I hope everybody is enjoying the WNBA Playoffs . . . I know I'd be enjoying them a lot more if a Charlotte Sting logo was on all those Eastern Conference Championship t-shirts they were handing out in New York the other night.

Unfortunately, we ran into a really motivated Washington Mystics team at the wrong time. But it's been a month since we last spoke, so let me catch you up on how our season unfolded after the All-Star Break.

We went into the All-Star Game on a two-game winning streak, and we ran it to four games following a 27-point home win over Orlando and a 19-point home win over Sacramento. Needless to say, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves at that point, and we started looking up at the standings at the Mystics, gearing up for a run at first place in the East.

In 2002, Sutton-Brown notched a career-high 11.9 points and six rebounds per game, as well as a .531 field-goal percentage. WNBAE/Getty Images

Our next eight games were against Eastern Conference opponents, so if we could just take care of business in the conference, against teams with records worse than ours, we should have been able to give Washington a run for their money.

We didn't exactly get off on the right foot in that stretch, however, with a one-point loss at Indiana. We rebounded in our next game vs. Cleveland picking up a much-needed road win, albeit in overtime. Then came our worst stretch of basketball of the season. Earlier in the year, we had a four-game losing streak, but all of those losses were on our Western Conference road trip, and three of the losses came against eventual playoff teams. This time around, we lost to Cleveland, Detroit and New York at home, and Orlando and Indiana on the road.

Only the loss at Orlando could even be considered a close loss. The other four came by 10, 8, 21 and 13 points. The 21-point loss was in Indiana again, and we had a team meeting for close to an hour following the game to try and right the ship.

In the meantime, while we were losing six of seven games, Washington was on a losing streak of its own. Rather than worrying about catching the Mystics, though, we now had to worry about making the playoffs, period.

Three of our remaining four games were on the road, and we hadn't been a really good road team up until that point, but we got things rolling in the right direction again in Detroit before picking up wins in Minnesota and New York as well. The New York win was a huge confidence boost. They handled us pretty well at our place, so proving to ourselves that we could still win in the Garden was important. Plus, our road to the Eastern Conference Championship ran through New York last year, and 2002 wasn't shaping up to be any different, as the Liberty had already clinched the number one seed in the East.

Our season finale vs. the Mystics also served as a preview for the first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs. We were tied with Washington for second and already knew we would play the Mystics in the first round. The winner of the finale would pick up the second seed in the East, and home-court advantage in that first-round meeting, as well as some much needed momentum heading into the postseason.

It wasn't an easy victory by any means, but we wound up earning the number two seed with a 10-point win at home. That should have given us all the confidence we needed heading into our best two-out-of-three series with Washington, but the Mystics swept us out of the playoffs in two straight, and our season came to a screeching halt.

In many ways, Washington reminded me of the Sting from a year ago. Despite their great 2002 season, Washington still felt like they had a lot to prove in the postseason, while also having nothing to lose as the newcomers to the playoff party.

As it stands right now, we'll be enjoying New York and Los Angeles in the WNBA Finals, and I'll be back in Toronto later this week to watch the games on WTSN.

After that, my plans include a whole lot of rest and relaxation. I may run some basketball camps in the fall, and I'm still contemplating playing in Korea again this winter. Nothing is set in stone yet, though.

Then, hopefully, it will be back to Charlotte for another run at the title. As much as it hurt to lose in the WNBA Finals a year ago, losing in the first round is even worse. My teammates and I are going to come back even more focused and prepared in 2003.

Thanks for all your support this season, Canada, and thanks to all the fans down in Charlotte and all across the WNBA landscape. Hopefully we can do this again next year. Until then . . .

Check out NBA.com/Canada's Tammy Sutton-Brown photo gallery.