Down 17, Mercury rally past Sun to reach semifinals
UNCASVILLE, Conn. - Slowly but surely, the Phoenix Mercury ground away at both their 17-point deficit and the Connecticut Sun in Sunday’s WNBA second-round playoff game.
Three straight, and late, 3-pointers by Phoenix finally broke the Sun.
Leilani Mitchell, Diana Taurasi and Monique Currie made three successive 3-pointers with over three minutes left as the fifth-seeded Mercury rallied to beat the fourth-seeded Sun 88-83 and advance to the semifinals for the second straight season.
Phoenix trailed 37-20 with 7:18 left in the second quarter.
The Mercury used their skill – and considerable edge in playoff experience – to gradually overcome their deficit.
“We called a timeout, and I think everyone was just searching for something,” Taurasi said about being down 3720. “There comes a time in games if you are just going to lay down or fight back and try to get back into it. And at that moment, we said, ‘Lets’ just go back, take each possession, and try to do our best.’ And we did that.”
The Mercury advance to play the defending world champion and secondseeded Los Angeles Sparks in the bestof-five semifinals. Game 1 is Tuesday at Los Angeles (7 p.m., ESPN2).
It’s the second year in a row that Phoenix has had to win two straight games, including a second-round road game, to get to the semifinals.
“You fly cross-country,” Taurasi said. “You’ve got to play a team that has been playing well, that has played really well at home. There was a moment tonight where they were going on all cylinders and we weren’t necessarily playing great.
“It’s not easy, but we find a way. And hopefully we can take this momentum and make something happen further down the road.”
Phoenix’s Brittney Griner added: “We’ve got to stop putting ourselves in this position. But you know what? We’ve done it so many times, we know what to expect now.”
Griner led the Mercury with a gamehigh 26 points with nine rebounds. Taurasi added 23 points and four assists.
Mitchell had 12 points, five assists, and was a pest toward any Connecticut player who brought the ball up court. Rookie Yvonne Turner made a gamehigh three 3-pointers for 11 points with four assists, and Currie had 12 points, six rebounds and four assists off the bench.
Phoenix’s playoff experience was evident as the game wore on, whether it was finding a way to score a tough basket or using their wiles to induce foul calls.
Griner made 12 of 14 free throws. That was 10 fewer attempts than Connecticut had as a team.
The Sun missed nine of 11 field goals in the final 5:08 of the game.
“It helps a lot,” Mercury head coach Sandy Brondello said about the team’s veteran leadership. “The best of all of them is Diana Taurasi. She is the GOAT (greatest of all-time) and she loves these big-time plays.
“She brings poise and confidence out on the court, which is great. It’s not just putting the ball in the right people’s hands. In the big moments, she will make the big play as well and you saw that tonight. She was very good for us.”
Jonquel Jones, who was named the WNBA’s Most Improved Player before the game, had 19 points and 15 rebounds for the Sun. Alyssa Thomas added 20 points and 10 rebounds.
Connecticut led by a point with 3:35 left in the game when Mitchell hit her goahead 3-pointer.
Taurasi and Currie followed to give Phoenix an 84-79 lead with 2:31 remaining.
“(That) was the back-breaker,” Sun head coach Curt Miller said of that sequence
Griner added about the comeback: “That’s experience … We could’ve easily been like, ‘Well, they jumped on us (early). Let’s throw in the towel. But we’re not a throw-in-the-towel team.”