Something special is brewing in Seattle.
In a season dedicated to the life of Breonna Taylor and moved into a bubble (which had it’s rough beginnings) to manage a pandemic, the Seattle Storm closed the season in dominant fashion on Tuesday night.
In a 3-0 sweep against league MVP A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces, the Storm and Breanna Stewart showed that they clearly have their foot on the necks of every team in the league.
And they likely won’t be letting up any time soon.
You have to remember that this team is likely a three-peat Champion if it wasn’t for Stewart’s Achilles injury in 2019.
Also, capturing a WNBA title in the midst of battling a more important fight against racial inequality is beyond noteworthy. The Storm along with the rest of the league never silenced their voices on racism while they played, even when Atlanta Dream owner Kelly Loeffler tried to suppress the power of the league by wrongly telling these women to stick to basketball.
Dream guard Renee Montgomery did absolutely everything but stick to sports as she battled against racial inequality from outside of the “Wubble.”
While the league had its issues with the wubble early on, like Bed Bugs and not allowing star players like Elena Delle Donne to have access to a medical exemption. The season was ultimately a success for the league and its best team and best player won.
Stewart, the 2018 league MVP and now a two-time champion and two-time Finals MVP averaged 25.7 points a game during the 2020 postseason and showed that even after her injury she has solidified herself as the most dominant player in the league.
Stewart is only 26 and has already amassed one of the greatest careers in the history of the league. The domination of the former UCONN star displayed against fellow young star A’ja Wilson couldn’t be ignored. Stewart’s 26 points on 71 percent shooting in a beatdown was a clear indication that this was her world and we are all just living in it.
We have to also mention the mastery of Storm guard Jewell Loyd who averaged nearly 18 points a game during this playoff run on 55 percent shooting. She dominated opposing guards and helped carry the team in stretches where Stewart was out. Loyd just turned 27 this week.
Jordan Canada put up 15 points in the closer last night and is only 25.
Role players like three-point specialist Alysha Clark and the legendary Sue Bird, another UConn alum, were key contributors to the team’s success as well. This is the fourth title for Bird who eclipsed the assist record in a playoff game earlier in the Finals (with 16) and will undoubtedly be a Hall of Famer whenever she decides to hang up her sneakers.
If Seattle can keep its young core pieces intact, we might be on the verge of seeing UConn level-domination in the WNBA. There isn’t a team currently assembled that can beat these women three out of five games when at full strength.
Stewart is already the most decorated player to touch a basketball court over the past decade. Six championship rings between her college career at UConn and her professional career, three Naismith Player of the Year trophies, a WNBA MVP, four Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four awards, and now two WNBA Finals MVPs.
It’s almost unfathomable to think that her trophy case could get any bigger. But it’s going to, especially if she and the rest of her Storm teammates keep dominating the league like this.
Stewart and the Storm are on the verge of putting a lockdown on the league like it’s never seen before.
This is officially a new era of WNBA basketball, all roads to rings are going through the Pacific Northwest.
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