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Mercury-Silver Stars Preview

Aug 27, 2010 - 7:16 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

Phoenix (15-19) at San Antonio (14-20), 1:00 p.m. EDT

Although the Phoenix Mercury have the WNBA's leading scorer in Diana Taurasi, they don't always have to rely on the league's reigning MVP to win.

Candice Dupree proved that with an impressive performance in her playoff debut.

Behind Taurasi and Dupree, the second-seeded Mercury look to sweep the San Antonio Silver Stars in their Western Conference best-of-three semifinal series on Saturday at the AT&T Center.

Taurasi led Phoenix to its second title in three years last October, and has the team one win away from eliminating the Silver Stars in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight season.

The five-time All-Star led the WNBA in scoring for a league-record fourth straight year, but took over the role of point guard in Thursday's 106-93 win in Game 1.

Taurasi, who averaged 22.6 points in the regular season, was held to 14 with a career playoff-best 10 assists. With Taurasi directing the offense, Dupree matched a career high with 32 points.

"She played amazing," Taurasi said. "And that's what we are going to need if we are going to make any type of run - people stepping up and playing big."

Dupree hit 12 of 17 shots and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. Penny Taylor also added 20 points on 8 of 11 shooting.

"It was a great experience, my first playoff game," said Dupree, a fifth-year forward acquired in the offseason from Chicago. "The intensity was high, everyone was extremely motivated and now our goal is to get this series in two."

Phoenix could get the sweep if its offense can again come out firing.

The Mercury shot 57.1 percent in the opener after entering the playoffs having lost six of seven while averaging 81.1 points - 12.7 fewer than their league-leading average.

"They are a good team and what makes them so difficult is they have so many willing passers, this is a very good passing team and it is hard to defend when they move the ball," said San Antonio's Becky Hammon, who had a team-high 19 points.

The Silver Stars, who averaged 76.8 points in the regular season, hope to slow down the game's tempo.

"We still want to stick with our advantage, stick to who we are and make them chase us around the perimeter," Hammon said. "There is always something that we can do to counter what they do. They are a difficult matchup, no doubt, that's why they are able to put so many points on the board."

The Silver Stars also need to get more production early from Sophia Young, who finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Young didn't score her first points until less than 2 minutes remained in the first half, when the Mercury were already up by 11.

Game 3, if needed, would be Monday night in Phoenix.