Mercury Season thread

[thirty-two]

Washington 82, Phoenix 62
Mystics Too Hot for Mercury to Stop

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 (Ticker) -- Chasity Melvin scored 17 points and rookie Alana Beard added 16 to lead the Washington Mystics to an 82-62 rout of the Phoenix Mercury in the final game for both teams before the WNBA takes a monthlong break for the All-Star Game and the Olympics.

Washington again played without Chamique Holdsclaw, who has missed three of the last four games because of an undisclosed medical condition.

But the absence of the WNBA'S second-leading scorer and third-leading rebounder didn't hurt the Mystics, who shot 54 percent from the field and snapped the Mercury's four-game winning streak.

Beard scored 11 of her points in the first half when Washington built a 47-34 lead. The Mystics then opened the second half with an 8-2 spurt, increasing the advantage to 55-36 and were never threatened the rest of the way.

Phoenix sorely missed Diana Taurasi, who was hampered by a hip pointer and played just four minutes in the first half. The rookie point guard finished with one turnover and one foul.

Penny Taylor led the Mercury with 16 points.

http://www.wnba.com/games/20040801/PHOWAS/recap.html

 

[thirty-two]

Current Standings - WNBA will stop play for a month for the Olympics..


Western W L PCT GB Conf Home Road L 5 Streak
Los Angeles 19 7 0.731 0.0 11-4 10-1 9-6 5-0 Won 5
Seattle 17 8 0.680 1.5 12-4 11-2 6-6 4-1 Won 2
Minnesota 15 11 0.577 4.0 9-8 10-4 5-7 3-2 Won 1
Sacramento 12 13 0.480 6.5 6-9 7-7 5-6 3-2 Won 1
Phoenix 12 13 0.480 6.5 7-9 7-5 5-8 4-1 Lost 1
Houston 12 14 0.462 7.0 6-9 8-5 4-9 3-2 Won 2
San Antonio 6 20 0.231 13.0 5-13 4-9 2-11 0-5 Lost 6


PHX is in 5th place in the Western Conference... its better than last place

 

[PhxGametime]

What day and channel is All-Star game (I thought I missed it) - it really sucks Mercury aren't on Tv every game... I haven't seen a game for a while. I wanted to collect every game that was on Tv (like I have for Suns since 1996, well almost all) but the last 2 years have only got 3-4 games a year on tape - last year even had to tape over 1 for NBA (hehe or NFL Draft or something). There are only like 8-10 games a year on Tv I don't even have NBATv.

 

[thirty-two]

What day and channel is All-Star game (I thought I missed it) .

The WNBA All-Stars vs the Women's USA team is Thursday Aug 5th 7pm est on ESPN.

i wish more games were televised, too.

 

[PhxGametime]

Golly thanks

Did Kayte Christensen make team?

 

[thirty-two]

Golly thanks

Did Kayte Christensen make team?

Nope. Sorry there's noo drool fest for you this year.

 

[Djaughe]

Nope. Sorry there's noo drool fest for you this year.

I thought she was on the team......she's promoting breakfast stuff...

You must be registered for see images

 

[PhxGametime]

Drool? She's sort of cute, possibly - I do see potential

She should make team on her skill level, hustle, toughness, determination, defensive ability - seriously I like how she plays, she's really attractive (but I'm only 5'7 and she has a boyfriend), I'd like Suns to have another defensive monster ala Kayte on team right now. She's compared to Jake Voskuhl but I think she brings more to the table than Little Jake does - if Suns players pressured ball at the 3PT line as well as Kayte, they'd have an easier time with Posts...

Kayte is my favorite Mercury player but D is pretty darn good, DeForge as well, Penny Taylor has skill - maybe 1 more player away?

 

[slinslin]

The Mercury seem to be on a roll right now and beat everyone.
Taurasi should at least be in the top 3 MVP voting, amazing.

 

[PhxGametime]

It would be nice, if the games were on Tv - I taped and watched the 1st half of the Detroit game. With only 1 more game on Tv rest of year (I believe) I have until Suns start to watch 2nd half. I only got to see like 5-7 games this year (I don't have NBATv) - are all Playoff games on Tv? I have I believe 4 or 6 games on video now but I watched 1 late and didn't record it. I'm not even sure, what I have on tape - I taped All-star/Olympic game... 1 Olympic game that I taped over. I doubt anyone cares that much, that they must know.

I'm on this board so much, I don't get to read a lot of Mercury boards and being a Suns fan since a kid (I'm used to watching all the games, including the years some games were on Pay-per-view ). I believe I'm done for now - these College Football games on Tv are on. I TRY not to root against asu

 

[Djaughe]

The Mercury seem to be on a roll right now and beat everyone.
Taurasi should at least be in the top 3 MVP voting, amazing.

I has with the family when the sparks came to town last week...and I was amazed how they seemed to handle L.A. with confidence. Granted the sparks were short-handed with two starters out, had two rookies in the starting lineup and only eight players available for the game.

This time they were really mixing up the inside outside game and actually playing some good defense.

On a side note...looks like the assistant coach cedric ceballos has become the official halftime MC....amare stoudamire actually sat through the whole game...at the 4 minute mark they took a break and allowed the kids to swarm the court to some top 40 song about a choo choo train - I got a pic of jkf296 bringing up the rear of the train!

 

[thirty-two]

I got a pic of jkf296 bringing up the rear of the train!

 

[Djaughe]

Mercury ends year on a winning note

Jim Gintonio
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 20, 2004 12:00 AM



[font=arial,helvetica,sans-serif]For a brief moment, no one could blame Mercury coach Carrie Graf if she had thoughts of, "here we go again" rumbling around inside her head.

But her team, which saw a 23-point halftime lead fizzle to nine, got things together in the final 3:30 and downed Houston 78-64 before a crowd of 8,969 at America West Arena on Sunday night, closing out a break-even season (17-17). The Comets, who failed to make the playoffs for the first time in eight years, finished 13-21.

"Whenever you get that big lead and teams find a way to get back, you're always concerned," Graf said. "But the thing you have to remember is when we were down by 20 (during the season), we didn't roll over. The game is full of momentum swings."

The players were happy that they were able to more than double last year's win total of eight, but the elation was tempered by the fact that had they been more focused at times during the season, their goal of making the playoffs would have been realized.

The Mercury got outstanding efforts all around, with Plenette Pierson and Anna DeForge each scoring 24 points, aided by Diana Taurasi (14) and Penny Taylor (10). The hard-nosed play of Pierson, notably her first-half defense on Houston's Tina Thompson, was a deciding factor.

"Plenette is a special athlete, so quick and so strong," Graf said. "When she is focused, she can be something really special. She stepped up big for us and made an impact tonight.

"When she is focused and on top of her game mentally, she is a force to be reckoned with."

In a game-high 38 minutes of playing time, Pierson had five rebounds, a steal and a blocked shot. Thompson led Houston with 17 pointsbut also had four turnovers and only three rebounds as Pierson constantly kept her off stride.

"It was just my night," she said.

Taurasi, whose solid all-around effort likely locked up Rookie of the Year honors, said it was disappointing that the ultimate goal of making the playoffs was not achieved.

"But you look at the other side," she said. "We did a lot of things this year that haven't been done in a while, so I'm taking nothing but positive out of this year."

Graf is one of the leading contenders for postseason honors, but Taurasi joked that there's a backup plan in place.

"If she doesn't win Coach of the Year, she gets half my paycheck."[/font]