'); } -->
Assistant Sports Editor
Adam Thaler
253-597-8512
athaler@theolympian.com
Sports Reporter
Meg Wochnick
360-754-5473
mwochnick@theolympian.com
After the champagne was popped and the celebration was done, the Seattle Storm all wished they could start over.
ATLANTA - Sue Bird jumped into Lauren Jackson's arms to celebrate the Seattle Storm's second WNBA championship and admitted that, after six years of waiting, this title was sweeter than the first.
• Gallery: Storm claims WNBA Championship
It was an odd comment given the circumstances.
SEATTLE - If this is the last time the Seattle Storm plays in front of its home fans at KeyArena this season - and it might be - it wasn't the prettiest way to go out, but it might have been the gutsiest.
SEATTLE - We've seen calm under pressure before: Michel Jordan with the ball as the clock runs down, Joe Montana in the pocket, facing a rush with the game on the line, and Edgar Martinez at the plate with the go-ahead run on second.
So little has gone right in the Seattle sports scene over the last, well, decade, that it's easy to forget that there actually have been some positives.
ATLANTA - Angel McCoughtry needed a few minutes to let it all sink in.
Sue Bird wanted no part of a deciding game with a spot in the WNBA Finals on the line.
Phoenix - There really are no more lessons for the Phoenix Mercury to learn.
SEATTLE - A game featuring two of the three highest-scoring teams in the WNBA was won by a tenacious, physical and active defense by the Seattle Storm, which finds itself one win away from its first trip to the WNBA finals since winning it all in 2004.
SEATTLE - The Seattle Storm-Phoenix Mercury rivalry during the 2010 WNBA season made a clear case that not all 5-0 records are alike.
Once again, the Seattle Storm was just too much for the Los Angeles Sparks.
SEATTLE - While the Seattle Storm coaches scout the Los Angeles Sparks for Game 2 of the Western Conference first-round playoff series, they may want to do a bit of scouting in the area around the Staples Center. Specifically, for any decent trees in the area that Jana Vesela could hug.
SEATTLE - Although the Seattle Storm led the opener of its first-round WNBA playoff series almost from the beginning, a victory still seemed a bit iffy.
SEATTLE - Los Angeles again? Seriously?
SEATTLE - It was appropriate that it happened against the Los Angeles Sparks.
PHOENIX - Swin Cash scored 13 points to help the Seattle Storm beat the Phoenix Mercury, 78-73, Friday night in a matchup of the top two seeds in the Western Conference.
SEATTLE - Lauren Jackson scored 24 points, Swin Cash hit the go-ahead lay-in with 59.3 seconds left and the Seattle Storm rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit to beat the Minnesota Lynx, 68-64, at KeyArena on Tuesday night.
WASHINGTON - Monique Currie made five 3-pointers and scored 25 points, and the Washington Mystics clinched a playoff spot with an 80-71 victory over Seattle on Sunday when Connecticut lost later in the day.
UNCASVILLE, Conn. - Asjha Jones scored 19 points, and the Connecticut Sun kept its slim playoff hopes alive with an 88-68 win over the Seattle Storm on Friday night.