WNBA FINALS: STORM VS. ACES

October 6, 2020

Sue Bird

Seattle Storm

Game 3: Postgame (2)

Seattle Storm 92, Las Vegas Aces 59

Q. I wanted to talk big picture terms, forgive me for throwing out some numbers. You've now won four WNBA championships, Rebekkah Brunson has won five. Nobody's won six. I just wonder if that's something you think is within reach. You talked about how difficult it was physically, but in terms of your play on the court, it's as good as ever. I just have a follow-up after that.

SUE BIRD: You mean like individually? Yeah, I mean, I don't know. Definitely not thinking about it right now.

If you're asking if it's doable for me, personally, when I said it was hard to be on the court, it was just the getting there. Once I got there, even in training camp before the bone bruise stuff, I felt good. I finally had turned a corner, which was nice. It's still a lot to stay at that level in the off-season. It would be a challenge, not to say I wouldn't be up for it.

But as I've always said, I'm kind of on those one-year plans and I just take it as it comes. I can't get too ahead because then you have expectations for yourself and sometimes your body let's you down. Just got to take it one year at a time and see what happens.

Q. For Stewie, it feels as if she doesn't get sometimes the credit other players get because she doesn't have a game-winning shot. Do you think that ends up underrating her, No. 1, and No. 2, do you think six championships for her, for her group, is in reach?

SUE BIRD: I do, because -- you would probably know better than me and you could probably research this better than I could -- but I don't know of any players of Stewie's caliber, so we are talking MVP-caliber player, not just All-Star, but MVP, and there is a difference, who have won two times in their first four years, or five years I guess now technically -- no, four.

So I don't know of many players that have a start like that, and when it comes to records, whether it's individually statistic-wise or winning championships, even with like the Olympic Team, if you can get there early, then you have a chance of them adding up as you go.

So Stewie is definitely on track, 100 percent. If people are under-appreciating Stewie based on no close games in Finals, that's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. I'm like, I can't even compute it. What does it even mean?

Q. You guys didn't lose in these playoffs. Curious, you had the chemistry advantage is, it's a pretty remarkable thing to have happen. What do you make of it?

SUE BIRD: That's definitely a reality. We had our full roster. We knew that from the beginning that I guess we had a leg up on a lot of teams from that standpoint. We were really lucky. We talked about early, being very lucky that we had our full roster.

With that, this still was a very challenging season with a lot of ups and downs, living in a bubble, being away. So like every team, we had our moments, for sure. I think I said this after the semis, something that wasn't really talked about much was that both Stewie and I going into the semifinals had not played in like a week and a half or so, maybe even two weeks. Then same for AC who tweaked her ankle in that last regular-season game.

I understand what the results were and I understand on paper, it will look like we swept two very good teams in the semis and the Finals. We were still -- interestingly enough, we were still this work-in-progress as we were going. To be honest Game 1, and then Game 2 -- anyways, yeah, if anyone saw Stewie at the parade last year, she's approaching that.

Yeah, I think Game 1 and Game 2 of the semis, we played against a team that was peaking and we had to figure some things out because we were kind of the opposite of peaking. But we did. That's what championship teams do. They find ways. That's why my face looked the way it did when AC hit that game-winner in Game 1 because I knew where we were as a team.

But from there, we definitely started to get better and better and were able to just roll.

Q. I'll ask the question, people beating around the bush of it, when will you decide if next year is the one-year plan and you'll be back to defend this title and potentially play in the Olympics again?

SUE BIRD: Interestingly enough, it's never like this day of decision. I just kind of start working out and I see how I feel. I wish I could give you more, and I'm not trying to be elusive.

Listen, the way I feel right now, if I can go through my off-season and continue to build on that in a good way, I don't see why I won't be playing next summer. I'm not trying to be like elusive but as I've always said, things happen. That's what the last two years have taught me. Anything can happen. So I'm just like, you know, cautiously optimistic I guess.

Q. Because of not knowing necessarily what the future holds, when you win these championships, you have a lot of experience doing it, but is there more of a sense of appreciating it, being in the moment?

SUE BIRD: Absolutely. Absolutely. It's not even just being in the moment. It's understanding that you need to capture the moment. Being younger, you talk about being in the moment and you don't even know what that means. But as an older player, I fully understand.

Listen, out there, it's weird. There's no fans. Like the excitement level -- and just because of the way the game ended with the score, it was kind of this -- we didn't really know how to react.

So I think for me right now, it's a little -- it's almost surreal/shock. I feel like it's all going to hit me a little bit later.

I'll be honest, even today preparing for the game thinking about it, I was getting a little emotional at the thought of potentially winning. I have a feeling it is going to hit later, and for me as an older player, I think it's coming out more emotional than excitement.