MERCURY 104, DREAM 95
Taurasi and Co. will host 1st-round playoff game at Wells Fargo Arena
Brittney Griner, center, of the Phoenix Mercury battles for position against Elizabeth Williams, left, of Atlanta on Friday night at Taking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix.
The Phoenix Mercury’s big three came up bigger than ever Friday night, assuring a first-round home playoff game.
Center Brittney Griner, guard Diana Taurasi and forward DeWanna Bonner had eye-popping doubledoubles in a 104-95 win over Atlanta at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
Griner had 33 points and tied her career-rebounding high with 18. Taurasi scored 27 and for the second game in a row had a career-best 14 assists. Bonner put in 21 points and, in her 300th WNBA game, had a career-high 16 boards.
The Mercury (19-14) needed all of that plus 16 points from guard Briann January to put away the secondplace Dream (22-11), who lost for the first time in seven games and the first in four since forward Angel McCoughtry suffered a season-ending knee injury Aug. 7.
“There’s crazy numbers going up right now,” said Griner, who was just three points off her career-scoring high. “I’m just glad I’m able to be a part of it and kind of make history right here with those two great players beside me.”
“It’s pretty insane,” Taurasi added. “You definitely don’t see it in college or the WNBA. The NBA has 1,000 possessions in one game, so those numbers are all just inflated and gaudy. But to do this in a 40-minute game is pretty impressive.”
Depending on regular-season finale results Sunday, the Mercury will finish fifth or sixth in eight-team playoff seeding. They will host a single-elimination, firstround playoff game against Minnesota or Dallas on Tuesday at Arizona State’s Wells Fargo Arena due to a concert conflict at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
Dallas will finish in eighth place and play the fifthseeded team, which could be the Mercury, in the first round.
Phoenix closes at home against New York on Sunday. It could finish in a fourth-place tie with Los Angeles and Connecticut but would lose that three-way tiebreaker and finish fifth. If LA loses to Connecticut on Sunday and Phoenix wins, the Mercury also are the fifth seed. If Phoenix and LA lose on Sunday, the Sparks are the fifth seed and the Mercury sixth.
The Mercury beat Seattle in a first-round playoff game at ASU last year and went on to reach the final four for a fifth consecutive year.
“It’s great not to have to get on a plane Monday and have to fly cross country,” Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said. “We’re with our home fans. We struggled at home a little bit this year, but we’re playing much better now, and you see the energy of the crowd, that certainly helps us.”
Up next
The Mercury will close the regular season with a fifth consecutive home game at 3 p.m. Sunday against the New York Liberty, 7-25 going into Friday at Seattle.