Sue Bird’s final WNBA championship run ends in Storm’s loss to Aces

The Las Vegas Aces ended the Seattle Storm and Sue Bird’s pursuit of a WNBA championship on Tuesday night with a 97-92 victory in Game 4 of their semifinal matchup.

Chelsea Gray scored 15 of her 31 points in the fourth quarter, as the Aces closed out the series in Game 4. She scored 12 of the Aces’ final 20 points.

“When Chelsea is rocking and rolling my biggest thing is just getting the hell out of her way,” Aces forward A’ja Wilson said after the game. “At the end of the day, you just got to get out of the way and let people rock.”

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On the mind of many after the game was Bird. The basketball legend announced in June that the 2022 season would be her last. The 13-time All-Star finished with eight points and eight assists in 36 minutes.

“Kinda weird. Definitely surreal. I think initially … I felt sad about the season and the game. And I then think as the emotions started to come to the surface that was also what I know deep down in that was my last game,” Bird said after the loss.

Fans chanted “Thank you, Sue!” at the end of the game, leaving the Storm star emotional.

“I also wanted to kind of have one last moment to say thank you, to soak it all in because in some ways, it is a happy thing. I’m proud of everything we’ve accomplished here,” she added.

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Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird reacts to fans chanting “Thank you Sue” after the Storm were eliminated from the playoffs with a loss in Game 4 of a WNBA basketball playoff semifinal to the Las Vegas Aces, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022, in Seattle.
(AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Aces coach Becky Hammon called the moment “bittersweet.”

“It’s kind of like the girl that beat Serena (Williams). It’s bittersweet,” Hammon said. “I know myself and our staff and team and organization have so much respect for Sue. She’s had a fairytale career, one that kids dream of. She got to live it.”

Bird will wrap her career as one of the most-decorated players in women’s basketball history. She is a four-time WNBA champion, two-time NCAA champion and five-time Olympic gold medalist

It will be the third WNBA Finals appearance for the Aces in franchise history. The team, formerly known as the Utah Starzz, San Antonio Silver Stars and San Antonio Stars, made it to the finals in 2008 but lost to the Detroit Shock in three games.

The Aces made it to the Finals in 2020 but lost to the Storm then.

Seattle Storm guard Sue Bird, #10, walks into the locker room after playing her final game, a Storm loss to the Las Vegas Aces in a WNBA basketball playoff semifinal, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022, in Seattle.
(AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

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Since moving to Las Vegas in 2018, the Aces have made the playoffs for four of their first five seasons. The team made it to at least the semifinals each of those four times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.