If the broken nose bothered Sue Bird as she was raining threes in the fourth quarter of Game 5 to send the Phoenix Mercury packing and her team to a trip in the WNBA Finals, it was hard to notice.
Across the country, Elena Delle Donne wasn’t letting a painful bone bruise suffered in Game 2 from pushing her Washington Mystics team to their first-ever Finals appearance.
Despite the setbacks, the two, bruised and masked, will face off in the first game of the best-of-five series on Friday in Seattle.
When Delle Donne went down at the end of Washington’s Game 2 loss to Atlanta, it wasn’t clear that she would return this season, much less in strong enough form to be able to play more than 30 minutes a game.
“It just really didn’t feel good and to see it back, it looked really bad,” she said. “I’m super blessed the diagnosis wasn’t horrific.”
The 2015 season MVP was running down the court in the fourth quarter of her team’s loss to Atlanta last week when her leg appeared to give out. The clip, which was so gruesome to watch that one ESPN commentator asked her own network to stop airing it, showed what looked like a season-ending – and what would have likely been Mystics’ playoff-run ending – injury.
Meanwhile, in Seattle’s Game 4 against Phoenix, Bird was facing a familiar feeling. Her face had an unfortunate meeting with teammate Breanna Stewart’s elbow. She left the game, which Phoenix would go on to win, in the second quarter with a broken nose.
Delle Donne missed Game 3 (the Mystics lost 81-76) and returned for Game 4. She started, played 34 minutes, scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
“We got our Superwoman back,” Kristi Toliver said after the game.
In Game 5, Delle Donne added 14 points and 11 rebounds in her team’s 86-81 win. “Every time I pound on it and run on it, it’s adding to the bruising,” she said Thursday. “I can’t say that it’s getting better, but it’s not getting worse. So that’s a positive.”
AP Photo/Nick Wass
AP Photo/Nick Wass
It wasn’t surprising that Bird returned for her team in Game 5, wearing a protective mask – she’s broken her nose five times and worn masks in three previous WNBA seasons – but she didn’t appear to be hindered by it at all. She scored 14 points in less than seven minutes to lead her team to a comeback win and punch a ticket to the Finals.
“In some ways it was good that I’ve had experience in the past wearing the mask,” she said on Thursday, pointing out that she was familiar with the vision limitations it causes. “I don’t love wearing it, but, hey, it allows me to play. So we have a love-hate relationship going.”
Delle Donne and Bird are expected to play on Friday. The burden is hardly completely on them. For Seattle, Bird’s far from the only threat – Stewart, the league MVP, had 28 points in the Game 5 win. Bird said on Thursday that it’s all going to come down to their defense.
“With a team that’s so prolific offensively you have to be able to limit them. So I think taking care of the glass is going to be huge,” she said.
In the Mystics’ Game 5 win, Toliver had 19 points and rookie Ariel Atkins had 20 to take some of the pressure off of Delle Donne.
“Especially with me struggling with the knee and all, I know that they can carry me and have my back,” Delle Donne said. “Whatever it is I can bring, I know they’re going to do whatever possible to win the games.”
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