Seattle Storm celebrate Sue Bird in final regular-season home game; Aces play spoiler

SEATTLE — The stage was set for a memorable game Sunday as the Seattle Storm celebrated Sue Bird’s 19 seasons with the franchise ahead of her final regular-season home game in Seattle.

A franchise-record crowd of 18,100 packed Climate Pledge Arena for the Storm’s game against the Las Vegas Aces. Bird was honored with an on-court tribute pregame, a video featuring highlights from Seattle’s four championships with Bird and by former teammates and coaches in attendance.

Only one thing didn’t go as planned: the Aces’ 89-81 victory, which saw them hold off Seattle behind 29 points from forward A’ja Wilson and multiple key buckets in the fourth quarter from guard Chelsea Gray.

“I’m not going to lie, it kinda sucks to lose my last game here,” Bird said when she addressed the crowd postgame. “But it’s OK, I lost my first game here too.”

As Bird’s comments indicated, the loss couldn’t overcome the emotion on a day two decades in the making.

“Outside of the outcome,” she told reporters, “it was a wonderful afternoon for me.”

When Bird took the court to work out more than an hour before the game, she could already feel the energy from fans arriving early and see plenty of her jerseys and T-shirts featuring her in the crowd. By the time the Storm ran out for pregame layup lines, passing a tunnel of her friends and family, including fiancée Megan Rapinoe, Bird noted that fans were already in their seats rather than waiting for tipoff.

This moment was everything for Sue Bird 💚💛 @S10Bird

(via @seattlestorm)pic.twitter.com/b30OkxpgPa

— espnW (@espnW) August 7, 2022

To Bird, the pregame ceremony followed by an important game — Seattle could have moved within a game of Las Vegas in the standings with a win — was reminiscent of Senior Day at the University of Connecticut.

“You have this big ceremony and your parents walk you out and you’re all emotional,” she recalled. “And then it’s like, ‘Oh, you’ve got to play this game.'”

There were still interruptions of nostalgia during…