Lauren Jackson showed in her return from a hip injury what a difference she makes as the Seattle Storm aim for a second consecutive WNBA title.
Jackson scored 20 points in 21 minutes to help the Storm rally for a 63-62 win over the New York Liberty at KeyArena on Saturday.
“She got a lot out of her minutes, didn’t she?” Seattle coach Brian Agler said. “She played well. We’re a different team, obviously. You’ve got to give everybody credit for keeping us competitive without her. But we can be much better with her.”
Katie Smith hit a 3-pointer with 73 seconds to go to put Seattle (14-12) ahead after New York led, 62-57. The victory moved the Storm into third place in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of San Antonio.
Sue Bird had 14 points and Camille Little 11 for Seattle.
Jackson, a three-time league MVP, returned after missing 20 games. She played the first five games of the season before tearing a labrum in her left hip.
“I don’t think I looked forward to playing basketball as much as I did before this game for probably 10 years,” Jackson said.
Jackson shot 6-for-10 from the field, including 3-for-5 on 3-pointers.
Plenette Pierson had 15 points for New York (15-12).
Kia Vaughn missed a 13-footer with 6.9 seconds left that would have given the Liberty the lead. Essence Carson then stole an inbound pass with 3 seconds left but had the ball stripped by Bird.
“The official choked the last play,” New York coach John Whisenant said. “They were trying to foul and he choked. There is not a whole lot you can do about that.”
Bird said she stripped the ball cleanly.
“I personally don’t feel like I fouled,” Bird said. “I was going for the ball. In my mind, I was going to get the ball clean or I was going to foul her. There was no way I was going to let her shoot a layup to win the game.”
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