For the first time in franchise history, this year’s Storm schedule featured five games against two Western Conference rivals – the Los Angeles Sparks and the Phoenix Mercury. Lo and behold, those two teams will be the Storm’s playoff opponents from the West after both the Storm and the Mercury booked spots in the Western Conference Finals by sweeping their respective opening-round series on Saturday.
As with Los Angeles, the Storm swept Phoenix 5-0 during the regular season. To suggest the Storm dominated the series, however, would be a reach of gargantuan proportions. Of the five Storm wins, two came in overtime at Phoenix. One required a comeback from an 18-point halftime deficit at KeyArena, and another saw both teams give extended minutes to their reserves in their penultimate game of the regular season. The mantra for the Western Conference Finals, then, is presumably “Expect Close Games.”
The playoff history between the Storm and the Mercury is not nearly as extensive as with the Sparks, but Phoenix is the only team besides L.A. the Storm has faced since 2005. The two teams met in the Western Conference Semifinals in 2007, when the Mercury earned a two-game sweep en route to the first of two WNBA championships in the last three years.
This should be a fantastic series played with entertaining style. It starts with Thursday’s Game 1 at KeyArena, and I hope you’ll be there if you can.
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Time to sweep Mercury out, this is the year of the paybacks. I’d like it in two games, but my mind tells me it’ll be 3.
DT #3 forsure is an awesome player, but it’s my opinion the Mercury score so many points is because she takes a majority of their shots. I don’t want to say she’s a ball hog, but she reminds me of Kobe Bryant…bring the ball down court no set up, just take the shot….
The Storm has a TEAM. Not just ONE superstar, a TEAM. That is what will take them all the way, good luck ladies.
I don”t know much about Mercury but I do know that my ROCK’EN team Storm’s best asset is the BENCH!!!! I feel my team does so well because the bench is able and availble to play. When other teams struggle with 3 or 4 key players and no ready and able bench palyers, our bench plays and allows the star players the rest and not worry so much. They also keep the momentem and ad points. This kind of team has only happened because of a good coach and coaching team, plus ALL the players know or are learning what TEAM really is and means. Case in point: Jana, She started out falling, turning over balls and missing baskets BUT!…………. because she keeps getting play time and trainning she went from a stumbling block to a stepping stone. She moves smoothly and is hitting the 3 pointers. women like her grow rapidly when they want it and a have a team to support them. STORM YOU ROCK!!!!!! side note, my dog always gets confused when I watch games because I named him after my favorite player JACKSON!!!!!! he is so cute!