Facing another elimination game, Mystics are unfazed
WASHINGTON — Ask point guard Natasha Cloud whether the Washington Mystics mind the pressure of an elimination game and she will happily rattle off a few reminders.
Start with rookie Ariel Akins’ 20-point effort that helped clinch the WNBA semifinals against the Atlanta Dream in Game 5 and work backward. In Game 4 of that series, Elena Delle Donne scored 15 points while playing through a bone bruise in her left knee as the Mystics staved off elimination. Before that, there was that single-elimination game against the Los Angeles Sparks in which every Washington starter scored in double figures. Rewind even further. Remember when Kristi Toliver scored a season-high 32 points in yet another single-elimination game against the New York Liberty to push Washington into the semifinals last year? Cloud does.
“We do play our best when we’re under pressure. Everyone steps up,” Cloud said Tuesday at EagleBank Arena on the George Mason campus. “I’m very excited for tomorrow.”
The Mystics have won five of six playoff elimination games dating back to last season, a history that gives third-seeded Washington confidence heading into Wednesday night’s win- or-go-home Game 3 of the WNBA Finals against the Finals Game 3 (best of five) Tonight, 8 p.m. TV: ESPN2 TELEVISION HIGHLIGHTS NASCAR Autos top-seeded Seattle Storm. Thanks to a 75-73 victory Sunday, the Storm carries a 2-0 series lead into the Mystics’ temporary home in Fairfax, Virginia, while renovations continue at Capital One Arena.
Washington is trying to become the first team in WNBA history to overcome a two-game deficit in a best-of-five Finals series.
“We’ve actually been pretty relaxed,” center LaToya Sanders said. “We’re not sulking, acting like the series is over. You’re supposed to win on your home court. We’re back home — sort of — and it’s our job to protect home court. We’ve always been good with our backs against the wall.”
Washington is desperate for a win, but Cloud stressed that putting too much pressure on Wednesday’s game could be paralyzing.
Avictory in Game3keeps the Mystics in the running for the franchise’s first league title, for a chance to truly prove themselves against a championship team such as the Storm, which has two league crowns.
A title would check off major holes in the resumes of Delle Donne, the 2015 WNBA MVP, and Mike Thibault, Washington’s coach and general manager. Andit would make the Mystics front-runners next year in the hierarchy of hungry, talented and exciting young teams in the Eastern Conference.
“Honestly, I think this whole time we’ve been the underdog, Seattle’s been the favorite in most people’s eyes,” Toliver said. “But I think we know that we’re the better team.”