As the Seattle Storm’s players saunter onto the floor in Bradenton, Fla., for Game 2 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday afternoon, their coach fidgets nervously on the oversized “lucky” chair in his Buckeye State living room. He is roughly 1,000 miles away.
Far from his team, Dan Hughes is surrounded by screens: his phone, iPad and television, plus two additional monitors that allow him to see every replay at least three times, plus his computer, on which he’s watching the game with me over Zoom. He slugs from water bottles as if he’s just emerged from a month in the desert, such are his nerves.