted to win a ring, and that was the priority,” she said. “Whatever else comes, comes. But getting another ring, getting another opportunity to play with Sue was what was most important, and whether it was unanimous (her MVP), who cares.”   

 

Las Vegas, who had a tough five-game semifinals series with the Sun, rallying to take the last two games, the last one by three in a low-scoring finish, had a more difficult time than the Storm accessing the finals.

 

A’ja Wilson, the regular season MVP, had 18 points for the Aces while Jackie Young scored 11, and Carolyn Swords grabbed 10 rebounds.

 

This time, Seattle’s shooting from the field, while still hot, dipped under 50% to 38-for-80 for 48% opposed to 34% for Las Vegas.

 

“I thought our defense was resilient all the way through. I think the way we came out for the third was tremendous. Sort of took their will away,” Kloppenburg said.

 

Turnovers again bedeviled the Aces, committing 18 to Seattle’s six giving the opposition an 18-6 scoring advantage in the category, while the Storm owned the paint 44-24.

 

“Give all the credit in the world to Seattle, they’re a very fine basketball team,” said Las Vegas coach Bill Laimbeer, who won three crowns with the former Detroit Shock and been to several other finals. “They played very well in this series. It was very obvious that they have more weapons than we do. It was clear that they were the better team in this series.

 

“For the whole season, yeah, I’m so proud of our players. We came in shorthanded (Liz Cambage opted out and Kelsey Plum was injured). And then got more shorthanded. Three of our top six players are out,” he continued.

 

“We accomplished a lot. Not only did we get to the finals for the first time, we also learned a lot. Our players learned a lot. I think A’ja grew up. I think she understands what this league is about and her responsibility.

 “We got to know Angel McCoughtry,” he said of the free-agent acquisition in the offseason, whose entire pro career previously was in Atlanta. “She’s going to work on her body and come back stronger next year.

 

“It hurts right now for our players. I’ve been down this road numerous times, winning and losing in the Finals. This was not a brutal beat. They beat us. This wasn’t an emotional, brutal loss at the last buzzer.”

 

Looking to next season, Laimbeer said, “Making our team is going to be very difficult. Free agency is going to be interesting this year. We are a very good destination, not only for basketball but also for the quality of the town, the organization.”

 

Bird was asked whether the dynasty tag could be applied to this group and she referenced Minnesota in the last decade.

 

“Their core group won four in how many years, like six, seven years. So we’re close, but not quite there.”

There was a bit of controversy developing back home in the Northwest after a newspaper column referred to NFL Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson as the best athlete in Seattle history.

Asked whether Sue Bird was the greatest Seattle sports athlete of all time, Kloppenburg responded, saying, “... Yeah, incredible to think what she’s done through a couple of decades. Really unprecedented.

“I think the other side of that is the women’s game hasn’t gotten the respect, and partly because of the white guys that are writing those type of columns. 

“Y’all white guys, wake up out there, man. You’ve got a whole tremendous gender that can flat-out play basketball. So maybe it’s time to move into the mid-century.”

Bird, who is about to turn 40 and is the second oldest player to win a WNBA title, and just finished her 17th season all with Seattle.

“I think the fact that I’ve been able to do it in different decades, with the same franchise, not many people can say that,” Bird said. “To recreate it over time and stay at a high level over time is definitely something I’m proud of, because it hasn’t been easy.