Jordin Canada's Championship Pedigree Fuels Dream's Upset Bid Against Liberty
The Atlanta Dream point guard is leveraging lessons learned from her early Seattle Storm championship teams to lead her current squad in the WNBA semifinals.
Atlanta Dream guard Jordin Canada is drawing upon her championship experience from her early career with the Seattle Storm to guide the team through its WNBA semifinal series against the Breanna Stewart-led New York Liberty.
Canada, the fifth overall pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft, was part of the Storm team that won two championships during her four seasons in Seattle. She absorbed the habits and preparation of veteran players like Sue Bird, Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, and Alysha Clark, which she now applies as a locker room leader and star point guard for the Dream.
Her pivotal role in the Dream's Game 2 victory over the Liberty, where she scored 23 points and dished out eight assists in a 101-98 overtime win, highlights her current impact. This followed a strong Game 1 performance with 25 points, four three-pointers, four assists, and five steals in a 92-82 win.
Canada credits her rookie season preparation as foundational to her ability to perform under pressure. "The preparation was the most important," Canada stated. "When you come out on the floor, you got to know what’s going on, and so I think just watching that in the role that I was in as a rookie of just making sure I’m staying ready, I’m staying prepared and then when I come out here I know what’s going on, I know what I’m doing, so I think it’s just the credit to watching those players and how they are being consistent in that."
DeWanna Bonner, a veteran player and Canada's teammate on the Dream, echoed this sentiment. Bonner, who was a rookie on the Phoenix Mercury team that won a championship in 2009 alongside Diana Taurasi, emphasized the value of learning from established champions.
"Any time you come into a franchise as a rookie and you have the ultimate GOATs on your team… any time you have that blueprint of what it takes to win the championship your first year, you’re lucky," Bonner said. "You see it. You see how things are supposed to be done, and you kind of just carry that with you in your back pocket each year and you just keep adding to it every year that you’re in it."
Bonner views Canada, at 31, as the leader of the current Dream team. "She’s the head of our snake [on] offense and defense," Bonner commented. "I feel like she’s learned that a lot from Sue and she just put it here."