Watch the defending champs in Everett while you still can

EVERETT – Let me tell you a personal story from Seattle Storm.

One of the facts about being a sports journalist is that your relationship with the sports fandom is changing. At least it worked for me. When sport is the job, viewers tend to lean from enthusiastic boosterism to cold practicality, even when not reporting on the game. Because of this, I go to games much less in my free time than I used to and instead save a lot of my free time for interests outside the sports world.

But there I was in the KeyArena on September 4, 2018 for game 5 of the WNBA Western Conference final between the Storm and the Phoenix Mercury.

I think I’d been in a Storm game before and that was in the early days of the franchise. But I was blown away by the experience. The building was full and the fans went nuts. And the basketball caliber shown was not only surpassed in terms of teamwork and ball movement, as it is often called in the women’s baskets, but also in terms of individual dexterity. The Storm won 94-84 to win the winning game and then won the Washington Mystics in the championship series to claim their third WNBA title. It was one of my best fan experiences in the last decade.

All of that I say: come to a Storm playoff game while you can.

The Storm will begin their 2021 playoff run on Sunday lunchtime when they host the same Mercury in a second round in one game at Everett’s Angel of the Winds Arena.

And yes, I know this happens on a Seahawks Sunday, but the Seahawks have 14 more of them this season (well, Sundays, Mondays, and Thursdays). This could be your last chance to see the storm in Everett.

The Storm has been without a permanent home since the 2018 season, as the KeyArena has been gutted and replaced by the Climate Pledge Arena. Seattle played a handful of home games at Angel of the Winds in 2019 and then played them all at Everett that season.

But that’s probably the end. The Climate Pledge Arena will be ready next season, and when I texted Alisha Valavanis, Storm CEO and Team President, asking if the team could play one-off games at Everett in the future, she replied, “It’s closed early to know. “

This year’s playoff home games, which are all played at Angel of the Winds, could thus signal the end of Everett’s foray into the great professional sport.

It may also be a chance to see a champion in person. Seattle is the reigning WNBA champion, and the Storms were the favorites earlier in the season. Seattle justified those odds early on, jumping to a 13-2 record. However, the Storm have been a little embarrassed since the Olympic break, surpassing their last 12 with 6-6 and falling back to 4th place. Seattle had to defeat Phoenix in their final game last Friday at Angel of the Winds, only to keep the number 4 and a playoff goodbye in the first round.

This won’t be Seattle’s first playoff game at Angel of the Winds. The Storm defeated the Minnesota Lynx in the first round of 2019 84:74. But this situation was not the same. Seattle played the entire season without its two biggest stars, Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart due to injury, and the Storm was just happy to make the playoffs.

In contrast, this team is a contender. Bird, the greatest point guard in women’s basketball history, is in full swing despite his age of 40. Stewart may remain the best player in the world despite being questionable for Sunday’s game as she missed the last two regular season games due to a foot injury. And all Jewell Loyd did was score 37 points – 22 of them in the first quarter alone, equating the WNBA record for points in a quarter – in the Seattle season finale.

They are top athletes. The best of the best in their sport. And they’re looking for a championship here in Everett.

“The way we played on Friday, I wish we could fill that,” said Storm coach Noelle Quinn on Monday. “I wish we could use this energy, this effort that we played with on Friday and pack it up for our next game.

“The biggest thing is that I feel like we enjoyed ourselves. I think when we play like that I think we’re a very good team. ”

So go to Angel of the Winds on Sunday when this “very good team” takes the first step towards consecutive championships. You may not get another chance.

Follow Nick Patterson on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.