SEATTLE (AP) - Diana Taurasi wasn't the scoring leader in the WNBA's regular season. She wasn't voted as best defender, either.

She was both when it mattered most, at the start of the playoffs.

Taurasi scored 22 points and bullied Lauren Jackson defensively with elbows and arm locks to lead the top-seeded Phoenix Mercury over the Seattle Storm 101-84 in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference series Friday night.

"If she catches the ball down low, it's pretty much two points, and an 'and-one.' So we try to limit how much she touches it down there," Taurasi said of Jackson.

Taurasi's successor as league's scoring leader this summer scored just 16 points - eight below her average - on 5-for-10 shooting in 34 minutes. Jackson went more than 16 minutes without a shot in second and third quarters, while Phoenix turned a five-point lead into a 17-point runaway.

"Uh, no. I couldn't have imagined that," Mercury coach Paul Westhead said of Jackson being so quiet against his 3-2 zone with Taurasi as a rover and a box-and-one.

Jackson said what Taurasi does "is definitely frustrating. I get a little more attention from her," than other defenders in the league.

"I didn't even realize I didn't have any shots in the second quarter. Man, I don't know what to say, honestly," Jackson added.

"I did what I could."

Penny Taylor also upstaged Jackson, her fellow Australian, with 22 points as Phoenix earned its first playoff win since Aug. 27, 1998. The Mercury lost the final two games of that series to Houston, then two straight in the first round in 2000, and hadn't been back to the postseason until Friday.

They now head home, where they were 12-5 this season, for Game 2 on Sunday. Game 3, if necessary, would be Tuesday in Phoenix.

"We know they can beat us, because if you add it up now it's 2-2 this season," Westhead said, alluding to the season series.

But Seattle won't win with Betty Lennox leading it with 23 points and taking 10 more shots than Jackson.

"Absolutely not," Storm coach Anne Donovan said sternly, knowing her team is on the verge of a third consecutive exit in the first round after winning the league championship in 2004.

"We are not going to make it to the second round with Lauren Jackson taking 10 shots."

With Hall of Famer Bill Russell courtside watching what could be the Storm's final game in Seattle, Taurasi thoroughly outplayed Jackson. Russell, who lives in suburban Mercer Island, Wash., occasionally attends games of the NBA's SuperSonics, but rarely if ever one for the Storm.

Sonics and Storm owner Clay Bennett has said he will begin the process to move the Sonics if the Seattle area can't produce an agreement for a new arena by Oct. 31 - and that he may take the Storm with him. Bennett was not at Friday's game. A Storm spokesman said he had a prior commitment with his daughter.

As Jackson and her dejected teammates left the court, the crowd of 8,833 stood and gave one - and perhaps final - roar.

"I thought I was going to cry," said Jackson, who has made it clear she does not intend to move if the Storm does. "It's was one of those moments, like, 'Oh, my God!"'

Jackson then tapped her chest and took a big gulp. Her eyes moistened.

"But we can't think like that, that it's over."

Taurasi wrestled with Jackson through elbows and shoves in the back in the low post while the game was in doubt. Stymied, Jackson eventually had to take her game outside - with the rest of the Storm. Consecutive 3-pointers by Lennox briefly got Seattle back within 84-73 with 6:11 left and had the home crowd roaring. But Cappie Pondexter, who had 21 points, connected before Taylor followed with a steal and two free throws to put Phoenix up 88-73.

"How about that Penny Taylor!" Taurasi shouted, pounding a table three times.

The Mercury led by 12 at halftime and Taylor drove past Jackson - who was named the league's defensive player of the year before the game - for a layup 4½ minutes into the third quarter to make it 54-36. Kelly Mazzante's 3-pointer off an offensive rebound put them up 67-45 with 3:10 left in the period.

Consecutive wide-open 3-pointers by Taurasi put the Mercury up 43-29 with 3:48 left in the opening half. Taurasi was 6-for-12 and had 17 points in the half.