Welcome to the Basketball Hangover. We are in the WNBA Finals! Exciting!
The Seattle Storm won their fourth WNBA championship.
(PHOTO CREDIT: Seattle Storm.)
The Seattle Storm are the 2020 WNBA Champions. And it was decisive.
Early in Game 3, A’ja Wilson was going to do everything she could to keep both teams in the Wubble for maybe a week longer. She took control of the offense and scored 14 points in the first quarter. The problem was that Breanna Stewart got hot, too; she countered with 11 points of her own.
It was 27-25, Storm, when Stewart got in foul trouble early in the second. She sat out the remainder of the half but that didn’t seem to matter. Sue Bird continued to guide the offense while Jewell Loyd did the scoring. The Storm outscored the Aces, 16-9, after Stewie sat down to end the half.
It became a dark, stormy night for the Aces as Stewie and Jewell throttled Vegas with shots all over. Seattle started the third with a 17-4 run to balloon the lead to 22. That pretty much made it academic. The Aces never got close and the Storm was just overwhelming. Seattle would go on to win by 33 and claim their fourth WNBA championship to tie the Minnesota Lynx and the Houston Comets for most WNBA titles in history.
That’s all I got on this section. Here are the last bullets of the WNBA season.
Bullet Passes
It was the first time in 5 years that the MVP did NOT win the WNBA Championship. Elena Delle Donne won the award in 2015 but the Chicago Sky were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Nneka Ogwumike, Sylvia Fowles, Breanna Stewart, and Delle Donne would eventually win both MVP and championship from 2016-19.
Stewie would win her second Finals MVP in three years. I feel like we’re on a verge of a dynasty here. Even if Sue Bird retires after this year, they have Jordin Canada ready to go.
The Storm really beat up the Aces. Storm won by an average of 19.7 points in the Finals. We never got a close game.
But hey, the Aces know what they have now. And they’re going to get back Liz Cambage and Kelsey Plum next season. Also, Dearica Hamby, the two-time Sixth Woman of the Year, didn’t play in the Finals.
I feel for Angel McCoughtry because this is her fourth WNBA Finals and has yet to win a ring.
Meanwhile, Sue has won her fourth WNBA championship. That’s one short of the all-time record. Rebekkah Brunson is the only woman to ever win 5 WNBA Championships. She won with the Sacramento Monarchs in 2005 and she was part of that Lynx dynasty that won four championships.
We’re not sure if Sue Bird is going to retire this offseason. But if she does, what a way to go out.
Double U Finals Scoreboard
GAME 3: #1 LV 59 vs #2 SEA 92 (SEA wins series, 3-0)
Watch This Play
Give us another no-look pass, Sue.
Another game, another no-look DIME from @S10Bird 🔥
📺 ESPN | #BradentonArea pic.twitter.com/AO5WFiJBrv
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 6, 2020
So this was my first whole season covering the WNBA. I have grown to love the league over the last few years. I was always a casual watcher; I watched the Houston Comets dominate the first few years of this league. I kind of wish I started covering them when I started writing about ball. But better late than never, right? I have gotten to know people that have covered and cheered on the league. Hopefully, I can expand the coverage next season, which I have no idea how it will be because of the pandemic.
Nevertheless, I am proud of the writing and the podcasting that I’ve done. Hopefully, the WNBA will continue to grow in the years to come.
Thank you. And I’m glad that the WNBA has stayed safe throughout the Wubble season. Stay safe, everybody.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
TNLP on FaceBook.