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Mercury-Storm Preview

Sep 1, 2010 - 7:48 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Phoenix (15-19) at Seattle (28-6), 10:00 p.m. EDT

The Seattle Storm had a record-breaking regular season. The Phoenix Mercury had one of their worst in years.

Still, this best-of-three series between teams with contrasting styles should be close if it mirrors their regular-season matchups - even though Seattle won them all.

Coming off their first series win in six years, the top-seeded Storm look to maintain their perfect home record Thursday in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals against the defending champion Mercury, who are playing better following a difficult end to the season.

At 28-6, Seattle matched the WNBA-record win total set by the 2001 Los Angeles Sparks. The Storm, who also set a league record by going 17-0 at home, swept the Sparks in the opening round to reach the West finals for the first time since their 2004 championship season.

"It was very important to close out the series tonight knowing our next opponent closed out their series as well," MVP candidate Lauren Jackson said Saturday after scoring 24 points and grabbing nine rebounds in an 81-66 Game 2 victory. "We need as much time to get rest and focus our attention on Phoenix and making it to the finals."

After dropping six of seven to end the regular season and finishing with its worst record (15-19) since 2003, the second-seeded Mercury completed a two-game sweep of San Antonio on Saturday to reach the conference finals for the third time in four years.

"Records don't mean anything now," coach Corey Gaines told the Mercury's official website after Saturday's 92-73 win. "It's a three-game series now."

Though the Storm won all five meetings with Phoenix this year, four were decided by six points or fewer and two went to overtime. The last matchup at KeyArena saw Seattle rally from an 18-point deficit to win 91-85 on July 27, and the most recent one in Phoenix was tied midway through the fourth quarter before the Mercury fell 78-73 on Aug. 20.

"We just have to change a couple of things," reigning league and WNBA finals MVP Diana Taurasi said. "A few of the games just came down to a couple of possessions down the stretch, so we just have to be a little more consistent throughout the 40 minutes."

Taurasi, who won her record fourth straight scoring title this season with 22.6 points per game, averaged 23.8 in four games versus Seattle this season, including a season-best 44 in a 111-107 triple-overtime home loss July 14.

While Taurasi thrived against the Storm's stingy defense, which was ranked second in the league in points allowed (73.9 per game), the Mercury averaged 85.6 against the Storm - 8.3 fewer than their league-leading average.

Seattle, which limited the Sparks to averages of 66.0 points and 39.0 percent shooting in the opening round, also looks to slow down Candice Dupree after the fifth-year forward averaged 25.5 points and 9.5 rebounds in her first playoff series.

Dupree and forward Penny Taylor, who averaged 16.0 points and 9.5 assists in the opening round, could face a stiffer challenge against the Storm frontcourt of Jackson, Swin Cash and Camille Little.

The trio averaged a combined 47.5 points and 18.0 rebounds in the first round.

Storm point guard Sue Bird, Taurasi's former college teammate at Connecticut, averaged 11.6 points and 7.8 assists versus Phoenix this season.

This is the second playoff matchup between Seattle and Phoenix. The Mercury swept a first-round series in 2007 before winning their first title.

Game 2 is Sunday afternoon in Phoenix.