Weathering the storm

Chasing another WNBA title, Bird still consistently great

Geno Auriemma clicked on the television the other night to watch the WNBA semifinals between the Minnesota Lynx and the Seattle Storm. He saw Crystal Dangerfield. He saw Sue Bird.

“You got a point guard who was just named Rookie of the Year playing against a point guard who is 39 years old,” Auriemma said Thursday. “And they both played for me.

“I was just shaking my head, going, ‘What the hell?’ ”

Although life in the IMG Academy “wubble” may have felt like an eternity for WNBA players, Sue Bird really has played for an eternity. OK, we got our little joke in about how UConn’s Girl Next Door became Grandma Moses.

At the same time, on the eve of the 2020 WNBA Finals, it is impossible not to pay homage to Bird’s unremitting determination to prepare and remain fit through entire calendar years of play and constantly evolve through a process that has led her to become the purest, most accomplished point guard in women’s basketball history.

If they ever play the Big Game in the Sky, Bird sets up the winning basket. Money. Most games played all-time, most assists alltime — the numbers give account to Bird’s longevity.

Here’s a fact that helps document Bird’s sustained greatness as a champion: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won his first NBA championship in 1971 with the Bucks and his last of six with the Lakers in 1988. That’s a record 17-year stretch.

If the Storm beat the Las Vegas Aces in the best-offive Finals, Bird will have four titles over a 16-year stretch dating to the 2004 victory over the Sun. Given the Storm also won in 2018, it’s already at 14.

Chris O’Meara / Associated Press Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird, right, drives around Minnesota Lynx guard Crystal Dangerfield during the second half of Game 2 of a WNBA playoff semifinal last Thursday.