 Bird knew immediately after her collision with Edwards that she had broken her nose. Jeff Reinking/NBAE/Getty |
From a distance, the prominent purple bruise underneath Bird's right eye made it look like she was wearing eye black, a staple of offensive guards in football, not point guards. That and other bruising around her nose is the most obvious indication at this point that three days ago, Bird was involved in a collision with Minnesota guard Teresa Edwards that left Bird with a broken nose and finished for Game 2 of the Storm's two-game sweep of the Minnesota Lynx. Bird won't be doing any commercials for a while. Basketball is another story.
After finding out the Storm's schedule for the Western Conference Finals, Bird has decided to play the first two games against the Sacramento Monarchs with the nose as-is, wearing the mask. On Monday, the day after Game 2, she'll have surgery to realign the nose, playing the following day's Game 3 if need be.
"You can't wait too long, because then it will set in place where it is. You can't do it too early because of the swelling," said Storm Coach Anne Donovan, who cited five days as the ideal date for the surgery. That would be Sunday, when the Storm plays Game 2, so Bird will wait one more day for the procedure.
"I feel great about Sue, and I cannot tell you how proud of her I am," commented Donovan, who said Bird would start. "It's a pretty big-time injury she suffered, and it's tough to be out there in this game, with so much contact. You lead with your nose. She's not going to miss a beat. I feel great for here. We need her leadership. The example she's setting, just by being out there, being so tough, is exactly what we're made of. That's what the Seattle Storm is. We're a tough, hard-nosed, blue-collar team. There's no better example of that than Sue Bird."
Despite battling patellar chondromalacia throughout last season, Bird has never missed a game (or a start) in her three-year WNBA career, one of 14 active players who can make that claim. Only four of those players - including Los Angeles guard Teresa Weatherspoon, who has played in every regular-season game possible since the WNBA started in 1997 but did not get off the bench because of coach's decision for the first time in her career in Tuesday's Game 3 loss to the Monarchs - have been in the league longer than Bird.
Earlier this season, Storm guard Betty Lennox struggled when playing with a mask after breaking her nose. In five games with the mask, Lennox averaged 7.2 points on 32.7% shooting and 18.8% from three-point range. In her other 27 games, Lennox was at 11.9 points, 43.8% shooting and 28.4% from downtown.
Bird did miss a few attempts from long range early in the portion of practice open to the media, but finished strong and did not look noticeably affected while handling the ball or playing defense.
"The hardest thing is this thing," Bird said, pointing to the mask. "I'm not really worried about being hit. I did once (during the practice), and this protected me, so I'm not really worried about that. The one thing is I have experience with stuff that is more mental than physical - my knee. … The ACL, coming back, your knee's fine. My nose is broken, but it's not going to get in the way of anything. You can't focus on it, you can't think about it."
Unlike Lennox, Bird has not had a problem with headaches since breaking the nose.
Broken nose or no, playing the Monarchs has been a chore historically for Bird because of Sacramento's aggressive perimeter defenders, notably former Storm guard Edna Campbell, who usually defends Bird when she's in the game. In seven career matchups with the Monarchs through 2003, Bird had averaged 8.7 points per game, her lowest mark against any WNBA team.
"They just get up into you. Edna's on my butt for 40 minutes, and it can be hard," Bird said. "This year, I think Betty's helped out a lot, she's able to bring the ball up. That gives me a little bit of a rest at times, so when I do get the ball, I can do more. … You play against a team enough, you get used to it."
Whatever the reason, Bird has had significantly more success against Sacramento this season, averaging 15.0 points per game 61.5% shooting (43.8% threes). Bird's effort was key as the Storm won the season series with the Monarchs 3-1, and her coach will be glad to have her on the court tomorrow as the teams tip off the Western Conference Finals in Sacramento.
"You talk about the ultimate competitor," Donovan said. "I don't think there's a cliché you wouldn't use with regards to Sue."
