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Mechelle VoepelespnW.com
FAIRFAX, Virginia – A few years ago, leader Sue Bird was planning to spend the rest of her career at the WNBA, with some relatives suggesting she leave Seattle. The Storm was in a period of reconstruction, so why not look for another title elsewhere? Maybe closer to home in New York? Bird thought about it, but at each conversation she found herself defending the storm.
"Why can not we do it here again?" she would say.
It turns out that she was right. Bird and the Storm swept Washington Wednesday night, winning the third match of the WNBA 98-82 final and giving the league's oldest player its third championship.
Add to that Bird's two NCAA titles at UConn, four Olympic gold medals, three gold medals at world championships and four EuroLeague championships. She will turn 38 in October, but she has slowed down time. Her commitment to rigorously supervised eating, exercise and rest has added years to a career in the Hall of Fame. The seasons that Bird, the Storm, the Seattle fan base and WNBA fans all appreciate.
"We did not have that goal on our back and this pressure was looming all year," said Bird about the 2018 trip. "We've just realized this as we go along. that we are leaving, in fact, we are pretty good, and we are there. "
Bird had 10 points and 10 assists on Wednesday as Seattle was the sixth WNBA team to win three titles. Breanna Stewart led all scorers with 30 points and Natasha Howard scored 29 points and 14 rebounds. Stewart was named MVP of the WNBA finals after winning the same honor in the regular season.
"It does not seem real, honestly," Stewart said after the match. "What we have done in a team in the last four months … we had a goal and it was to win a championship.
"All of us, from 1 to 12, the coaching staff … helped us reach this point. We are the champions!"
The Storm won her first WNBA title in 2004 under the direction of Anne Donovan, while Bird and center Lauren Jackson, both former draft picks, were 23 years old. Their second championship was led by coach Brian Agler in 2010, when Jackson had his last season in good health in the WNBA and won the last of his three MVP awards.
This title is in the 16th season of Bird. Two new choices, Stewart and Jewell Loyd, are both 24 years old. Coach Dan Hughes, 63, won his first WNBA title after 17 years in the league. He retired after the 2016 season in San Antonio. But when Storm's post appeared after last season, Hughes knew it was a great opportunity to get back to the WNBA.
Seattle has not finished with a record of wins since 2011, and it has not won a playoff since 2010. But many good players were present – led by Bird, Stewart, Loyd and the defensive goaltender Alysha Clark – with more being added. On February 7, The Storm acquired the station player Howard in an exchange with Minnesota, then recruited the leader Jordin Canada on April 12.
Canada, the UCLA Pac-12 all-time leader, has been an avid and efficient playmaker for Bird, averaging 5.7 points and 3.3 assists in the regular season.
Hughes had trained Howard's father when Hughes was an assistant in Toledo, and he was confident that she would prosper with the Storm. Howard won a title with the Lynx last season as a reserve, but she said the trade was good news.
"It was a blessing for me," she said. "I was ready to have the opportunity I had with Seattle."
Howard scored 13.2 points and 6.4 rebounds on average during the regular season.
"You can not underestimate the magnitude of Natasha Howard's impact on this team," said Mike Thibault of the Mystics, who led his third WNBA finals and is still looking for his first title. "Because it fits exactly what she needed for her style of play – a mobile ticket that could defend, run, bounce – that filled the puzzle."
"And Dan was smart enough to come in and keep the same good things, while simplifying some other things." He acknowledged what the team did well.
After Hughes got the job, he watched every game of the 2017 season and took many notes. He picked up assistant Gary Kloppenburg, who had resumed last season as interim head coach when Jenny Boucek was fired, and he credits Kloppenburg's influence on Storm's defensive success.
"It was trying to understand how to cultivate what we had, to feed it, to guide it," said Hughes. "For me to come back, I wanted to be open to change. It's easy to come in and say, "This is how we do things," according to what I've always done. they had and allow us to grow that. "
Of course, there were two young superstars in Loyd, who joined Notre Dame's Storm in 2015, and Stewart, who landed in Seattle in 2016 after winning four NCAA titles at UConn. Both have won the Rookie of the Year award and now they have their first WNBA championship.
Stewart also won the MVP of the season after averaging 21.8 points and 8.4 rebounds.
"I knew I was going to prepare myself differently and try to do that the year I wanted to," said Stewart after his 15-19 storm and his loss to Phoenix in the first round last season. "We added key elements, which made a difference, but the core group's mental readiness came back in. We said," We're not happy with what we've done, so how do we get there? " 39; improve? "? & # 39;
"From a place like UConn, where women's basketball is really appreciated, in Seattle, where we also have great fan support, that makes all the difference." The city has welcomed me with open arms since my arrival and continues to show how much they appreciate our presence. "
There was a time, however, when the continued presence of Storm in Seattle was uncertain. The Storm started in 2000 as an expansion franchise affiliated with the NBA SuperSonics. The disagreements between the city and the KeyArena renovation team led to the sale of both clubs to Clay Bennett. In 2008, he moved the Sonics to Oklahoma City, where they became the Thunder, but sold the Storm to a local group called Force 10 Hoops.
Bird remembers having finished the 2007 season and wondering if she would ever play Seattle again. But the Seattle women's business group – initially four, but now consisting of Lisa Brummel, Ginny Gilder and Dawn Trudeau – assured that the Storm would stay in place.
"They came in and saved the day to keep us here," said Bird. "They have set the standard and the tone for what it takes to have a professional franchise in this league, and when you do not have the support of an NBA team, it changes things. worse, but that did not happen with our franchise.
"The relationships we have all had with them have been excellent, they are the owners, but they are kind of family members to whom you can go if you need advice, and their journey alone is fascinating. what they did is amazing. "
Admiration goes both ways. Storm owners and general manager Alisha Valavanis are grateful that Bird stayed on board to steer the ship, even when things were difficult.
"When we bought the team, we really thought our fan base deserved it," Brummel said. "We thought it would be fun and a good contribution to the city, it's been much more than that." Running a basketball team is difficult – but for us it's a joy. Every time I go to KeyArena and see the crowd and the fun on their faces, it makes me feel special.
"It was a contribution to the community, the players took advantage, we had the advantage and, hopefully, Seattle too, and Sue continued to improve so that no one could imagine. to be able to look at her every day, not just her physical play on the field, but she is mentally so incredible, she only brings things together in a way that I never see.
Bird's career was already at the Hall of Fame level before this title, but it's an excellent bookend for a great player. Having championships at 14 years apart says everything about Bird's sustainability and determination. Since 2002, she has always been a starter, except when she was absent from the 2013 season to recover from the surgery.
There is also the fact that she played in the finals of the WNBA in 2004 and these finals wearing a mask because of a broken nose suffered earlier in the playoffs. The Long Islander, which has made Seattle its second home, has carved a place of choice on the "Mount Rushmore" of the city's sports stars. And given the youth of the rest of the team and the ability to challenge Bird's age, this might not be the last of his WNBA titles.
Bird averaged 10.1 points and 7.1 assists, second best of the WNBA, in regular season. She had one of the best quarterbacks of her career in a match 5 victory over Phoenix in the semifinal, scoring 14 points in a 10-minute season of athletic heroism.
"At the beginning of the season, we knew we had a lot of talent," said Bird. "But it was also" We have a new coach, we are learning a new system, we are deeper this year. "But there was no way to be sure Natasha would play as she did did or Jordin would do it as a rookie or that Stewie would have a MVP season or that Jewell would continue to improve.
"It was not until the last quarter of the season that we looked around and thought," Oh, we're pretty good. Maybe we could win everything. "
Perhaps it became reality Wednesday, and once again, Bird was at the heart of this reality.
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