Breanna Stewart Drops 22 as Storm Take 2-0 WNBA Finals Lead over Aces

The Seattle Storm are one win away from the fourth WNBA championship in the history of the organization and their second title in the past three seasons. 

Led yet again by superstar Breanna Stewart, the Storm defeated the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday 104-91, taking a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. 

MVP A'ja Wilson and the Aces now find themselves in dire straits, needing to pull off a sweep against Stewart, Sue Bird, Jewell Loyd, Natasha Howard and the loaded Storm. Seattle is balanced, plays incredibly unselfishly (33 assists) and disciplined (the Aces had just five free-throw attempts).

Las Vegas is resilient. A comeback isn't out of the question. But it would be no small feat given Seattle's star power and championship experience. 

Key Stats

Breanna Stewart, SEA: 22 points, five assists, four rebounds, 5-of-8 from three

Sue Bird, SEA: 16 points, 10 assists

Natasha Howard, SEA: 21 points, eight rebounds

Alysha Clark, SEA: 21 points, six assists

A'ja Wilson, LVA: 20 points, seven rebounds

Kayla McBride, LVA: 14 points, five assists

Angel McCoughtry, LVA: 17 points, eight rebounds

Emma Cannon, LVA: 17 points, five rebounds

Stewart Was Sniping on Sunday

It's hard enough to stop Stewart inside the arc. But when she's raining down threes, she becomes basically impossible to defend. 

Stewart shot a solid 36.8 percent from deep during the regular season, so her five threes on Sunday didn't exactly come out of nowhere, but it was too much for the Aces to overcome. She's been the best player in this series, and it's not particularly close, following up a 37-point performance in Game 1 with a barrage of threes in Game 2. 

The Storm have enough talent to weather a cold streak from Stewart if it ever happens. But Stewart has been so incredible in this series it's hard to see a way back for the Aces. 

Wilson Has Been Good; She Needs To Be Great

There has been a resounding "but" to both of Wilson's performances in this series. In Game 1 she had 19 points, but it came on 6-of-20 shooting from the field and couldn't keep pace with Stewart. She posted 20 points in Game 2 but went nearly nine minutes between the third and fourth quarters without a point, watching the Storm run out to a 13-point lead in that time. 

Dropping down to 2-0 all but writes the obituary on the Las Vegas season—since 2005, no team has overcome that deficit in the WNBA Finals. The only chance they have is for Wilson to not only play up to an MVP level, but to also find another gear. 

That's no small task against a Storm team with a slew of excellent defenders, from superb individual defenders like Howard and Alysha Clark to taller presences inside like Stewart and Mercedes Russell. If Wilson doesn't dominate in Game 3, however, this series is over. 

What's Next? 

Game 3 is scheduled for Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN.