Watch Game 2 of the WNBA Finals between the Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces via a free live stream on Sky Sports' website, app and YouTube channel on Sunday at 8pm
Sunday 4 October 2020 11:25, UK
Serial winner Breanna Stewart aims to add another famous victory to her long list of accolades as the Seattle Storm face the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA Finals.
Stewart scored a game-high 37 points as the Storm struck the first blow iin the series with a 93-80 victory on Friday night. Game 2 takes place at 8pm on Sunday and you can watch the action unfold via a free live stream on skysports.com, the Sky Sports app and Sky Sports' YouTube channel.
It looks like everything comes so easily for Stewart on the basketball court.
In any given game, you will see her switch onto players to act as a shot-blocker or a perimeter stopper. She can jostle for a rebound with the best. On many occasions, Seattle Storm's guards will not call for an outlet pass because Stewie will bring the ball up and set up an offense as well as any starting point in the league.
Stewart runs to make underrated screens with her discreet strength and is just as big a threat rolling to the rim or popping for a jump shot. She can post with her back to the basket, facilitate from double teams as a decoy within the offense, and nothing ever looks forced.
For team-mate Alysha Clark, it's a joy to share the court with someone who is so well rounded. She told Sky Sports NBA: "To have a post that can rebound and take the ball up the floor, that can shoot from outside, that can post up, that can shoot pull-ups, that is active on the defensive end, that has a high IQ - those players are rare. There are times when I've been overseas and come back and been like 'man, what a luxury it is to have you as my post'. She makes everybody around her better, on and off the court."
As a rookie, Stewart averaged 18.3 points, nine rebounds, three assists with a steal per game and nearly two blocks. Those numbers got even better during her playoffs first playoffs, and they have improved every season since.
But this level of success should not have surprised anyone after she became the first ever player in college basketball - men's or women's - to win four straight NCAA championships and four Most Outstanding Player awards during March Madness.
In 2016, she became the WNBA Rookie of the Year and won a gold medal with Team USA at the Rio Olympics. An All-Star in 2017, the following year saw her win MVP and a WNBA championship, as well as a gold medal at the FIBA World Championship, where she also won the MVP.
Last year, she won the EuroLeague MVP while playing for Dynamo Kursk in Russia, and her list of accomplishments was on track to become one of the best players of all time.
Storm head coach Gary Kloppenburg has been around the block in the NBA and the WNBA. He said: "I haven't coached many players who are as complete as her with her work ethic and her knowledge of the game and ability to play in big time moments in the clutch. Not many people are able to play like that, men or women.
"Throughout the years, I've coached against some of the great ones; LeBron, Kobe. As far as her basketball acumen and her ability to find a way to win, she ranks right up there with that group of players."
There is no doubt Stewart has been one of the hardest workers to reach this point, but when it looks like everything comes so easily, you could be in danger of forgetting how hard it can be at times.
In the 2019 EuroLeague Championship game, Stewart landed on Britney Griner's foot and tore her Achilles, which put her out of action for nearly a year. It was a painful time and a mentally draining period, but she has returned with fresh motivation.
Stewart told Sky Sports NBA: "Being out last year I think kind of made me appreciate winning a little bit more. It made me appreciate being on the basketball court a little bit more, especially when I wasn't able to do it, so I'm just happy to have the opportunity and happy to be back."
Earlier this year, Stewart returned to Russia to play for UMMC Ekaterinburg at the end of the EuroLeague season and got her legs back. Upon returning to Seattle ahead of the WNBA season, she and Sue Bird knew they had to make the most of their time together after they were both injured in 2019.
Bird said: "We are very deep. We knew that coming in. We have five players coming off the bench who have been starters in this league, who have been contributors in this league, so when you have a team that deep, you want to be able to keep all the pieces together and keep them cohesive and build that chemistry."
There have been some changes to the squad beyond Kloppenburg taking the reins. The team will be without defensive pest and three-point shooting scrapper Sami Whitcomb as she left Florida to be with her partner for the birth of their child.
The team is also developing back-up center Ezi Magbegor - a young Australian who helped her national team win Commonwealth Games gold in 2018 with Liz Cambage in foul trouble - and Stewart has been a big part of that.
Magbegor said: "It was quite difficult to make the transition. The WNBA is quite a different league. 'Stewie' has been in the WNBA for a few years now and she knows the process, so she has been helping me out. She has been in my ear at practices and at games, reminding me of the little things, like sprinting to screens. To have that constantly in my ear has been very helpful."
It is those little things that Stewart has perfected. That's why it all looks so easy, so effortless. Setting screens correctly, making the right pass, knowing when to score and from where on the floor, making the right rotation on defense. She does it all for one thing: "Winning is the reason I play basketball," she said.
"I play basketball to win. If you win or lose dictates how you feel the season went. And to be back in the Finals is exactly where we wanted to be. We know that coming into this season we weren't satisfied with anything but bringing the trophy home."
The Storm will not have an easy ride to winning another championship - which would be the franchise's, and Bird's, fourth. They have to go through the Aces, who boast one of the best coaches in league history and this year's MVP in A'ja Wilson.
The Aces finished with the top seed in the playoffs and beat Seattle in both games during the regular season, but Bird was missing from each and Stewart missed one.
The Storm still will not have a complete roster in the Finals without Whitcomb, but their captains are feeling fully healthy for the first time all season and had three clinical games against the Minnesota Lynx.
After losing the Finals opener, Las Vegas will approach Game 2 determined to restore parity at the earliest opportunity.
But Seattle have regained their chemistry and everything has started to look easy again for Stewart - it must be winning time.
Watch Game 2 of the WNBA Finals between the Seattle Storm and Las Vegas Aces via a free live stream on Sky Sports' website, app and YouTube channel on Sunday at 8pm
