Storm season ends with OT loss to Phoenix

EVERETT, Wash. – Of course, it was about the last few seconds of the game.

So often when it’s Seattle Storm and Phoenix Mercury in a WNBA playoff bout it is.

On Sunday, those last few seconds were added to overtime … and they belonged to the Mercury.

Katie Lou Samuelson scored 18 points and got five of them in overtime, but Diana Taurasi scored six of her 14 in the same five minutes and Phoenix escaped with an 85-80 knockout win in the second round at Angel Of The Wind Arena.

This ended the Storm’s application for a fifth WNBA title.

It was the sixth time Seattle and Phoenix met in a postseason series, two of which were KO-One gamers. All of these series add up to 14 games. This was the second to go OT and the sixth to be decided after five points or fewer.

While Taurasi put in a couple of big buckets in extra time, it was Sue Bird, her legendary Seattle counterpart, who ultimately enforced that extra period. Bird scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, the last of which came on a 24-foot-3 pointer from the left side of the track, with exactly one minute remaining to tie it at 73-73.

Both teams had additional chances of victory. But Skylar Diggins-Smith missed two free throws for Phoenix with 40.8 seconds to go.

When the shot clock ran out of Seattle’s subsequent possession, Jewell Loyd drove towards the tire, but her runner bounced off the edge. Ezi Magbegor grabbed the rebound and tried the putback, but it was short and was grabbed by Mercury’s Brianna Turner with 12.5 seconds to go.

Diggins-Smith dribbled the ball between the circles while the music box ticked for the last few seconds. She pulled to the left and shot a short jumper, only to see it knock Mercedes Russell away when the horn sounded.

A Samuelson-Trey at the beginning of extra time brought the storm to the top with 76-73 and 4:31 to go. Taurasi responded with an off-balance trey from well above the top of the arch with 3:44 left, then Turner’s lay-in at 2:58 gave Phoenix the lead, 78-76.

The storm made up for it again when Bird found Loyd with an inbound pass under the tire for an easy lay-in and made it 78-78 at 2:34.

But from there, Seattle missed its next five shots while Phoenix scored five points in a row: a short jumper from Taurasi, an easy lay-in from Brittney Griner, and a Taurasi free throw that took an 83-78 lead by just 27.8 Seconds ahead made going.

A Samuelson lay-in shortened the lead to 83-80, 16.7 seconds behind. Kia Nurse returned to a two-possessed game with a pair of free throws after 15.8 seconds. Seattle had two more shots, but Loyd’s lay-in was too short, as was Stephanie Talbot’s 3-hand in the final seconds.

END THE FIRST HALF WITH A HOT HAND

The Mercury, who survived an 83-82 knockout first-round game against New York last Thursday, was quickly out of the blocks on Sunday, taking advantage of a 10-point scoring run to just gain a 5-4 lead over 15-4 four minutes after the start of the game, expand game.

This lead had grown to 12 in the middle of the second quarter by 32:20.

Then the storm was synchronized. They expired the last 15 points of halftime, forcing the Mercury to miss their last 10 shots and go scoreless for the final 5:34. It was Bird who gave Seattle its first lead of the day with 33:32 on a 3-pointer from the left with 1:11 before halftime. The storm went into the locker room at 35:32.

Their run extended into the early part of the third quarter when Bird buried another Trey and Phoenix missed his first three shots. Nurse eventually got the Mercury back on the board with a 3-pointer and ended the drought in 7 minutes and 59 seconds.

By the end of regulation, none of the teams ever led with more than four.

Bird finished the day with 16 points. Russell recorded her third double-double of the year, this with a career high of 12 rebounds, along with 10 points. Loyd, who was targeting a career high of 37 on September 17 when the Storm ended the regular season with a 94-85 win over Phoenix, had 15.

Griner brought in 23 points and pulled down 16 rebounds for Phoenix. Diggins-Smith had 20, and Taurasi added 14.

BIRD, TAURASI SHARE EMOTIONAL MOMENT

After the game, Bird and Taurasi gave a television interview in the midcourt. While they talked, fans sang “One More Year” and Taurasi waved to them to move on. Bird was clearly emotional during the interview and wiped away his tears. The two stars then moved out and swapped their shirts before leaving the pitch.

—— StormBasketball.com ——