• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Shock-Mercury Preview

Jun 12, 2010 - 5:25 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Tulsa (3-4) at Phoenix (4-5), 10:00 p.m. EDT

Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury already showed the Tulsa Shock once what it's like to play against their up-tempo style.

The reigning league MVP will try to take advantage of what's sure to be a tired Shock team Saturday night when the Mercury look for a third straight home victory.

When Tulsa (3-5) relocated from Detroit, it hired Nolan Richardson to coach the team in his vaunted "40 minutes of hell" style. The franchise previously employed a bruising, halfcourt style under former coach Bill Laimbeer and then Rick Mahorn.

Phoenix (4-5), meanwhile, has long set the standard in playing at a frenetic pace, leading the league with 89.6 points per game this season and winning its second WNBA title last year.

The teams' first matchup at the BOK Center on May 25 was dominated by the defending champions in a 110-96 victory. Taurasi scored a season-high 35 points and made eight 3-pointers.

It will be interesting to see how Richardson's club fares in the second game of its second back-to-back set this season. The first one didn't go so well last Saturday when the Shock fell 95-70 at Chicago after beating Minnesota at home the night before.

Tulsa lost its second straight Friday, 87-75 at San Antonio. The Shock committed a season-high 29 turnovers that led to 18 points.

"The turnovers we committed tonight were really embarrassing to me from a standpoint of when you pride yourself in making the opponent turn it over," Richardson said. "They didn't press us or do anything, and when you turn it over that many times and the opponent's not pressing you, you've got some serious issues with handling the basketball."

Finding a way to slow down Taurasi will be another problem. The superstar guard was at her best again Thursday with 31 points in a 99-88 win over Minnesota.

Taurasi, who celebrated her 28th birthday Friday, scored Phoenix's first 10 points of the fourth quarter. The Mercury made 14 of 34 3-pointers and lead the league by shooting 37.5 percent from beyond the arc.

The win began a critical four-game homestand for Phoenix, which is in second place in the mediocre Western Conference despite its losing record.

"It's going to be important having our home crowd behind us in these next few games," center Tangela Smith told the Mercury's official website. "We need these wins, so it's comforting knowing that we'll have the opportunity to try and get as many as possible in our arena with the fans behind us."