Phoenix Mercury edge out Seattle Storm 75-70; Qualify for the WNBA Western Conference Finals
Games like tonight are what make basketball so exciting to watch - an epic encounter that kept crowd on the edge of their seats until the final second.
It was the third game of a best of three playoff series between Seattle Storm and Phoenix Mercury. Seattle Storms held the home court advantage and had beaten Phoenix Mercury earlier this month. They also had a tremendous record at Key Arena as coming into the night; they had only lost 2 of the last 40 played.
The odds were in the favour of Seattle Storm but the gods weren’t and it took the brilliance of Candice Dupree and the last two seconds of the game to stun them.
Candice Dupree was magnificent on the night. With the scores tied at 75-75, it looked like the game was heading to overtime. That is when Phoenix Mercury forward Penny Taylor managed to get a hand on ball and quickly passed it to Candice Dupree who hit a jumper with 1.9 seconds left on the clock and won her team the game, series and a place in the Western Conference Finals.
Candice Dupree finished with 20 points while Penny Taylor chipped in with 17 points.
Seattle Storm started the game on a high and completely dominated the first quarter, ending it with a lead 20-9. They, in fact were ahead of Mercury Phoenix for most of the game. Mercury took its first lead in the last quarter at 60-59 with seven minutes, courtesy a jumper by Candice Dupree.
And the balance kept shifting every minute after that.
“It just see-sawed,” Sue Bird from the losing team said who ended with match high 22 points. Sue Bird gave her team a 57-54 lead by scoring a 3 pointer at the end of third quarter.
Mercury Phoenix changed their strategy in the last quarter by increasing the size of line up and also strengthening the defense. ``We didn't want to get beat inside,'' Phoenix coach Corey Gaines said after the game. `They were trying to throw the ball to Lauren (Jackson) the whole game.''
With 1: 38 minutes remaining and Phoenix Mercury leading, Lauren Jackson knocked down a three to tie the game and after Mercury again canned a two, Sue Bird delivered with 10 seconds to go to tie it 75. However, the willingness to make a play with the clock running down made the difference and when Candice slammed a putback, the Seattle Storm season was over.
``All of a sudden the buzzer's going off and there's this wait-a-minute moment,'' Bird said. ``This is one of those things that doesn't set in until a day, two days, a week.
``Right now, it just feels like we have a game in two days, we must. Obviously we don't.''
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