Storm
Guards play with style

By Jayda Evans
Seattle Times staff reporter

DAVID SHERMAN / GETTY IMAGES Minnesota Lynx guard Teresa Edwards, who has been in the WNBA only two seasons but brings a wealth of experience at age 40, drives to the basket against Seattle's Betty Lennox on July 30.

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There's a 9-foot bronzed statue in the foyer of Minnesota's Target Center honoring basketball great George Mikan. Mikan, a dominating post player, was part of the NBA's first dynasty with the Minneapolis Lakers, but because the league was low-profile in the late 1940s, he went largely unrecognized.

In 2001, he was commemorated, called the "trunk" of the NBA family tree.

Minnesota Lynx guard Teresa Edwards could easily be enshrined next to him.

Winner of four Olympic gold medals, she started her trek to dominance in the 1980s when women's basketball was about as popular as disco music. She played overseas and helped start the now-defunct American Basketball League (ABL), but when it was engulfed by the WNBA, Edwards refused to cross over for four seasons.

Many believed the WNBA would be incomplete without her. And during the span, names like Dawn Staley, Ticha Penicheiro and Teresa Weatherspoon emerged as the game's leading veteran point guards.

Edwards, 40, was hardly mentioned until the Olympics rolled around.

"I didn't hear about Teresa Edwards until probably the 1996 Olympics," said Storm guard Sue Bird, who is 17 years younger. "They (women) weren't on TV and I was young. But once the leagues started, I started to know that she was one of the players who really put women's basketball on the map."

Saturday Seattle @ Minnesota, 11 a.m., Game 1 of WNBA opening-round playoffs

Edwards' knowledge is what could make Seattle's best-of-three playoff series against Minnesota about leadership, nullifying anything tandem posts Lauren Jackson and Kamila Vodichkova (Storm) and Nicole Ohlde and Vanessa Hayden (Lynx) do in the paint.

The Storm (20-14), the Western Conference's No. 2 seed, left today for Minneapolis with Game 1 set for 11 a.m. Saturday.

The Lynx (18-16) is without Olympian and leading scorer Katie Smith, who had knee surgery earlier this month. Yet, the Lynx are 5-5 in her absence, holding the No. 3 seed. When the season started, many thought Minnesota would finish last in the conference.

"They have Teresa Edwards, who is a great leader; she has enough experience for everybody on that team," said Storm forward Sheri Sam, who played for the Lynx last summer.

Edwards stops short of calling herself a leader, though.

"I never really wanted to be anybody's leader," she said by phone after practice yesterday. "When I do speak up, it's just emotion. Naturally, the kids look to me, but I want to be looked at as a person just like them. At the same time we have a job to do, and knowing that makes it easy to communicate. That's what I like, communicating."

Ohlde, a rookie, said it's Edwards who calms the Lynx when players are frantically running their offense. And that Edwards is the one who calls out teammates to play stronger defense.

Or breaks into a jig?

	JIM BATES / THE SEATTLE TIMES Guard Sue Bird looks to lead the Storm to its first playoff victory.

"Yeah, every once in a while she (Teresa) likes to bust out the dance moves," Ohlde said with a laugh. "She can dance, but I don't have a lot of room to talk.

"Sometimes I forget she's 40 and we're 22. She's such a decorated player and knows so much about the game, it means a lot to help us learn and get better."

Bird is also regarded as on-court heady.

She's travel tested, having already collected two NCAA titles and an Olympic gold medal before her 24th birthday. But she played only 89 minutes during the Olympic run and has always been surrounded by great players, including her high-school and AAU teams, on which all the starting seniors received Division I scholarships.

Bird's leadership style is more laid-back than Edwards'. She creates a cool environment through her love of hip-hop music and movie one-liners, but is still reserved.

"I don't know why Sue's like that, she's always been that way," said her mother Nancy. "She needs time to warm up to you, then she's OK. But Sue is very loyal. Once you're her friend, you're her friend forever."

That's why Bird would like to win a championship with this Storm team.

A quirky group that'll spend time bowling and shopping with each other makes up the enduring experiences that motivate Bird to win titles with her teammates. She returned from her Olympic experience on a tear, averaging 15.8 points and 5.8 assists in Seattle's last nine games, which is above her season numbers of 12.9 points and 5.4 assists. But the Storm was 3-6 during the stretch, missing Jackson for three games.

One of the losses was a 64-61 decision to Minnesota at the Target Center. Edwards, playing in her second WNBA season, basked in the Storm's flat defense, scoring a season-high 18 points.

In fact, Edwards' top two games this summer were against the Storm, scoring 17 points in the May season opener. She's averaging 5.7 points and 2.3 assists in 20.5 minutes.

"I don't feel young, I feel healthy," Edwards said. "I've been really blessed, and loving the game so much, I've been too afraid to get out of shape."

Bird, returning from a knee injury last season, has improved her defense, yet still struggles against older or more athletic guards who freestyle.

"Sue Bird is still one of the best point guards in the game," said Storm coach Anne Donovan, who coached Edwards in the ABL and played on the 1984 and 1988 Olympic teams with her. "It's always nice to see Teresa play well, I just don't want her to do it against us."

Both teams described this week's practices as "intense," although Ohlde said she didn't like having a week off before a playoff game. Seattle was 2-1 against the Lynx during the regular season, going 1-1 at the Target Center.

The Storm is the only WNBA team that hasn't won a playoff game, getting swept 2-0 by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2002. That was Bird's rookie season. Two summers later, she's not afraid to take what she wants on the court.

"I feel like our destiny is more in our hands," she said.

Jayda Evans: 206-464-2067 or jevans@seattletimes.com

Copyright © 2004 The Seattle Times Company

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