‘Hold it in babe’: Taurasi sends message to Penny Taylor after leading Mercury to WNBA finals
The last time Diana Taurasi and the Phoenix Mercury were in the WNBA Finals, the US legend was still playing alongside Australian great and wife Penny Taylor.
On Saturday AEDT, the 39-year-old Taurasi scored 24 points while teammate Brittney Griner came up with the game-saving block to drive the Mercury to an 87-84 win over the Las Vegas Aces in Las Vegas in the deciding game five of their semi-final series.
Taurasi was quick to send some love home to Taylor who is due to have their second child at any moment.
Diana Taurasi of the Phoenix Mercury.Credit:Getty Images
“Hold it in babe, I’m coming,” Taurasi said at the end of her post-game interview with ESPN.
The Mercury will face Chicago Sky in the championship decider with the best of five series starting in Phoenix on Monday AEDT, in their last finals visit in 2014 they won the title with both Taylor and Erin Phillips playing key roles.
Australian and Las Vegas centre Liz Cambage had one of her best games since returning from COVID-19 with 10 points, 11 rebounds and three steals on Saturday although Taurasi, who is about 183-centimetres tall, managed to jump up and block a certain Cambage lay-up in the fourth quarter.
With her WNBA season over, Cambage is expected to soon front a private hearing before an independent Basketball Australia panel after an investigation into her behaviour during a pre-Olympic exhibition basketball match against Nigeria.
Cambage, by her own admission, came to blows after heated verbal sparring but has denied other “rumours” of what allegedly unfolded against the Nigerians in a closed-door scrimmage in July.
Taurasi scored 14 points in the fourth quarter while Griner finished with a game-high 28 points and blocked Aces star Aja Wilson’s driving lay-up attempt with two seconds left which could have tied the game.
“We were down eight in the third quarter but Diana making shots is what changed it,” Mercury and Opals coach Sandy Brondello said.
“Diana gave us hope.”
The Mercury have links to Australia going back to their opening season when Michele Timms was one of their marquee players and features Opals forward Alanna Smith and past WNBL imports Kia Nurse, Sophie Cunningham and Brianna Turner.
Nurse ruptured her anterior cruciate ligament on Friday so will be out for the rest of finals while Cunningham is out with a calf strain and remains hopeful of playing on Monday.
“We are facing a lot of adversity at the moment but it shows how tough-minded this team is,” Brondello said.
“The job is not done yet but in the fourth quarter we had Diana Taurasi. She has done this many, many times but she was dead tired, they were all dead tired.
“We didn’t always execute but we scrambled enough and got our stops, then Diana made shots. That is what it came down to. This is a huge relief.”
The Sky left many in Australia furious early this season when it drafted rising teenage guard Shyla Heal in the first round of the draft only to waive her just a few games into the season when the then injury-ravaged side wanted to bring in older players.
Since then, superstar forward Candace Parker has returned from injury to spark the side to a run to the finals from sixth place at the end of the regular season.
“Chicago is playing really good ball, they are peaking at the right time,” Brondello said.
“They are playing their best ball at the right time of the season.
“It’s a big challenge for us, they will be more rested but hopefully, we can make this a good series and have some success and win the championship.”
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