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"When we're off the court, it's going to be friends as normal," said Storm forward 
Lauren Jackson, "but I think just with an air of tension and finals looming, we're definitely all going to be going hard at it."
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Sue Bird and 
Diana Taurasi, friends and teammates at the University of Connecticut, have added Jackson as a mutual close friend. The three hung out during the past off-season and lived together while leading Spartak to a Russian SuperLeague Championship.
Throughout the season, Bird and Taurasi have maintained a shared blog on WNBA.com, going back and forth with each other.
Penny Taylor are Australia's top exports to the WNBA. Variously teammates and opponents since age 12, they've teamed up to play for the Australian Institute of Sport as well as the Australian National Team. Together, they led Australia to the World Championship last fall, with Taylor named MVP of the tournament.
Ashley Robinson has been friends with Taurasi since they were teenagers and played AAU ball against each other. Rivals at UConn and Tennessee, they started their careers together in 2004 in Phoenix.
During the week of preparation for the game, players on both sides have continued to stay in touch.
"Yeah ... not really about that game," said Bird of her conversations with Taurasi. "We do that blog; we have fun with it. For the most part, when you step on the court, that's when it's game time. Otherwise, it's talk about other things."
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On the court, Jackson and Taurasi - who has guarded her in the box-and-one defense employed by the Mercury - have enjoyed some physical exchanges and plenty of light moments during the regular season. Jackson has said the strategy, which requires Taurasi to follow her around the court, means she ends up laughing at Taurasi but also frustrated.
Jackson doesn't expect the laughter to continue during this series.
"I think that as soon as we walk into the gym tomorrow night, it's going to be pretty much high tension," she said. "During the season, there's been some "ha ha" moments. I don't think that's going to happen tomorrow. I don't think there's going to be any smiling moments. I just have this feeling. I think that it's going to be a full-on dogfight out there - elbows flying, people are going to get hit."
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Paul Westhead was asked during the conference call for playoff coaches whether Taurasi has given him any scouting information about Bird.
"No," answered Westhead. "She doesn't tell me anything other than what their favorite restaurants are and things like that. We've never had any conversations along those lines. I know they're good friends, but I think they keep all of that off the court and when they're on the court like all of us, they get after it."
Taylor, meanwhile, jokingly sees her long history with Jackson as potentially working to her benefit.
"Maybe I'll talk to her, distract her and make her laugh a little bit," Taylor told reporters in Phoenix. "We'll see."
The nature of the relationships in this series provide some unique challenge to the players involved in terms of balancing friendships and their desire to win and advance in the postseason. Ultimately, though, they agree that the series should prove an enjoyable one - especially if the Storm has the upper hand.
"It's always fun, but you want to win," said Robinson. "We really want to win a championship this year, and we've got to get through Phoenix first, so we're really focused on beating them, friendships or not."
"I'm sure we'll hang out with them when we get to Phoenix," said Bird, who shared in her blog the tradition that the loser buys dinner after a game. "That shouldn't change. You can be competitive on the court but friends off."
"It's very weird, but it's going to be fun," said Jackson. "This is what we love about competition, right?"
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