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Sue Bird. The All-Star practiced for the first time since breaking two bones in her face nearly two weeks ago, wearing a new protective facemask.
"She looked pretty good," said Storm Coach 
Anne Donovan. "I didn't see a lot of rust, but I think she was a little bit winded and somewhat frustrated with the mask at times. She's got another day to work through it before she plays."
"I felt really great out there today," said Bird, who missed four games because of the injury, with the Storm going 2-2. "I feel like I've been in good shape all season, so maybe (the time off) will be good."
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"What's different from last year is I have a piece that goes across my lip," Bird explained.
The mask also does not extend as far onto Bird's forehead.
"As per request (by me), they lowered the forehead so it's not as much in my hairline," said Bird. "More in terms of how it looked. It would pull my hair down and it drove me nuts."
In addition to today's practice, Bird also tested out the mask over the weekend when she worked out on her own. The fit still isn't quite perfect, so the process of getting it right continues.
"I was able to tell (Athletic Trainer) Annmarie (Henkel) to tell the guy - he's coming to the game on Wednesday - 'Oh, this is sticking here,' or, 'This is bothering me there,'" Bird said. "He'll be able to fix it."
No matter how well the mask fits, having a piece of plastic on your face creates vision problems, and Bird feels that her ballhandling is affected more than anything else.
"I think the hardest part for me is probably the ballhandling, because it takes away a little bit of your peripheral vision, especially down," said Bird, who demonstrated by placing her hand in front of a reporter's face.
(In six games wearing the mask during last year's playoffs, Bird averaged 2.5 turnovers per game, virtually the same as her regular-season average (2.56).)
Bird doesn't feel her shooting is affected, and that certainly didn't seem to be an issue during the portion of the practice open to the media. Working against the male practice squad, the Storm's first-team offense got on a roll, with Bird hitting three 3-pointers in a span of a couple of minutes.
"There's definitely a mindset you have to have," said Bird. "You can let it bother you or you can't. Hopefully I'm going to not let it bother me."
The only concern the Storm has about Bird going into her return to game action Wednesday when the Storm hosts Connecticut (7:00 p.m., 
) is conditioning. It will have been two weeks between games for Bird, her longest layoff within the course of a season during her WNBA career.
For the rest of the roster, a three-day break over the weekend from practice proved just right.
"I think the trainer told me everybody looked like they were 16 before we started," said Donovan. "I haven't heard that in a long time."
The Storm's centers particularly benefited. 
Janell Burse was able to get her head clear after suffering concussion-like symptoms following a blow to the head in Wednesday's game (she did not practice last Thursday), while 
Suzy Batkovic was able to get some much-needed rest after a whirlwind first two weeks with the Storm.
"She's on the right time zone now," Donovan said of Batkovic. "I think body and mind are in the same place, which I don't think up to this week had happened."
