PHOENIX — During a pregame video honoring Seattle Storm star Sue Bird before her last regular-season meeting against Diana Taurasi, the Phoenix Mercury star got in one last rib. «It's time for you to go,» she said, tongue in cheek, on the big screen looming above the court in the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix.
Then Taurasi proceeded to give Bird quite a going away present — beyond the custom Jordan 1s presented to Bird before the game — scoring 28 points while leading the Mercury to a 94-78 win in front of 14,162 people, the third-most in Mercury history.
Bird checked out of the game at the 3:20 mark of the fourth quarter with two points and five rebounds. But the stats and, to some degree, the outcome weren't the story.
The day, the game, the atmosphere were about Taurasi and Bird playing each other for the last time in the regular season before Bird retires at the end of the season.