PHOENIX -- This game was more than one for the record books. It was one to show the grandchildren, not to mention potential sponsors and season-ticket buyers and the mainstream sports fans on ESPN who sell the women's game short.
It was beautiful, competitive, offensive basketball, a showcase for the WNBA and its world-class talent.
It was not, however, a defensive clinic.
But who says defense wins championships? Not the Mercury.
It was the highest-scoring game in league history, an unprecedented display of offensive talent and it ultimately played right into the Mercury's high-scoring hands. But not until the final minute and a half when Phoenix finally nailed it down in front of a boisterous home crowd of more than 11,600.
Diana Taurasi, crowned the league's Most Valuable Player before the game, came up with three huge defensive rebounds and guard Cappie Pondexter hit a pair of big baskets down the stretch to give the Mercury a 1-0 lead in the series.Game 2 will tip off Thursday night in Phoenix and it's got a lot to live up to.
Nineteen lead changes. Thirteen ties. Big shot countered by big shot; a knock-down, drag-out between the league's two best teams.
The WNBA has long been knocked for not offering enough offense. This was more than enough.
"It wasn't the defensive/offensive game that people were expecting," Mercury forward Penny Taylor said, referring to Indiana's reputation as one of the league's toughest defensive teams. "But anybody who saw this game tonight saw amazing displays of talent. I was proud to be a part of it."
Indiana's Katie Douglas, who hit a three-pointer with 7.1 seconds left to send the game into overtime, had to admit it was pretty fun for a while. All, but the ending.
"It's history we don't like because we lost," Douglas said.
And because Indiana played into the Mercury's hands by keeping pace.
"That type of output helps us because in the end, it's about scoring and that's what we do," said Phoenix coach Corey Gaines.
Taylor and Pondexter finished with 23 points each for the Mercury, book-ending their most important contributions.
Taylor had 18 of her points in the first half. Pondexter scored 21 in the second half and overtime periods, sticking with her game even after missing a point-blank follow at the regulation buzzer that would have ended the game.
Taurasi finished with 22 points, nine rebounds and six assists. But her three defensive boards at the end of the game sealed the deal.
"You have to find other ways to contribute and that's one way to get after it in a different way," Taurasi said.
Indiana did not have such a great night from its star player.
Tamika Catchings struggled with foul trouble and finding open shots -- she finished 2-for-7 with eight points when she fouled out in overtime."I let my team down tonight and it won't happen again," Catchings said. "I don't need to be sitting on the bench at the end of a game."
Forward Ebony Hoffman picked up the slack with a career night. Hoffman, the USC product, finished with 27 points, going 12-of-14 from the field as the Mercury defense sagged off.
"They played me not to make those shots, so I had to make them," Hoffman said.
Five Indiana players finished in double figures, Katie Douglas leading the way with 30 points and the 3-pointer with 7.1 seconds to go that sent the game into overtime.
"When the ball goes in, we're real good," said Indiana coach Lin Dunn. "We are a running team. We like to run, so I knew we could run with them."
But the thing that got Indiana here, in its first-ever Finals, was defense and rebounding. And they failed on both of those counts. Phoenix won the rebounding margin 34-27, outscored the Fever on second-chance points 24-15.
"This team shouldn't be out-rebounding us," Dunn said.
The WNBA motto is: Expect great. The league and its fans got more than they could have expected Tuesday night.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Do you think more people watched the game or read this article?
I did not watch the game.
I don't usually watch the wnba until the Belmont Stakes.