EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second of a five-part series exploring Sue Bird’s career leading up to her jersey retirement on June 11. Read Part 1, Part 3, and Part 4. Part 5 coming soon.
by Mark Moschetti, Seattle Storm
Point guard. Floor leader. Coach on the court.
Project manager. Lead architect. Primary contractor.
In constructing a collection of four WNBA championships, Sue Bird was, to varying degrees, all of those things for the Seattle Storm.
While some players are part of title-winning dynasties — think Cynthia Cooper-Sheryl Swoopes-Tina Thompson with four in a row for Houston, or Seimone Augustus-Maya Moore-Lindsay Whalen with four in seven years at Minnesota — the one and only connection between Seattle’s first trophy team in 2004, its fourth on in 2020, and the two in between …
… was Sue Bird.
“Sometimes, people have runs, and I say that with so much respect,” Bird said. “You can take Minnesota: They had this core group and milked it and just won a bunch (championships in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2017). There’s something to be said for that.”
But there’s also much to be said for how Bird did it.
--Through the first three seasons following her selection as the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2002, Bird and Lauren Jackson helped build the Storm toward their 2004 title.
--It took another six seasons to win another one, in 2010. By then, Bird and Jackson were the only holdovers from ’04.
--That was followed by eight season of building – and, in a big way rebuilding – toward the 2018 title. Only Bird was left from the 2010 squad.
--Then, the bulk of that 2018 team – Bird, Jordin Canada, Alysha Clark, Natasha Howard, Jewell Loyd, Mercedes Russell, Breanna Stewart, and Sami Whitcomb – stayed together to capture the 2020 crown.
Those four teams even had four different head coaches: the late Anne Donovan in 2004, Brian Agler in 2010, Dan Hughes in 2018, and Gary Kloppenburg in 2020.
“Technically, I won in three different decades, which is crazy,” she said, then added with a grin, “even though it’s scratching the surface on the third one in 2020.”
(By strict definition, a decade begins with the year ending in ‘1’ and concludes with the year ending in ‘0’ – but who’s counting?)
“I guess I’m really proud of the fact that three different times, you had to start over, figure it out, build the team, get to the point of being a championship team – and then winning,” added Bird, who had a total of 37 different teammates on those four squads combined.
“With my Storm experience, I was able to figure it out with three totally different groups.”
The lead-in: After missing the playoffs in 2003 the Storm added some key elements in ’04. They included fiery guard Betty Lennox, steady guard / forward Sheri Sam, and quietly effective center Janell Burse. Along with Bird and Jackson and other returners Kamila Vodichkova, Tully Bevilaqua, and Adia Barnes, Seattle put together an early-season stretch of eight wins in 10 games, then a midseason run of seven wins in eight games.
“We brought in people who had presence, who were vocal, consistent, and who brought toughness,” Bird said. “I can think of games where it was Sheri who stepped up, then multiple games where Betty was the one.”
The record: 20-14, 2nd in the West, 5 games behind Los Angeles, 2 games ahead of third-place Minnesota.
The prelims: After winning two of their final three in the regular season to secure the No. 2 seed, Seattle swept its first-round matchup against the No. 3 Minnesota Lynx, 70-58 in Minneapolis, and 64-54 in Seattle. The conference final was against Sacramento, which stunned league-leading Los Angeles in the first round, 2 games to 1. The Storm lost the opener in overtime on the Monarchs’ court, 74-72, but took care of business during the next two games in KeyArena, 66-54 and 82-62. In the series clincher, Bird had 10 points and an eye-popping 14 assists.
The Finals: That set up the final against the Connecticut Sun, against whom the Storm had split a pair of close regular-season games, winning by five in Seattle and losing by seven in Uncasville.
At that time, all series, including The Finals, were best-of-3, The lower-seeded team hosted Game 1, with Games 2 and 3 at the higher-seeded team.
That meant Connecticut had the opener. The Sun were up 33-29 at halftime, built it to 63-47 with just more than seven minutes remaining, then hung on despite a 17-5 losing run by the Storm to prevail, 68-64.
“When you’re down 1-0 in a three-game series, it’s a lot of pressure,” Bird said. “The one thing we felt good about was the way that kind of unfolded. We went to Game 3 against Sacramento, and the turnaround time was really short. … Where we did feel good going into Game 2 was we slept, we’re at home, we’re a little more calm in a way, and we have our fans behind us.”
The Storm bolted to a 22-10 lead, never trailed, and were tied just once as Lennox went off for 27 points. The Sun’s Nykesha Sales set a WNBA Finals record with 32 points, but her potential game-winning 3-pointer from the corner as time expired bounced off the side of the backboard, as the Storm hung on, 67-65.
That set up Game 3 on a Tuesday night inside another sold-out KeyArena (17,072 fans). Seattle scored the first three points of the game, never trailed, and it was tied just once, at 5-5. It was still close at 51-46 with 13 minutes still remaining. That’s when the Storm put together a 13-2 run to make it 64-48, and cruised in from there for a 74-60 victory.
Bird had just eight points, but also grabbed five rebounds, dished six assists, and came up with two steals.
“The third game felt like from the start we had it,” she said. “I don’t remember what the score was, but I know we won by enough that we were taken off the floor at the end. What they basically said was, ‘We’re not going to let Lauren do this, and we’re not going to let Sue do that. Somebody else has to beat us.’ And in Game 3, Betty did.” (Lennox scored 16 of her 23 points in the second half and was named MVP.)
“Winning the first one, it’s probably the most memorable,” Bird added. “You’ve never felt that feeling, never experienced it, the city has never experienced it, the fan base has never experienced it. It’s the first one.”
The lead-in: Having gone 20-14 before losing to Los Angeles in the first round of the playoffs in 2009 — their fifth straight season of a first-round loss — the Storm kept the core of the team intact with head coach Brian Agler in his third year. Seattle put together a midseason 13-game winning streak, including an undefeated July, and was 17-0 at home on the way.
The record: 28-6, winning the West by a whopping 13-game margin, and tying the league record for most wins in a season.
“I would describe that team as fairly dominant. It was five or so games left in the regular season, and we had already locked up first place in the West and homecourt through the playoffs,” Bird recalled. “But it was done in a unique way, For some reason, we liked to get down and come from behind — we won a bunch of games that way. That was one of the best defensive teams I’ve ever played on.”
The prelims: The Storm swept the best-of-3 West semis from L.A. by margins of 13 points at home and 15 points on the road. Hosting Phoenix in Game 1 of the West finals, Seattle won, 82-74. Then, in one of the signature games in franchise history, the Storm rallied from 88-76 down with 3:21 left, ending the game on a 15-0 run to pull out a 91-88 victory in Game 2 at Phoenix. Bird assisted on Swin Cash’s game-tying lay-up with 36.2 seconds left to make it 88-88, then drained the winning 3-pointer from the right of the lane with 2.8 seconds to go.
The Finals: Exactly one week after her heroics in Phoenix, Bird did it again in Game 1 at home against the Atlanta Dream to start the Finals. This time, her foul line jumper with 2.6 seconds on the clocks made the difference in a 79-77 victory. That was the last of her 14 points. Atlanta still had a shot at it, but Angel McCoughtry’s 3-point attempt fell short. Lauren Jackson poured in 26 points.
With the Finals now a best-of-5 series, Seattle took a 2-0 lead with an 87-84 victory in Game 2. The Storm were up 87-79 inside the final minute before McCoughtry scored five straight to make it a one-possession game. Once again, Jackson had 26 for Seattle. Bird finished with 10 points and five assists, with two baskets and one assist in a 6-0 third-quarter burst that took the Storm from 65-61 behind to 67-65 ahead.
Now off to Atlanta with a chance to close out a three-game sweep. Seattle built an 82-70 lead late in the fourth quarter and was still ahead 85-77 heading into the final minute. The Dream got it all the way down to one at 85-84 with 6.9 seconds left. Camille Little subsequently made two free throws for the Storm, pushing it to 87-84. Atlanta got two shots from 3-point range in the dying moments, but both missed, and Seattle had crown No. 2. Swin Cash led the way with 18 points, and Bird finished with 14 plus seven assists.
“I guess now I can be honest,” Bird said in the postgame press conference. “Losing in the first round has been terrible. It’s something I took personally, and something a lot of us took personally. I judge myself by winning, so not to win in five years really, really hurt.”
The lead-in: After three consecutive first-round losses in the wake of their 2010 championship, the Storm went through a rebuild, with two years of no playoffs (2015, 2016) and two years of first-round knockout losses (2016, 2017). The silver lining was back-to-back overall No. 1 draft choices that brought in Jewell Loyd in 2015 and Breanna Stewart in 2016. Dan Hughes came aboard as head coach in 2018.
“Going into the 2018 season, we were picked to finish somewhere in the 6-7-8 range on paper. This was not a team that jumped out to anybody,” Bird said. “But I think people probably underestimated a few things. One was the jump that Stewie was going to make. Then we added Natasha Howard, just the perfect complement to what we were already building. With that, I had a good year, Jewell had a good year, Alysha Clark stepped up — the player she is now, she really became that in 2018.”
The record: 26-8, 1st in West, 6 games ahead of Phoenix, and overall No. 1 seed.
The prelims: By virtue of its top record, the Storm skipped the two knockout rounds (which now have been eliminated) and advanced directly to the semifinals against a Phoenix team that won a pair of knockout games. Seattle won twice at home, both times by 91-87 scores; the Mercury roared back for an 86-66 win in Game 3, then rallied from a 17-point first-quarter deficit to pull out an 86-84 win in Game 4, setting up the decider in KeyArena.
Through most of the first three quarters Phoenix was on top, and took a 63-59 lead into the fourth. That’s when Bird came up with a performance that is still talked about today, She hit 5 of 6 shots inside the final six minutes, four from downtown and three of those from way downtown, totaling 14 of her 22 points. The Storm went on to win, 94-84.
“It’s probably one of the best little stints of basketball I’ve seen her play, but that’s what she can do,” said the Mercury’s Diana Taurasi, her rival, but also her best friend. “That’s routine Sue to me. Incredible, really. Just an incredible performance by her.”
Even Bird, who’d much rather dish out credit the same way she dishes the basketball, still enjoys reliving that night in the spotlight.
“What’s unique for me is I’ve had game-winning shots, I’ve made passes (for game-winning shots). There have been game-winning moments,” she said. “This was like a game-winning quarter — and not even the whole quarter. To do it in that way and make however many shots I made, that’s a totally different thing that I’ve never done. It was pretty special for me.”
The Finals: Many people thought then — and still do — that the Storm-Mercury series was the Finals. Bird herself remembers thinking, “No knock on Washington. It kind of had that feeling that whoever wins this series is going on to win the whole thing.”
Nevertheless, it was the Mystics on the other side of the court for Game 1 in the Key. The Storm took control early, leading by 16 points at halftime, extending it to as many as 27 during the third quarter and rolling to an 89-76 victory. Jewell Loyd scored 23, Breanna Stewart added 20, and Bird handed out seven assists.
A back-and-forth Game 2 saw Seattle down by three heading into the fourth quarter. But up by one at 74-73 in the final seconds, Bird poked the ball loose from behind Kristi Toliver. A jump ball ensued, Natasha Howard won it, and Alysha Clark hit an ensuing free throw to close out a 75-73 victory.
Could the Storm replicate 2010 and secure another title sweep on the road? They could, and they did, forging a 17-point lead by halftime, seeing the Mystics cut it to five in the third quarter, then quickly pushing it back into double digits on the way to a 98-82 victory. Stewart poured in 30, and Bird racked up 10 assists.
“From a cohesive standpoint, a chemistry standpoint, each individual’s game and how they played — I don’t think I’ve ever been on a team where it fit that well,” Bird said. “Everybody complemented everybody. Nobody expected it of us. We kind of knew we were good. But it wasn’t until later in the season when we looked around and said, ‘Hey, we’re in first place.’ And I remember feeling that in the playoffs.”
The lead-in: It was the most surreal of all seasons. The world was still in the grips of the coronavirus pandemic and its ongoing shutdowns. The WNBA would play — but it would be a shortened 22-game schedule (two games against each of the 11 other teams), entirely at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida — conversationally referred to as “The Wubble” (with a nod to the ‘W’, as opposed to the NBA’s Bubble). No fans were allowed, and players were under strict quarantine rules when they weren’t playing or practicing. The United States also was dealing with social unrest on multiple fronts.
Neither Bird (knee surgery) nor Stewart (torn Achilles) had played during the 2019 season. So heading into 2020, their last WNBA action had been Game 3 against Washington in the 2018 Finals. But Seattle still had the majority of its 2018 title-winning roster.
“That was unique in every way possible,” Bird said. “Basketball, given what was happening socially, almost felt like it was secondary. But it was also primary because we knew we needed to play to have a platform to discuss the things we wanted to talk about. It was all happening at the same time — a lot of stress, probably the most stress any of us had ever been in, given everything.”
The record: 18-4, tied with Las Vegas for 1st in West and 1st overall. (Aces got the No. 1 seed on basis of winning both regular-season games). What’s more, Seattle did that with Bird playing just 11 of the 22 games because of a bone bruise.
The prelims: Similar to 2018, the Storm skipped the two knockout rounds and went straight into the best-of-5 semifinals, taking on Minnesota. The opening game had a dramatic finish as Alysha Clark hit a putback buzzer-beating lay-in for an 88-86 victory. From there, the margins just grew wider: 89-79 in Game 2, then 92-71 in Game 3.
The Finals: In a season that lacked any sense of normalcy, it at least would wrap up with the top two teams playing for the championship. Las Vegas won the two regular-season contests, 82-74 and 86-84.
The best-of-5 opener was tight until Stewart took over. She scored the first 11 points of the fourth quarter on the way to a massive double-double of 37 points and 15 rebounds as Seattle took it, 93-80. Speaking of massive numbers, Bird deal a Finals and overall WNBA playoffs record 16 assists — nine of them on baskets by Stewart.
Bird had another 10 assists, part of a double-double that included 16 points, Stewart tallied another 22 points, and the Storm went manufacturing a 22-8 third-quarter run on the way to a 104-91 victory in Game 2. That put them on the verge of a third Finals sweep.
It didn’t take long in Game 3 to see that the Storm would indeed finish the sweep. Up by nine at halftime, 43-34, Seattle scored 12 of the first 14 points in the third quarter, expanding the lead to 19 and cruising to a 33-point victory 92-59. Stewart was needed for just 24½ minutes and still scored 26 points. Bird played a mere 21:40 and earned another seven assists.
“We were lucky that year because we were one of the few teams where our entire roster came (to the Wubble),” Bird said. “We were already a championship roster from 2018, and we only added to that. We had our starting five back, only better.
“Going in, I felt like it was ours to lose. It was very satisfying when we were able to do it at the end.”
In retrospect, winning four titles was more than Bird thought she would end up with, particularly after the Storm went into that rebuild mode in 2015.
It’s what made the 2018 championships maybe the most meaningful one of all.
“For me, I never thought I would get back to The Finals,” she said. “I thought, ‘We’re in a rebuild. I’m going to do what I can to help leave this organization in good hands, and that will probably be the end of my legacy where I was able to do this.’
“Then, to be in a position where we could make it to The Finals again (in 2018), that was special to me.,” she added. “I remember thinking during that run, especially during the Phoenix series, being up 2-0, then all of a sudden, it’s 2-2 and going into Game 5, I didn’t want that opportunity to slip away. Being in the moment for me, I know how rare this (opportunity) is, and you have to make the most of it.
”That’s what made that season so special,” she added. “And that series against Phoenix was insane.”