1) Well, it was not so much "Expect Ugly" as it was "Expect you'll need to refer to the roster sheet to figure out who's on the court wearing Seattle uniforms." 'Cause missing Sue (who'll be around for a while) and LJ and Swin and Geralds, the Substitution Storm took the Mercury to OT.

It was, as Q put it where Seattle had Seattle Storm: “Absolutely Nothing to Play for Other Than Pride”
it never seemed to occur to the Storm that they were supposed to lose.

It’s as though there is nothing about playing in Key Arena that even begins to imply that they might lose a game, despite home losses this year that serve as objective disconfirming evidence.

And I love that.

Then Taurasi said 'nuff and Phoenix exited Key Arena with the win and home court throughout the playoffs.

2) Speaking of home court: Indy gave up their race to it with a loss to Chicago. From the box, it doesn't look like they were resting peeps, so congrats to Chicago, who's this close to securing that final (?) spot in the East. And Toliver's game (19pts) makes you wonder what's up with the on-the-court one game on-the-bench the next coaching.

By the way, here's an interview with Big Syl from "a Chicago Thing."

3) Is Chicago battling Atlanta, Connecticut, Washington or Detroit for a spot? Who knows, so the Shock - who were Liberty-esque in spotting NY a 19-pt lead and then blowing it - to matters into their own hands. Like, say, recovering behind Tweety (11-of-17 shots, 6-of-11 3-pointers.) and defeating the Lib in OT.

"I couldn't hit either side of the ocean in Minnesota, so I wanted to come out and make some shots tonight," said Nolan. "We knew what we were doing wrong tonight, and we were able to fix it."

I will say, the Liberty Lookalikes (who were Liberty-esque in getting themselves in a big hole and fighting all the way back only to run out of gas) put up some nice numbers. Perhaps this is a pattern they can continue. Next season.

4) Meanwhile, in the other playoff related game, SASS inched closer (I believe they have the head-to-head advantage over Minny) with their defeat of the not-playoff-bound Monarchs largely in part to Becky's (the short one) 27pts.

"Big players step up in big games and that's what she did," Sacramento's Ticha Penicheiro said. "You turn your head against her for a second and she's gone. And her teammates do a great job of looking for her."

And, Coach Binford gives a shout-out to Coach Hughes:

Dan Hughes-Cleveland Rockers, WNBA coach. Dan made the game simple, "play hard, play smart," but his secret was to keep players that would compete in every drill. Good luck to the San Antonio Silver Starzz as the fight to make the WNBA playoffs. I have no doubt they will finish strong.