“What the f—!” Breanna Stewart verbally reacted when asked why HC Sandy Brondello should return next season after the Liberty’s title defense ended. Stewart, however, made it clear she wasn’t pointing fingers. Ironically, her playing through an MCL sprain in Game 2 got blamed on the coach. Still, Stewart said, “We have Sandy’s back,” and Brondello clearly feels the same. Their bond hasn’t been shaken by the season’s setbacks.

After looking at the efforts Stewart made in Games 1 and 2, HC penned a new name. “Punchy,” she shared before explaining what it means. “I thought in the second game… wasn’t as punchy as she could have been. And but she’s very punchy at the moment. She’s good to go,” she added in the pregame press conference.

So naturally, a reporter asked HC how “huge” it is to have a player like her on the team. And Brondello didn’t even take a second to think and shared, “I think you have to lean into that experience. I kind of compare her to Diana Taurasi and I had the luxury of getting to coach her for many, many years.”

When Brondello makes that comparison, it carries weight—she coached the Mercury from 2013 to 2021 and saw it firsthand. In 2013, Taurasi came back from a season cut short to just eight games, only to average over 20 points again like nothing had changed. In 2019, it was the same story: a hamstring kept her to six games, the Mercury limped into the playoffs as an eighth seed, and got bounced in the first round. But once she was healthy, Taurasi returned in full force.

Then, at 38, Taurasi played through a chest fracture in 2021, then battled a hip injury that July—yet still pushed herself back to lead Team USA in the Olympic opener against Nigeria. That punchy aspect? It’s the same quality Stewart shows time and again. The two even seem to be using the same dictionary.

“It’s been painful… There were times where you kinda gotta grind through the pain and this is one of them. Where I feel good, but there’s still some pain. So at this point, I’ve just gotta make sure I do all the things that make me feel a little bit better to go on court,” Taurasi told ESPN in 2021.

“With injury, there’s probably always a chance, but I’m willing to take that because I want to, I want to be out with my team,” Stewart told reporters after Game 1. “And they told me that, structurally, everything looks okay. So my plan is to go.”

If we hadn’t given you the names, you’d be guessing for two good minutes for sure. As the HC put it better in today’s press conference, “These big games, they live for these big games. You know, I think every player, you can’t be afraid of it. She embraces it and all what comes with it.” Even with fewer minutes in Game 2, the only thing holding her back was the mental hurdle of the injury—something anyone could see, given how tough the physicality had been. But all she does? She’s learned it straight from the greats.

Who’s the inspiration behind Stewart’s success?

With the arrival of the 2024 rookie class, the eyeballs have been on them. But long before they became favorites, players like Lisa Leslie, Candace Parker, and Diana Taurasi laid the groundwork. And Breanna Stewart knows this all too well because she always wanted to emulate this trio while growing up.

“When I was younger, I mean I think the players I definitely paid attention to were like Lisa (Leslie), Candace (Parker), D (Diana Taurasi), not to be like aging them, but obviously to watch them and then play against them in the league has been an incredible thing for me,” Stewart told ESPN nine months ago.

Breanna Stewart was drafted back in 2016, so she never got to play against Lisa Leslie. But she did have a lot of success against the other two. She went 9-7 against Parker, whereas 10-6 against Taurasi in the regular season. So when you see her excelling on court, you know exactly where it’s all coming from. Even during Game 3, she knew Mercury’s got an edge as they’ve been 3-1 against them in regular season series.

So, she took her dominant form. She flowed baseline to baseline, guarding DeWanna Bonner into shooting fouls. She even busted up actions on help-side defense. And just like that, she finished with a game-high 30 points, the second-most by any player in the postseason, along with nine rebounds and three assists. “That’s why she’s the franchise player that she is,” shared guard Natasha Cloud.

And yes, can you tell from her stat line that this player is suffering from an MCL sprain? So while the Liberty lost to the Mercury and were eliminated from the playoffs, Stewie didn’t let them take it away easily!