Taurasi sees daughter’s birth after win

Diana Taurasi made it back home in time to see her wife Penny Taylor give birth to a baby girl — the couple’s second child. Taurasi flew back to Phoenix from Las Vegas immediately after helping the Mercury beat the Aces in Game 5 of their semifinal series. She had 14 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter of the 87-84 win on Friday night. The league’s all-time leading scorer playfully said in a postgame interview to Taylor to “hold it in babe.” Taurasi had a plane waiting for her for the short flight and then took a car straight to the hospital to see the birth. Taylor gave birth at 4:24 a.m. local time. Taurasi has the Mercury back in the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2014. Up next is a familiar foe — Candace Parker and the Sky. These two teams met seven years ago for the championship — the last appearance for either team. Taurasi and the Mercury swept that series. They’ll begin the best-of-five series in Phoenix on Sunday. It’s the first time since the WNBA changed its playoff format in 2016 that neither of the top two teams made it to the finals. Phoenix was the fifth seed and Chicago the six.