Mercury in WNBA Finals
Norm Frauenheim
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 1, 2007 09:48 PM
It's beginning to look like a bubble that will never burst. Maybe, that's why the Mercury had some real champagne this time.
In a season to celebrate, the celebration continued without a playoff loss and another sweep that swept the Mercury into the WNBA Finals with a 98-92 victory over San Antonio at US Airways Center on Saturday.
The milestone victory, earning the Western Conference championship, was marked by T-shirts, caps and some real bubbly unlike the fake stuff that was splashed around a month ago after the Mercury clinched a playoff spot.
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Any kind of championship is heady stuff for a franchise that had not even ventured into the postseason since 2000.
Now the Mercury are one of the last teams standing after winning two in a row in the best-of-three series against San Antonio.
"I believe we're going all the way," said Cappie Pondexter, whose 33 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists were brilliant reasons to believe she's right.
For more champagne, the Mercury, 4-0 in the postseason, will have to get past either Indiana or Detroit.
It will be Indiana if the Fever win at Detroit today. The Fever won Game 1 at home Friday in the Eastern Conference's best-of-three series. If a Game 3 is necessary, it will be Monday at Detroit, the WNBA defending champion.
No matter who the opponent is, the WNBA Finals will begin Wednesday. The Mercury are 0-2 against Detroit and 2-0 against Indiana, but that doesn't exactly explain why they would prefer to play Indiana.
The best-of-five series would open at US Airways Center - Game 1 on Wednesday and Game 2 on Saturday - if it is Indiana. The Mercury have a better regular-season record than the Fever. But Detroit has that edge over Phoenix, which means Games 1 and 2 on the same days would be on the Shock's home floor in Auburn Hills, Mich.
"At the end of the day, I'm a practical man," said Mercury coach Paul Westhead, who under one arm cradled the game ball, which included autographs from each of his players.
"I'll take the three at home. I'd take three at home against the San Antonio Spurs."
As it turned out, the San Antonio Silver Stars were trouble enough.
They led 47-42 at halftime because of Shanna Crossley, who had 17 points, including 5-for-9 shooting from the three-point distance, through the first two quarters. Crossley would score only three more points because of the Mercury's defense.
After that, it was lots of Pondexter and one huge play by Mercury forward Penny Taylor.
The Silver Stars, who tied it at 84-84 with 2:26 left, were within three about a minute later. With 1:05 left, their threat and season ended, however, when Taylor hit a three-pointer and was fouled by Marie Ferdinand-Harris. Taylor sank the subsequent free throw for a four-point play.
"They were doubling on Cappie because they couldn't stop her," Taylor said. "So I was pretty much open."
Pretty much deadly, too.
San Antonio coach Dan Hughes had seen it all before. As Cleveland's WNBA coach about seven years ago, he drafted Taylor, then a 19-year-old in Australia.
"It was that play, Penny's play," said Hughes, who likes the Mercury's chances to win the championship. "Having a history with Penny, I kind of knew then that we probably weren't going to win.
"I kind of flashed back to when she was 19."
who cares....honestly.
