PHOENIX - Sue Bird wanted no part of a deciding game with a spot in the WNBA finals on the line.
Thanks to her clutch shooting, the Seattle Storm won't have to worry about that risky proposition.
Bird made a tiebreaking three-pointer with 2.8 seconds left Sunday and the Storm closed out the Western Conference finals with a 91-88 victory over the defending champion Phoenix Mercury, closing the game with a 15-0 run.
"I know I didn't want to play Phoenix in Game 3, that would have been very, very hard, even on our home court, it would have been very difficult," Bird said.
"So the best part about that shot, the best part about winning this game, is the series is over and we have a week to prepare, and to rest."
Diana Taurasi, who finished with 28 points, missed a contested three-pointer at the buzzer for Phoenix.
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The Storm earned its seventh consecutive win and advanced to the finals for the first time since it won it all in 2004. The Storm will meet the winner of the Eastern Conference finals between Atlanta and New York.
"The last five years we haven't gotten out of the first round," Bird said. "For us, there is almost a series of humps - we had to get over the hump to get out of the first round, to be in the Western Conference finals."
Swin Cash had 23 points and eight rebounds, helping Seattle erase an 88-76 deficit with 3:21 left in the second game of the best-of-three conference finals.
League MVP Lauren Jackson added 20 points and eight boards while Bird finished with 16 points, eight assists and five rebounds.
"I've seen her do this multiple times in the last three years, just hit crucial shots at the end of the game," Storm coach Brian Agler said of Bird. "It wasn't a hard decision about who to go to at that time."
Phoenix missed shots on three consecutive possessions in the final 1:35, the last being Tameka Johnson's short layup against Bird. Bird grabbed the rebound and called timeout with 23.7 seconds on the clock.
Seattle's plan was to find Jackson or Bird for the final shot.
"We were going to put Tanisha (Wright) in a pick-and-roll and try to get some action on the back side with Sue and Lauren and we thought that one of them might get freed up," Agler said. "Fortunately Sue got freed up."
The Mercury, which finished second in the West despite a 15-19 record, went 0-7 against the Storm this year, the first time a team has recorded that many wins against one team in a season in league history.
"We did everything we wanted to do except win," Johnson said. "It just came down to getting stops and we didn't get them when we needed to."
Johnson had 15 points and 12 assists for Phoenix, which had won two of the last three WNBA titles.
Cash sparked Seattle's big rally with a three-point play with 3 minutes left and Jackson, who had been held relatively quiet, had five points in the final 2:33. Cash converted a tying layup with 36 seconds left after a Jackson offensive rebound.
"We had chances to win, we just didn't get it done," Taurasi said. "Not only tonight but throughout the whole year."
• Dream 81, Liberty 75: In New York, Angel McCoughtry scored 13 of her 21 points in the fourth quarter, leading Atlanta to victory in the opener of the Eastern Conference finals Sunday night.
Sancho Lyttle had 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Erika DeSouza added 12 points and 11 rebounds for the Dream, which scored the final seven points of the game over the last 45 seconds.
Cappie Pondexter scored eight of her 24 points in the final 4 1/2 minutes, and her two free throws put the Liberty ahead 75-74 with under 55 seconds remaining, but it didn't score again.
