Storm will open WNBA playoffs against two-time defending champion Aces

It’s Las Vegas.

The Storm will start the WNBA playoffs against the two-time defending champion Aces, who are attempting to become the second team in league history to win three straight titles.

Game 1 in the best-of-3, first-round series is 7 p.m. Sunday at Michelob ULTRA Arena.

Game 2 is 6:30 p.m. Tuesday in Las Vegas and the series shifts to Seattle on Thursday for Game 3, if necessary.

“We have to go through the best to get to where we want to be,” coach Noelle Quinn said. “Word on the street is they wanted to play us or they preferred to play us. Cool. Bring on the matchup.”

For months, the Storm and Aces were on track for an early collision in the playoffs when the New York Liberty, Minnesota Lynx and Connecticut Sun raced to the top of the standings early in the season.

In the past few weeks, Seattle and Las Vegas jockeyed for the coveted No. 4 seed, which guarantees homecourt advantage in the first round.

Following Thursday’s 89-70 win against the Phoenix Mercury in the regular-season finale, the Storm finished 25-15 and 8-7 after the Paris Olympic break.

Meanwhile, the red-hot Aces climbed past Seattle in the standings while winning nine of their final 10 games, including an 85-72 victory against the Storm on Tuesday to finish 26-14.

“The reality of it is Vegas is good,” Quinn said. “They’re the defending champs. They have a lot of firepower. They have a lot of reps together and experience. They’ve been through the trenches. We have yet to go through the trenches like they have, but a game like this kind of shows us who we can be to prepare us for the postseason.

“We’re going to need everybody from 1-11. In order to beat Vegas, we have to have an A-plus effort. Period. We can’t show up and think that we cannot have the correct mindset in order to compete with them and beat them.”

It will be the third time Seattle and Las Vegas meet in the playoffs. Since sweeping the Aces in the 2020 Finals, the Storm are 4-15 against Las Vegas, including a loss in the 2022 semifinals — the last time Seattle was in the postseason.

“This team, this year is special,” said backup center Mercedes Russell, one of four holdovers from 2022. “Adding Nneka (Ogwumike) and Skylar (Diggins-Smith) was huge for us in the offseason and it’s paid off.”

And the Storm appear to be peaking at the right time considering they’ve won five of their last six despite Jewell Loyd (right knee) and Ezi Magbegor (concussion) sitting out the past three games.

“I do feel these last few games the rhythm that we’ve been playing in is good going into the playoffs,” Ogwumike said. “Without two of our starters, it’s giving people the opportunity to get out there and to contribute in a way that we know that they can.

“That’s what I feel best about, being able to win while also having people feel good about being out there is most important going into the postseason.”

Their final playoff tuneup might also serve as a historical footnote if rumors are true and Mercury great Diana Taurasi retires after the season, which would put an end to arguably the greatest career in WNBA history.

During her 20-year tenure — all with the Mercury — the No. 1 overall WNBA draft pick in 2004 won three league titles, made 11 trips to the All-Star Game and was voted to the All-WNBA team 14 times.

Taurasi is also the league’s all-time scoring leader with 10,646 points.

Anticipating the 42-year-old superstar might retire — No. 7 seed Phoenix plays No. 2 Minnesota in the playoffs — the game drew a capacity crowd of 11,333 at Footprint Center Arena that included Taurasi’s best friend and former Storm star Sue Bird, former soccer standout Megan Rapinoe and UConn women’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma.

The Mercury recorded a tribute video for Taurasi, who is a free agent in the offseason, that included her wife Penny Taylor and several former Phoenix stars titled “If This Is It.”

“We started the game off with a lot of passion and a lot of desire,” Quinn said. “Our execution was very sharp. That kind of gave us a big cushion to do a lot of things like subbing early. … This was an important part of the process and keeping (the starters) under 30 minutes was pretty good as well.”

The Storm, who began the game last in the league in three-point shooting (28.5%), connected on five of their first seven attempts behind the arc to race out to a 25-9 advantage midway in the first quarter.

Seattle shot 68.2% from the field in the opening period while building a 35-14 lead — the most points in a quarter this season.

However, the Storm converted just 3 of 12 shots in the second quarter and were outscored 17-8 — their fewest points in a period this season.

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Leading 43-31 at halftime, Seattle put the game away in the third quarter while building a 65-42 lead near the end of the period.

Ogwumike led the Storm with 17 points and eight rebounds while Diggins-Smith had 14 points and six assists.

Russell had 14 points and eight rebounds, Sami Whitcomb chipped in 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists, Gabby Williams added 10 points, five rebounds and six assists and Joyner Holmes tallied 10 points and 10 rebounds off the bench.

It was a dominant performance for Seattle, which shot 44.9% from the field, including 13 of 36 on three-pointers.

Most of the Storm starters watched the fourth quarter from the sideline and jumped with excitement when rookie Nika Mühl stripped a player at midcourt and raced ahead for a fast break layup — her first points of the season.

Brittney Griner led Phoenix (19-21) with 11 points while Sophie Cunningham and Natasha Mack each had 10.

Taurasi, who had nine points, momentarily checked in with 3:11 left and quickly subbed out while the crowd gave her a standing ovation.

Perhaps for the final time, the Mercury star addressed the crowd and said: “If it is the last time, it felt like the first time. I love you guys.”

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