The Indiana Fever shot stunningly well: almost 56% from the field. Ebony Hoffman, the post with the fine three-point shot, hit a new career high.
Her team took a big lead early on, making the Mercury's defense look nonexistent; the Fever rang up 105 points in regulation, 116 in OT.
And yet Phoenix won. The combination of close competition, with lead change after lead change; individual skills and dramatic moves, from Douglas, Hoffman, Penny, Cappie, Brianne January and DT; the Merc's usual high-speed, offense-first style; and overtime after Douglas's last-chance trey made the game one of the best in the history of the WNBA.
As Mechelle says, it's hard to write about such games-- but it's pretty great to get the chance.
And, of course, the losing team's not smiling. Catchings blames herself: "Ebony had a great game, Tammy [Sutton-Brown] had a great game, Katie did her thing," Catch said. "I let my team down."
Most observers expected Indy-- known for their defense, and for trying to win from the line-- to slow the game down; instead, the Fever kept up with the Mercury's pace.
It was apparently the highest-scoring game in the history of the league: no team had scored over 115 before; only once did both teams break 110, and that was in triple OT. "If you didn't like women's basketball," coach Gaines said, "you do now."
It's past time to catch up with Pelton's finals preview, as good an example as you can get of what knowledgeable fans expected before last night. Kevin picked the Mercury in five. I wonder whether the Fever have had their best shot (56% shooting!)-- or whether the serious home crowd in Indianapolis might be all the home team, in games three and four, need.
Want to know how a WNBA team does against a big, hostile crowd? Look at how they fared in the reg-season against Seattle: the Mercury won there once before LJ went out, but they needed overtime then, too.
Want to read even more about last night's adventure? Q (who might just put us out of business) has more links. One interesting catch: Fever owner Mel Simon doesn't quite promise to keep the team around next year, but he certainly sounds optimistic now.
Her team took a big lead early on, making the Mercury's defense look nonexistent; the Fever rang up 105 points in regulation, 116 in OT.
And yet Phoenix won. The combination of close competition, with lead change after lead change; individual skills and dramatic moves, from Douglas, Hoffman, Penny, Cappie, Brianne January and DT; the Merc's usual high-speed, offense-first style; and overtime after Douglas's last-chance trey made the game one of the best in the history of the WNBA.
As Mechelle says, it's hard to write about such games-- but it's pretty great to get the chance.
And, of course, the losing team's not smiling. Catchings blames herself: "Ebony had a great game, Tammy [Sutton-Brown] had a great game, Katie did her thing," Catch said. "I let my team down."
Most observers expected Indy-- known for their defense, and for trying to win from the line-- to slow the game down; instead, the Fever kept up with the Mercury's pace.
It was apparently the highest-scoring game in the history of the league: no team had scored over 115 before; only once did both teams break 110, and that was in triple OT. "If you didn't like women's basketball," coach Gaines said, "you do now."
It's past time to catch up with Pelton's finals preview, as good an example as you can get of what knowledgeable fans expected before last night. Kevin picked the Mercury in five. I wonder whether the Fever have had their best shot (56% shooting!)-- or whether the serious home crowd in Indianapolis might be all the home team, in games three and four, need.
Want to know how a WNBA team does against a big, hostile crowd? Look at how they fared in the reg-season against Seattle: the Mercury won there once before LJ went out, but they needed overtime then, too.
Want to read even more about last night's adventure? Q (who might just put us out of business) has more links. One interesting catch: Fever owner Mel Simon doesn't quite promise to keep the team around next year, but he certainly sounds optimistic now.
posted by Stephanie at 8:11 AM
