Mercury shows focus on both offense and defense; tie the series at 2-2
By Ellen Martino
The Phoenix Mercury played their brand of basketball throughout Game 4 Wednesday night in Indianapolis, the first game in the series that was not decided in the final minutes. The Mercury showed their offensive prowess, running through the Fever’s defense and returned to their successful fast-tempo style.
"Our strength all year has been in our confidence in our attack, and I felt we got that back," Mercury forward Penny Taylor said after the game. "We were playing with confidence and attacking every single time down floor, and that's hard to defend for 40 minutes."
Where the Mercury gained confidence, the Fever never had its footing. There were surges of offensive play, but they could not overtake the Mercury’s impressive play on both ends of the court. After allowing 33 first quarter points to the Mercury, the Fever made it close in the second quarter, cutting the lead to two by halftime. After the third quarter, the Mercury increased its lead again to 72-65. The Fever trimmed the lead for the last time with a steal and a layup by Tamika Catchings, before they finally collapsed allowing the Mercury to pull away with a 12-2 run.
"In the fourth quarter, nobody wanted to take the shot for them, so they were just passing it around," Forward Brooke Smith said. "That's what we wanted."
Though Catchings played arguably her best game of the series, the rest of the Fever did not perform up to her level. Catchings led her team in points, rebounds, assists, and steals. She scored 24 points on the night, her series best, followed by Ebony Hoffman’s 17. The rest of the team was 11-for-17, and the Fever’s bench shot 2-for-16 for the night.
The Mercury put forth a strong team effort, with every member contributing. Cappie Pondexter led the team in points with 22 for the night, but not far behind was Taylor with 17 and Taurasi and Smith with 16 each. The team shot 10-for-24 behind the 3-point line and 47.8% from the field. The Fever only shot 40.8% from the field.
The series is now tied 2-2 and the final game to decide the 2009 WNBA champion will be played in Phoenix on Friday.
Ebony Hoffman has not been the most talked about Indiana Fever player, but she is certainly making her mark during the 2009 WNBA Finals. In Game 3, Hoffman led the Fever with 18 points and was a game-changer for her team down the stretch.
"In the playoffs, she's stepped up her game and done such big things, especially in the Phoenix series, playing unbelievable, out of her mind," Indiana forward Tamika Catchings said. "That's awesome to see that, especially with the hard work she's put in over the years."
With two big plays down the stretch, Hoffman led the Fever to a 86-85 victory over the Phoenix Mercury. With 57 seconds to play, she hit a long two-pointer, giving Indiana the one-point lead, and on the final play, she blocked Tangela Smith’s shot with 3.4 seconds to play.
Until midway through the third quarter, it looked like the Mercury would come away with the victory in Indiana. Phoenix dominated in the second quarter and led 47-44 at half time. Cappie Pondexter scored 13 points and five assists in the first half, which could have been the difference in the game, had Indiana not turned it around in the second half. Pondexter scored more points in the first half than she did in all of game two. Another difference maker was Le’coe Willingham, who scored three straight points in the third quarter, giving the Mercury a 57-51 lead. She scored 17 total points on the game.
However, it was not Pondexter and Willingham who led their team to a 2-1 advantage in the series. It was Hoffman and January. In the third quarter, January scored 10 points and turned a five-point deficit into a 70-67 lead in the last minutes of the third quarter. January, only a rookie, came off the bench to score a career-high-tying 17 points in the contest.
After Hoffman’s shot that gave Fever their final lead, Pondexter drove to the other end of the court and missed a layout. Catchings rebounded the ball, but the Fever missed two shots on the other end and January dribbled the ball out of bounds, turning it over to Phoenix. On the next possession, Pondexter missed a short jumper and Catchings went for the rebound, but got tied up with Le'coe Willingham for a jump ball. Willingham won the jump ball and gave the Mercury its last possession with 3.4 seconds to play. Pondexter inbounded to Tangela Smith, who missed the final shot as time expired.
The Mercury’s last possession simply was not executed well, as Pondexter’s inbound pass was not intended for Smith.
"It was designed for Penny [Taylor]," Pondexter said. "I think I overthrew the pass and it ended up in Tangela's hands. Tangela got a decent look, and Ebony blocked the shot. We had numerous chances to get a good-looking shot. We didn't execute. Sometimes, that happens."
Catchings contributed with another stellar defensive effort. Following her near triple-double in Game 2, Catchings completed a double-double, with 14 points and 12 rebounds on the night.
Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi scored 18 points, but was only six of 16 from the field and one of six from behind the arc. Taurasi was called for a technical foul with five minutes left, for an elbow she said she didn’t throw.
This was only one of many controversial calls throughout the contest. Before the jump ball in the final 20 seconds of the game, Catchings tried to call a time out, but the referee called a jump ball instead, which led to the Mercury holding the final possession.
Each team battled hard throughout, particularly in the second half, in which there were seven lead changes and three ties.
"Game 3 is probably the hardest we fought out of this whole series, and it's tough when you lose like that," Pondexter said. "So now, it's more mental than anything. Game 4, I think we have to be stronger mentally, and the rest will take care of itself."
The Fever has a chance to close out the series Wednesday night on their home court.
She was just one rebound away from a WNBA record, but for Tamika Catchings, her Indiana Fever’s 93-84 win over the Phoenix Mercury was just as sweet as a personal record. After fouling out in Game 1 with just eight points, Catchings redeemed herself Thursday night in Phoenix, scoring 19 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds. Her 11 assists tied a WNBA finals record and had she netted one more rebound, Catchings would have scored the first triple-double in WNBA Finals history. The Fever’s win ties the best-of-five series at one apiece and gives Indiana home-court advantage in Indianapolis, beginning with Game 3 on Sunday.
For the Mercury, league MVP Diana Taurasi finished with 20 points, but shot just two of 10 behind the three-point arc.
"Do not underestimate Diana Taurasi ever," Catchings said. "For my job, it's to play defense on D.T. [Taurasi]. I give her props, and it's a hard job. ... She is going to look at both these tapes and be ready for Game 3."
The cold-shooting Mercury was without Penny Taylor for most of the second half. The Aussie, who scored all 14 of her points in the first half, took an elbow from Indiana rookie Briann January and left with a cut lip late in the third quarter.
Catchings led six Indiana players in double figures. Ebony Hoffman scored 16, Katie Douglas and Tammy Sutton-Brown each scored 14, and Jessica Davenport added 10. Temeka Johnson had 14 for Phoenix while Cappie Pondexter shot 5 of 16 en route to 12 points. Tangela Smith also scored 12 for the Mercury.
Game 3 tips-off in Indianapolis on Sunday, Oct. 4, at 4 p.m.
“If you didn’t like women’s basketball,” Mercury coach Corey Gaines said after the game, “I think you do now.”
Game 1 of the WNBA finals was a fast-paced, high scoring match-up, the kind of game in which the Mercury play its best basketball. The much-anticipated match-up also broke the record for most combined points in any WNBA game, and many of the players could feel the history being made.
Penny Taylor, who scored 18 first half points for the Mercury, said after the game, "There was just so much unbelievable, pure talent. You could feel it out there. The plays being made -- I was in awe of some of them, especially down the stretch. It was so fun to be a part of."
While offensive prowess was expected from the Mercury, it was near unbelievable for the Fever. Shocking fans and commentators, the Fever performed at the Mercury’s level throughout the entire game. Overall, Indiana shot almost 56% from the field, an extraordinary improvement from their less-than-impressive 43% average throughout the season. They also shot 47.6% from the three-point line.
Such an offensive outpouring was unexpected, as many thought the game would be driven by the Fever’s defensive expertise.
There were moments in the second half in which the Fever slowed down the game, forcing the Mercury to make some mistakes. However, this did not last long and the Mercury-style game came back with a vengeance. Diana Taurasi, who scored 22 points in the contest, was aware of the potential for game two to resemble more of this slow pace.
"Each game could lend itself to something different," Taurasi said of the series. “There were times where they slowed down the tempo, which they might try to do a little more in the next game. But we just have to stay true to who we are."
The performance of the whole team --- not just one or two players --- contributed greatly to the battle. In the first half of the game, unlikely candidates came out to play, making up for stars Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter, and Tamika Catchings committing early fouls. For the Mercury, Penny Taylor’s first half performance kept them in the game, and Ebony Hoffman scored a career-high 27 points for the Fever. In the second half, Taurasi and Pondexter really stepped up, and Katie Douglas broke out at the end, helping the Fever tie the game and bring it into overtime, making up for Catching’s absence when she fouled out of the game. Douglas netted 30 points on the game, the most for any player.
Moving forward, Pondexter expects the same level of play for the rest of the series. "I think every game you see from here on out will be like Game 1 was,'' she said. "Incredible.''
Game 2 of the WNBA finals is on Thursday at 9 p.m.
Indiana/Phoenix WNBA Finals Match-up: A Preview