Finals filled with former Huskies

The WNBA Finals begin Sunday and one thing is certain: A former UConn women’s basketball will be a 2021 champion.

Either Husky legend Diana Taurasi will lead fifth-seeded Phoenix with a roster that includes Bria Hartley, Kia Nurse and Megan Walker; or it will be Stefanie Dolson and Azura Stevens making history with No. 6 Chicago.

The best-of-five series starts with Game 1 Sunday at 3 p.m. ET in Phoenix, with the possibly of the series running through Oct. 19. The series is a rematch of the 2014 Finals when the Mercury spoiled the Sky’s first finals appearance by winning their third championship.

Phoenix, which finished the regular season 19-13, secured its spot in the finals Friday night by defeating No. 2 seed Las Vegas, 87-84, to win Game 5 of the semifinals series The win advanced the Mercury to the finals for the first time since they beat the Sky seven years ago.

The Mercury earned their spot in the semifinals after advancing with single-elimination wins over No. 8 New York (83-82) and No. 4 Seattle (85-80).

The win over Seattle may have marked the end of Sue Bird’s career. After the game, Bird exchanged jerseys with Taurasi, her longtime friend and former UConn teammate.

“That was pretty powerful, that moment,” UConn coach Geno Auriemma said Friday.

The Mercury will be looking for their fourth title (2007, 2009 and 2014) to tie the league-record, but will do so without Nurse. Minutes into the team’s semifinal Game 4 against Las Vegas Wednesday, Nurse suffered a knee injury that took her out of the remainder of the game. On Friday, an hour before Game 5, the team announced the former UConn guard has a torn ACL and would miss the remainder of the playoffs.

No matter how Phoenix finishes the playoffs, Taurasi will still have something to celebrate. Taurasi and wife Penny Taylor welcomed their second child Saturday morning. The baby girl, initially due on Wednesday, is the couple’s second child following their son Leo Michael Taurasi-Taylor’s birth in 2018.

This will be Chicago’s second finals appearance in franchise history after first losing the title to the Mercury in 2014. The Sky defeated top-seeded Connecticut, 3-1, in the semifinals after also surviving elimination in rounds one (defeated No. 7 Dallas 81-64) and two (defeated No. 3 Minnesota (89-76)).

The Sky are led by Illinois native Candace Parker in her first year with Chicago after spending the past 13 seasons with Los Angeles, including winning the 2016 championship with the Sparks.

Stevens and Dolson — each bidding for their first WNBA title — played roles in Chicago’s win over the Sun.

“It never ceases to amaze me, what our kids do after they leave here,” Auriemma said. “And Chicago might be playing better basketball than anybody else in the league right now. Everybody knew going into the season that they had a loaded roster, they were really, really good. It’s just a matter of if they’d be able to out it all together. They’ve certainly gotten hot at the right time.”

The 6-foot-6 Stevens played for UConn for one season after transferring from Duke,

“Azura, she’s the perfect pro player,” Auriemma said. “She’s long, she can play a bunch of positions. ... Those are the players that are going to be more successful in the WNBA.”

Dolson won two titles at UConn and remains a favorite of Auriemma.

“I don’t know that there’s any team, anywhere, that wouldn’t benefit from having Stefanie Dolson,” he said.