Subscribe to Full Court Press
WNBA Finals: Phoenix Prevails in OT, 120-116, to Take Highest Scoring Game in WNBA History
By Bob Corwin
Correspondent
& Lee Michaelson
Publisher
After struggling early on, Cappie Pondexter came on strong late in the game to carry her Phoenix Mercury to a 120-116 overtime victory over the Eastern Conference Champion Indiana Fever in Game One of the WNBA Finals. Pondexter led her team with 23 points and three assists.
Photo Credit: Full Court/Lee Michaelson
“Well, if you didn’t like women’s basketball, I think you do now!” said Coach Corey Gaines after his Phoenix Mercury prevailed in overtime to take the first game of the WNBA Finals series, 120-116, over the Indiana Fever in the highest scoring game ever played in WNBA history. The tightly matched, fast-paced, high-scoring game was all you could have wished for in a championship contest.
In what will likely be an “Instant Classic,” a crowd of 11,617 watched as the Phoenix Mercury used their superior firepower to outlast the Indiana Fever in overtime in a game marked by 19 lead changes and 13 ties. Not surprisingly, the game set all kinds of scoring records, not just for a Finals game but for a WNBA game of any kind, not the least of which was the total 236 points scored. Both teams surpassed the previous WNBA record (115) for points in a game—playoffs or regular season—that had been set earlier this year by the Mercury in their June 13, 2009 overtime win over the Sacramento Monarchs.
While Phoenix has by now become accustomed to exceeding the century mark, having done so in eight playoff games alone and a total of 23 times over the last three-plus seasons. The Fever, on the other hand, had never before scored 100 points in a playoff game; indeed, they had scored 100 points only once previously in franchise history (scoring 103 against Phoenix on September 14, 2008).
Most had expected the Fever, known more its defense than its offensive prowess, to try to slow the Mercury’s up-tempo, run-and-gun style. Instead, its was Indiana pushing the ball from start to finish. That’s the same approach the Fever used to capture a 90-83 victory when they visited Phoenix in August; this time, they simply upped the ante.
“We beat them here, we played up-tempo, we ran and we won,” said Fever Coach Lin Dunn, explaining her strategy after the game. “We are a running team, we like to run, so I knew we could run with them. I wasn’t concerned about that. I thought that we would be able to push the ball up and down the floor and get some good early shots, early post-ups, just like they did so that didn’t surprise me at all that we could play their tempo.”
The Fever pulled out to a 10-point lead late in the opening quarter, capitalizing on a series of turnovers by the Mercury’s Tangela Smith and Diana Taurasi, who coughed it up twice in a row. But Phoenix came right back in the last two minutes of the period, as this time it was Indiana who was getting careless with the basketball. Penny Taylor was huge for Phoenix in the early going as both Cappie Pondexter, who didn’t get a shot off in the first 10 minutes of play, and Diana Taurasi, who had just five points in the period were struggling to score. Taylor nailed a triple just before the buzzer (her second trey of the period) to tie the score at 31 apiece at the end of the first quarter.
Both Pondexter and Diana Taurasi picked up their third personals in the second quarter, in period that saw each team take five-point leads and give them back again. The Fever’s Ebony Hoffman dropped in a lay-up in the waning seconds of the period to carve the Phoenix lead to three points, and the teams headed to the locker room with the Mercury on top, 56-53.
Taylor was once again the key contributor for the Mercury as Pondexter continued to struggle to get clean looks and Taurasi was held to just three points in the period. The Aussie finished the half with 18 points, more than twice the output of the next highest Mercury scorer, on six-of-nine from the field.
| Photo Caption: Penny Taylor kept the Mercury in the game in the early going, with 18 points in the first half alone. She finished with 23 points on seven-of-10 field-goal shooting, including two-of-three from long distance. |  |
| Photo Credit: Full Court Press/Lee Michaelson |
Meanwhile, the Fever already had four players in double figures—Tully Bevilaqua, with 14 points, including two of her three long-ball attempts; Hoffman, who now had 12 plus five boards; Katie Douglas, with 11; and Tammy Sutton-Brown, who added 10. Tamika Catchings, who had the primary defensive assignment on Taurasi, and later on Taylor, was having difficulty on the offensive end, however, notching only a single point (one of a pair from the line) in the opening half and shooting zero-for-three from the field.
The Fever launched a 8-2 run in the early minutes of the third period, tying the score on a Douglas three-pointer in the first minute and then marching out to an eight-point lead as the quarter wore on. Taurasi was whistled for her fourth on an offensive foul less than halfway into the quarter, and spent the final four minutes of the period on the bench. Catchings, too, was combating foul trouble, picking up her fourth as she battled for a loose ball late in the period.
The Fever rode a Douglas trey, a Briann January jumper, a fast-break lay-up by Jessica Moore, and another three-ball, this one by January, to an 86-80 lead by the end of three.
During the break before the start of the final quarter, Phoenix Coach Corey Gaines complained to the sideline commentator about the lack of pace to the game, noting the frequent stoppages in play due to fouls and dead-ball turnovers. In the third quarter that Gaines complained about, the Fever had scored 33 points to the Mercury’s 24.
What most coaches would have been upset with was the lack of Mercury defense that allowed the opposition to be shooting a crisp 66.7 percent both from the field (14/21) and from behind the arc (4/6) in the quarter. Meanwhile, the normally defensive-minded Fever were struggling to slow down the Mercury, who were hitting at a 42.9 percent pace from the field (6/14) and 60 percent (3/5) from deep in the third quarter.
But Gaines attributes his opponents’ high scoring not to his own team’s lack of defense, but to their run-and-gun style. “What people don’t know is they always ask me,‘Why do teams score so many points on you?’ And ... what you don’t know is if we shoot the ball 80 times, the other team shoots the ball 80 times. It’s not, “you make it, you take it”; it is not a pick-up game. So what happens is when we score the basket they get the ball back. If we score 90 times, they will shoot the ball 90 times. That’s why they score too many points. ... And people always ask me, ‘Why do the score so many points?’ That’s why. I’m an econ guy; it’s just simple math—if you make more shots, you get more shots. That’s how it is. This is a type of game I feel we can win, up-tempo, a lot of points. We practice that way. We train that way. They played a great game, but we got ‘em in the end.”
Indeed, in the final period and in the subsequent overtime, Gaines’s strategy of running and playing only selective defense worked like a charm as Indiana’s players reacted more slowly and made critical turnovers. The bottom line was that the Mercury’s depth allowed for fresher legs and clearer minds when it counted most.
The fourth quarter started well enough for the Fever as Douglas hit a jumper with 9:40 left in the quarter to build the Fever lead to 88-80. But Willingham laid it on the other end on the fast break off a feed from Temeka Johnson, and on the next possession, Douglas turned the ball over, as Tangela Smith picked her pocket. Pondexter exacted a price for the mistake with a 14-foot jumper, cutting the Fever lead to four.
Ebony Hoffman (who was spectacular in this game, both from long and in the paint, with a career-high 27 points for the evening) nailed a three off a dish from January, putting the Fever back on top by seven. The Indiana lead fluctuated between five and seven points over the next few minutes with the pace picking up, not to say it was ever really slow as Coach Gaines complained. With 5:55 left Tamecka Dixon hit a jumper (her only basket of the game) to make the score 96-89, and it looked like the home team might be headed for an upset.
But DeWanna Bonner came on strong for the Mercury in the closing minutes of regulation. Fouled by Moore, she nailed both of her free throws, then when Temeka Johnson picked January’s pocket, drove in for a lay-up. Taurasi followed that with a 22-footer, and with their lead now down to two, and a little under five minutes left to play, the Fever called a timeout.
Little good it did them. Out of the timeout, Douglas lost the ball on a bad pass, picked off by Bonner, and when Taurasi missed on a long jumper, it was Bonner who snagged the rebound, sending it back out to Taylor, who knocked down a short jumper to tie the game at 98 each.
Taurasi gave the Mercury their first lead since the early minutes of the third period, converting one of a pair of free throws. Bonner grabbed the board of Tammy Sutton-Brown’s miss on the Fever’s next possession, and Johnson made it a four-point lead as she nailed a three-pointer. (Gaines said later that he knew at that point that his team was going to win, citing the “first one to 100 wins” philosophy he said he borrowed from an L.A. Clippers broadcaster.)
But the Fever weren’t calling it quits. Catchings, fouled by Johnson, made both from the charity stripe to make it a two-point ballgame, and January tied the score on a driving lay-up after Bonner turned the ball over on an offensive foul. Hoffman fouled Taylor, however, and the Aussie made one of her two free throws to put Phoenix back on top. Catchings rebounded the miss, and called a quick timeout to stop the clock with 26 seconds left in regulation.
The set play went awry, however, when Catchings was blown for an offensive foul, her fifth personal. With the loss of possession, the Fever were forced to foul to stop the clock, but Pondexter made both her shots from the line, giving Phoenix a three-point lead, 105-102.
With just seven seconds left on the clock, Katie Douglas drilled home a perfect 22-foot jumper to tie the score. Phoenix still had a chance to win it in regulation, but both Bonner and Pondexter missed closely guarded lay-ups, sending the game to extra minutes.
| Photo Caption: Katie Douglas put on a stellar performance, finishing with a game-high 30 points on 12-for-21 field-goal shooting. She drove the lane with impunity for much of the evening but it was her steely-nerved three-ball in the final seconds of regulation that sent the game to overtime. |  |
| Photo Caption: Douglas knocked down four of her seven long-ball attempts in the game, including the one sending the game into extra minutes. Here she spots up for one of them. |  |
| Photo Credit: Full Court Press/Lee Michaelson |
For the first two minutes of overtime, the two teams traded baskets like a pair of heavyweights punching it out. With roughly three-and-a-half minutes left, Catchings put the Fever on top, as she knocked down a three-pointer, her only one of the evening. But it was to be her last play of the game, as less than a minute later, she was called for her sixth personal while battling Taurasi for a rebound.
Foul trouble had kept Catchings out of the flow of much of the game. There is some considerable doubt as to whether the second of her fouls was “legit”—it appeared that it was Taurasi, not Catchings, who had initiated the contact with a push. Indeed, there were tough calls all night, with the bulk of them going against Indiana. In addition to the aforementioned second foul on Catchings, Sutton-Brown was called for a moving screen near the end of the first quarter, wiping out a basket by Jessica Moore; the call was questionable, as the ball had just been turned over, and the players were still assuming their positions. In the second quarter, a Taurasi walk on an assist to Ohlde was a non-call, while Hoffman was blown for a walk immediately afterward. And Bevilaqua’s fifth foul late in the game clearly should have been on January, not Tully. In the end, the Mercury shot twice as many free throws (38) as the Fever (19) for a differential of 16 points from the line.
This left the Fever with three players—Catchings, Sutton-Brown, and Bevilaqua—all with five fouls apiece in the latter portions of the game, and Hoffman with four. (The refs did show some latitude, however, when Hoffman, whistled for her third and fourth in during the final period of regulation, let her frustrations boil over. Though Hoffman was heard to comment, loudly, “This is bull——,” as Taylor went to the line and the other players took up their positions along the key, the officials let it pass rather than meting out a technical.)
In any event, Catchings finished with just eight points on two-for-seven shooting from the field, one-for-four from long. She did find other ways to contribute, however, dragging down six boards, dishing out five assists, grabbing two steals, and swatting down two blocked shots.
Catchings’s defense was also largely responsible for limiting Taylor to just five points in the second half, after she had ripped the Fever to shreds in the opening half while guarded by the much smaller January.
With Catchings on the bench, the Fever offense boiled down to Douglas, as Hoffman, who had been such a powerful force earlier in the game, went silent. For the Mercury, Pondexter and Taurasi turned their earlier foul trouble to their benefit, as both brought fresh legs to the floor from their time on the bench earlier in the game.
With the Mercury defense keying on Douglas, she missed three consecutive jump shots from varying distances. Meanwhile, Taurasi knocked down a long jumper, and Pondexter drove for a lay-up, then drained a 16-footer, to give the Mercury a three-point lead in the final 20 seconds. Forced to foul, the Mercury sent Pondexter to the line where she missed the first, but made the second.
January’s “Hail Mary” at the buzzer was way off, and futile in any event, as the Fever needed four, leaving the final score at 120-116.
Taking a look at our keys to the game:
Posts: Indiana dominated the low post as Hoffman and Sutton-Brown had 27 and 19 respectively. Hoffman also grabbed eight boards, while Sutton-Brown pulled down six. By comparison, Tangela Smith finished with a respectable 14 points (on five-of-nine from the field, including two of her five long-ball attempts), plus five rebounds, but Le’Coe Willingham was held to just three points and three boards.
Advantage: Easy advantage here for Fever!
| Photo Caption: The Fever’s Ebony Hoffman (seen here driving on DeWanna Bonner) had averaged just 6.3 points per game over her last 10 outings. Coach Corey Gaines had watched the video of her Eastern Conference Championship series against Detroit and told his team they could afford to “cheat off her” a little on defense. Hoffman made them pay for leaving her open, with a career-high 27 points, plus eight boards and two assists. “Today was a good day for me, it was just one of those days—the stars lined up, the Milky Way was nice and milky, and they were playing me not to make the shot, and I had to make it. I had to make the shot, so I took it and made it.” |  |
| Photo Credit: Full Court Press/Lee Michaelson |
Small forward: Though Catchings did her usual great job on defensive, containing Taurasi in the opening half and Taylor in the latter periods, it was a rough night for her overall, as she scored just eight points before fouling out. Taurasi got off to a slow start, but was strong down the stretch, finishing with 22 points. She also hit the boards hard toward the end of the game. “Diana [who finished with nine boards] down the stretch had some—what I call ‘go get’ rebounds,” said her coach. “She went and got it, didn’t matter who was there, who was in front of her, she went up and got it. If they could have pounded those baskets back in, second chance points, it would have hurt us, because if we don’t get push, we don’t get easy buckets in the flow.”
Advantage: A big one, to Phoenix.
Shooting Guard: Douglas, who was stepped on by Taurasi in the first half, overcame ankle pain to finish with a game-high 30 ponts, plus three boards, two assists and two steals. It was her long ball (one of four for the evening) that carried her team into overtime.
Pondexter got off to an extremely slow start, but came alive in the second-half to finish with 23 points (tying Penny Taylor as the Mercury’s scoring leader for the evening). With fresher legs, she was a killer in the overtime.
Advantage: Slight edge for the Fever.
Point Guard: Tully Bevilaqua scored 14 points in the first half, shredding the Phoenix zone on several occasions. But she did not score at all in the second half, when Phoenix stepped up its defense.
Johnson asserted herself enough with her 13 points, including three of her three attempts from downtown.
Advantage: Call it even.
Bench: Penny Taylor was awesome, carrying the Mercury when Pondexter and, to a lesser degree, Taurasi were struggling and suffering from foul trouble in the early going. Though the Fever did a better job on her in the second half, after Dunn moved Catchings to cover her, with Douglas taking over the defense of Taurasi, Taylor still finished with 23 points (on 70 percent field-goal shooting), two assists and two steals.
DeWanna Bonner was also huge, putting up 15 points on five-of-nine from the field; she also grabbed five boards and swatted down two blocks.
For the Fever, only Briann January contributed significantly with 11 points and seven assists. Collectively, the Phoenix bench outscored the Fever 45-18, and the depth of the Phoenix bench also allowed the Mercury starters to rest, with several playing 29 minutes or less. In contrast, of the Fever’s starting five, only Tamika Catchings, who fouled out, played less than 32 minutes, and most played well in excess of 37. The Mercury’s fresh legs were crucial once the game went to overtime.
Advantage: Crushing, in favor of Phoenix.
Offense: There was plenty of it. The Fever got what they wanted most of the night but got out of rhythm with four bad turnovers in the last six minutes. As the Mercury packed in the lane, the Fever were also unable to get to the rim often enough in the final minutes, settling instead for bad looks. Nonetheless, the Fever shot a stellar 55.6 percent from the field, as compared to 50 percent for the Mercury.
As in the two regular season games, the team that shot better from deep won. Both teams poured them in, with the Fever netting 10 of their 21 attempts from downtown (47.6 percent) and the Mercury connecting on 12 of 22 from long (54.5 percent).
Advantage: Call this a draw.
Defense: Though in the zone for much of the game, in the second half of the fourth quarter, the Mercury played some man and clogged the lane after allowing easy access to the rim most of the night. The “rover” and 2-3 zones allowed the Mercury to lull the Fever into the “rope-a-dope” effect, as the Fever appeared punched out in the last half of the fourth quarter and in overtime.
With better legs, the Mercury got keys offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter and OT. Indeed, the Mercury out-rebounded the Fever 34-27 overall, and had a sizable advantage (12-6) on the offensive glass. They translated that into 24 second-chance points, to the Fever’s 15. As Fever Coach Lin Dunn succinctly summed it up, “They got [24] second-chance points. They outrebounded us, and dthey shouldn’t be doing that, and I thought there were times when we missed crucial boxouts, and they rebounded .... I’m telling ya, at the end of the day, we can’t give up 24 second chance points.”
Advantage: Strangely, slight edge to Mercury, due to play in OT and the last five minutes of the fourth quarter!
Coaching: Gaines’s game plan wore the Fever out in the fourth quarter. Not that Dunn made errors other than trying to run all night with the Mercury.
Advantage: Mercury.
Intangibles: Sun’s general manager Steve Kerr followed Larry Bird’s example, buying up the 7,000 seats in the U.S. Airways Center Balcony, and distributing them for free to all-comers on a first-come, first-serve basis.
“Larry Bird purchased the upper level for the Fever’s Game Three of the Eastern Conference Finals in Indiana, and I want to show the same support for our amazing Mercury,” said Kerr. “Both of us were part of championship teams and understand the importance of a packed house. For anyone who doubts the WNBA level of play, this is an opportunity to see for yourself. I challenge any doubters to come see the talent, skill and intensity on the court.”
Though some of those seats—as well as some in the lower bowl—went unoccupied, the gesture still succeeded in turning out a wildly enthusiastic crowd of 11,617. The large home crowd probably helped the Mercury put the fatigued Fever away. Taurasi taking the MVP award in a pre-game ceremony no doubt also served to spur on the Mercury (though it seems as though it might have been something of a distraction to Taurasi herself in the early going).
To lose such a draining game will make it that much harder for the Fever to win Game Two, again on the road.
Advantage: Edge Mercury.
Reader Discussion