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Liberty-Mercury Preview

Jul 2, 2010 - 4:50 PM By JUSTIN EINHORN STATS Senior Editor

New York (7-7) at Phoenix (5-11), 10:00 p.m. EDT

Winning two championships in three years wasn't enough to keep Cappie Pondexter with the Phoenix Mercury. Now they look nothing like a title contender without her.

Following an offseason trade which she wanted, Pondexter makes her return to Phoenix on Saturday night as she tries to help the New York Liberty extend her former team's worst losing streak in seven years.

Drafted No. 2 overall by the Mercury in 2006, Pondexter was named WNBA finals MVP in her second season and helped Phoenix win its first championship. Partnering with Diana Taurasi - one of the top backcourts in league history - keyed that title and another one last season as both averaged more than 19 points in four seasons together.

However, the Mercury were looking to dump salary in the offseason, and at the same time, Pondexter was seeking a trade - specifically to the Liberty. She wanted to be in the New York area to set up a career after basketball, not to mention she played collegiately at nearby Rutgers, and Phoenix granted her wish.

"Honestly, it's nothing negative about Phoenix, the organization, me not liking Diana Taurasi or being overshadowed," Pondexter said after the three-team trade in March. "I realized basketball is not going to be here forever and I think New York, and my plans off the court, is the best place."

The deal saw the Liberty ship Shameka Christon and Cathrine Kraayeveld to Chicago while the Mercury acquired the Sky's Candice Dupree, whose 13.7 points per game this year is about two below her career average.

Taurasi averages a league-leading 22.1 points - Pondexter is fourth at 19.7 - but she's been plagued by back trouble and is shooting a career-worst 39.8 percent for the floundering Mercury (5-11). The current six-game slide is their longest since a seven-game losing streak in July 2003.

"We're falling short and we have to find a way to fix it," Taurasi told the team's official website. "We're right there and we're playing good basketball, we're just not making enough plays throughout the 40 minutes to win and are coming up on the short end of a lot of these games."

Pondexter, meanwhile, has New York (7-7) in position to post its longest winning streak since starting the 2007 season 4-0. The Liberty won their third straight Tuesday, 80-68 in Los Angeles as Noelle Quinn scored a career-high 24 points and Pondexter added 19.

"We're finally jelling, we're sticking to what the (coach) Anne Donovan game plan is," Pondexter said. "Our defensive energy has been there. We know if we play defense we can win because we've got enough good scorers on this team."

New York is 4-0 when holding teams under 75 points, but Phoenix is averaging a league-best 92.3.