Guru’s WNBA Report: Taurasi’s Record Night and Alyssa Thomas’ Performance Enable Phoenix to tied host Las Vegas While Host Connecticut Does Likewise To Chicago

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

UNCASVILLE, Conn. — For the top-seeded Connecticut Sun here at the Mohegan Sun Arena and out West for the fifth-seeded Phoenix Mercury Thursday night was a time for getting even and as a result the two best-of-five semifinals series on their way to switching venues for respective Game 3s on Sundays will arrive all knotted at one-game each.

 

Each outcome was accompanied by special storylines.

 

Things started here gloomy for the hometown folks, whose local team had a 14-game regular-season ending winning streak snapped in its playoff debut Tuesday night 101-95 in double overtime by the sixth-seeded Chicago Sky as Courtney Vandersloot produced the second triple double in playoffs history.

 

The visitors Thursday extended their fun jumping to an 11-0 opening run before the Sun went on to say enough as Curt Miller went to his bench to spell relief of the starters followed later by a dominating fourth quarter in a 79-68 victory.

 

The punctuation point came in crunch time in the form of the rehabilitated Alyssa Thomas, who was doubtful to see any action this season following an Achilles heel injury overseas but willed herself back to health ahead of schedule over the summer while her Sun teammates went on to overshadow the rest of the league.

 

After the Sun had stabilized late in the first quarter, the Sky used a 9-2 run in the third quarter to regain control and used the entire period to outscore Connecticut 20-13 and go up one at 59-58.

 

With 10 minutes left and the threat of going down 0-2 and heading to hostile territory, paced by Thomas, the Sun dominated the rest of the way as the former Maryland star scored 10 of her 15 points and 10 rebounds — she had 11 overall and became the first player to have 15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals off the bench in a playoff.

 

Jasmine Thomas, who scored less off taking a new role season, finished for Connecticut with 12 points and three assists on her 32^nd birthday.

 

DeWanna Bonner added 15 points and eight rebounds while Brionna Jones, who earlier this week was named Most Improved Player for the WNBA summer, finished with 11 points.

 

Briann January added 11 points.

 

For Chicago, native Philadelphian and former Rutgers standout Kahleah Copper had 13 points, while Courtney Vandersloot was tamed with six assists and 10 points, while Candace Parker scored 12 and Azura Stevens scored 10. Parker also had a team rebounding best seven.

 

Meanwhile, out West Diana Taurasi, who was playing with a foot injury, was in vintage form scoring a career high in the postseason with 37 points, leading the visiting Phoenix Mercury to a series tying 117-91 victory in Sin City after letting a lead slip away in Tuesday’s opener against the Las Vegas Aces.

 

“We brought a different mindset to the game, an aggression,” the former Uconn star said.

 

Earlier this summer she won her fifth Olympic gold medal along with former teammate Sue Bird of the defending champion Seattle Storm, whom Phoenix upset in Sunday’s second round one game knockout.

 

“That’s what these games come down to,” Taurasi said. “In Game 1, they were the aggressors. They played more physical. Today, we did that and sustained that for long periods.”

 

She had a career-high eight three pointers in 11 attempts.

 

Overall with two more field goals she was 10 of 13 from the field.

 

The Mercury as a team had a playoff record with 68 points in the first half, shooting 76.5 percent from the field.

 

Brittney Griner, another Mercury Olympian, scored 25, the bulk coming in the first quarter with 16 points.

 

The Aces’ Kelsey Plum, who was named the Sixth Player by a national media panel, had 25 points, while Las Vegas’ Riquana Williams scored 17 points, and Liz Cambage scored 13.

 

“It seemed we were one step behind. You can’t do that against a good Phoenix team,” said A’ja Wilson, the league MVP a year ago when the entire league played in the bubble conditions in Florid

 

The Mercury held a huge 36-23 rebounding advantage and from beyond the arc  shot a blistering 14 of 16 while the Aces, seeded second, was 4 of 16 in their long range attack.

 

“I thought we exploited some of their matchups,” said Phoenix coach Sandy Brondello, who also coached the Australian Olympic squad last summer. “We took better shots in this game than we did in the first.”

 

Back here in the East, Connecticut was able to win on a night in which Jonquel Jones, voted the national player of the year, suddenly couldn’t find her shot.

 

“You think how far ahead of schedule she is in her Achilles’ rehab to get back at all and playing (is amazing),” Miller of Thomas’ performance to play almost whole to make up for Jones’ struggle.

 

“To play in this environment in this big a game and have that tenacity and intensity is remarkable.

 

“Players have to follow her and respect her. Her presence was invaluable.”

 

“This is one of the hardest things I’ve gone trough,” said Alyssa Thomas, who has also struggled with shoulder injuries. “I watched them get after it every game and in practice that pushed me to even get back to this moment.”

 

AddedSun guard Jasmine Thomas, “You’ve seen her do it over her career. She’s the toughest player in this game. To see her come back at a time where that’s what we were missing.”

 

Miller also injected controversy into the postgame conversation noting conditions in which both teams will be traveling to Chicago Saturday spread out across several flights to avoid sitting in middle seats.

“We are on three separate flights at two separate airports in order to try and keep some of our players that are much taller than I am out of middle seats,” Miller said, later noting the Sun contingent would fly out of both Boston and Hartford.

 

“I’ve been told it’s a very similar case for Chicago, which wouldn’t surprise me.”

 

Several years ago when Commissioner Cathy Engelbert first took the job, she helped rule to allow Las Vegas to charter.

 

“They took care of them,” Chicago coach James Wade said.

 

At the time, Engelbert cited coming across three time zones for allowing the charter.

 

With the series tied, both would now have to end at Game 4 for the Finals to begin a few days earlier.

 

To be continued.