ATLANTA — Sue Bird jumped into Lauren Jackson’s arms to celebrate the Seattle Storm’s second WNBA championship and admitted that, after six years of waiting, this title was sweeter than the first.
“I’m going to be smiling for a long time,” Bird said after the Storm completed its undefeated march through the postseason, beating the Atlanta Dream 87-84 on Thursday night for a three-game sweep in the WNBA Finals.
After losing in the first round of the playoffs five straight years following their first title, Bird, Jackson and the Storm are champions again.
“I guess now I can be honest,” Bird said. “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 to not win in five years really, really hurt.”
The Storm made up for the long gap between titles by dominating the 2010 season. Seattle was 28-6 during the regular season — tying the league record for wins — before sweeping each of its three postseason series.
Bird and Jackson are the only players remaining from the Storm’s 2004 title team.
“I think the roads have been completely different,” said Jackson of the two championships. “After the last six years, it definitely has taken a long time to get here.”
Jackson, who had 26 points in each of the Storm’s first two wins in the series, had 15 points and nine rebounds and was selected MVP of the Finals.
Swin Cash scored 18 points to lead a balanced offense as Seattle overcame 35 points by Atlanta’s Angel McCoughtry.
The Dream star, who set a WNBA-playoff record with 42 points in the Eastern Conference finals clinching win over the New York Liberty, tried to rally Atlanta with nine points in the final 2:30. But McCoughtry and Coco Miller missed 3-pointers in the final six seconds, setting off a celebration by Seattle’s players.
Atlanta reached the Finals in only its third season and only two years after setting a WNBA record with 30 losses.
“I think we have grown up quite a bit this season,” Atlanta coach Marynell Meadors said. “Maybe another minute on the clock might have made a difference in the outcome.”
