SEATTLE — In a perfect world, the Seattle Storm playoff game Sunday would have ended in the most storybook fashion possible. It was all written, ready to go to print — a plot line from here to eternity.
The Storm were less than a second away from an emotional masterpiece. It was a finish that would have made a perfect climactic scene for the biopic they'll make one day on Sue Bird's brilliant WNBA career. Game 3 of the semifinal playoff round was stacking up as one of the most exhilarating triumphs of any Seattle basketball team, any level, ever. The roar inside of Climate Pledge Arena was seismic.
But then real life intervened, as it has a bad habit of doing. And instead of a rousing, heart-stopping, heartwarming victory to put the Storm on the verge of yet another trip to the finals — and punctuate Bird's final playing days with one more signature moment, maybe her John Hancock flourish — the Storm were left heartbroken and reeling.
