• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Mercury-Lynx Preview

May 31, 2010 - 5:20 PM By ANDY LEFKOWITZ STATS Editor

Phoenix (2-2) at Minnesota (1-5), 7:30 p.m. EDT

It's still early in the season, but the Phoenix Mercury have failed to generate any consistency while defending their WNBA title.

Phoenix will try to get back in the win column Tuesday night against the last-place and short-handed Minnesota Lynx.

After winning their second championship in three years in October, the Mercury (2-2) have alternated wins and losses to begin 2010.

Phoenix went on a late 16-0 run but fell 96-93 to unbeaten Atlanta on Friday. Diana Taurasi scored 30 points before missing a 3-pointer that would have forced overtime.

She averaged 18.6 points in three games against Minnesota last year, missing one contest due to a team suspension for drunken-driving related charges.

Another key contributor against the Lynx was guard-forward DeWanna Bonner, who as a rookie averaged 16.5 points and 7.3 boards in four meetings.

The Mercury's best game this year came on the road. They made a WNBA record-tying 16 3-pointers, eight by Taurasi and six from Penny Taylor, in a 110-96 victory over Tulsa last Tuesday.

Phoenix leads the league in 3-point shooting at 37.1 percent and with 92.5 points per game.

"It always comes down to the same thing, just making shots," coach Corey Gaines said.

Minnesota (1-5) will be trying to break the longest current skid in the league. The Lynx dropped their fifth straight Saturday, 73-58 to Chicago.

Charde Houston and Rashanda McCants came off the bench to lead Minnesota with 12 points apiece. The Lynx managed 10 points in the first quarter and 25 in the first half, both season lows.

Coach Cheryl Reeve is trying to remain positive.

"In our locker room there's no finger-pointing," she said. "They know this is a good team, and they believe in themselves. The only answer is to keep playing."

The Lynx have been playing all season without guards Seimone Augustus (abdominal surgery) and Candice Wiggins (arthroscopic right knee surgery), although Wiggins is questionable for this game.

"I keep hearing she's close, but close seems so far off to me," Reeve said.

If Wiggins returns, she may provide a boost to the league's seventh-ranked offense (75.2). Wiggins had 37 points in Minnesota's two wins over Phoenix last season but 21 in a pair of losses.