Liberty - Fever Preview
By Associated Press
The New York Liberty used the home-court advantage and a big performance from Cappie Pondexter to win the decisive game of their first-round series against the Indiana Fever a season ago.
This time, the Fever host the series finale, and they will try to continue holding Pondexter in check with a spot in the Eastern Conference finals at stake.
"Both teams are going to have a sense of urgency," Indiana guard Shavonte Zellous said. "It's going to be a battle, Game 3, do or die. Somebody's got to go home."
These clubs met for the third time in the playoffs last season. The Liberty ousted the Fever after Pondexter scored 30 in a 77-74 win in the clincher at Madison Square Garden.
The Liberty star has been limited to an average of 16.0 points on 36.7 percent shooting - including 2 of 11 from 3-point range - through two games of this series, with the home team winning each time.
"We're going to fight really hard and give it our best," Pondexter said. "That's the only thing you can ask for."
After Indiana won 74-72 on Erin Phillips' jumper with 1.5 seconds left Thursday, New York evened the series Saturday as it led by as many as 24 points in an 87-72 victory. Nicole Powell led five Liberty players in double figures Saturday with 19 points.
New York converted 18 turnovers into 28 points. It was a terrible night for Fever star Tamika Catchings, who scored a career playoff-low two points on 1-of-8 shooting to go with a team-high six turnovers.
"We really focused on playing team defense, stopping penetration and keying in on their key players," Liberty guard Essence Carson said. "We just played our defense, our white-line defense. Today, everyone was very, very focused. It was win or go home, and obviously no one wanted to go home."
The Liberty fell behind by 12 points after the first quarter in Game 1, but they've since outscored the Fever in six of seven periods.
"As long as we have our defense, no matter how much we're down, we're able to come back," Carson said. "It's up to us to really put it together from start to finish."
New York is 0-4 all-time in playoff games at Indiana.
"This is why we worked so hard to get home-court," Fever guard Katie Douglas said. "They came out, they took care of business (Saturday). But this is (the) WNBA playoffs, and now we're down to a one-game series."
Douglas has scored a series-best 22.5 points per game, but only one other Fever player has averaged in double figures - New York has five.
"They did what they had to do, now we'll go back to Conseco and we'll do what we have to do," Indiana coach Lin Dunn said.
Mercury - Storm Preview
By Associated Press
A victory over the visiting Phoenix Mercury earlier this month gave the Seattle Storm home-court advantage in the first round. The defending WNBA champions will try to make the most of it with their series against Phoenix on the line.
The Storm go for their seventh straight win over the Mercury at KeyArena on Monday night in Game 3 of this Western Conference semifinal matchup.
Seattle tied for the best home record (15-2) in the WNBA during the regular season and has won seven in a row overall at KeyArena.
"We have a history of playing well at home. I don't know if there's anything in particular," coach Brian Agler said. "We have a great crowd, obviously. It's almost like they are alive in unison there and it's a unique situation. But we don't take anything for granted. Just because we are at home we don't take (Game 3) for granted."
By virtue of an 85-70 victory over Phoenix on Sept. 9, Seattle clinched the No. 2 seed and the right to host the Mercury twice in the opening round, if necessary. That second home game is needed after Phoenix rebounded from an 80-61 Game 1 loss in Seattle on Thursday with Saturday's 92-83 home win.
Led by Candice Dupree's season-high 29 points, the third-seeded Mercury shot 55.1 percent and outrebounded the Storm 37-24 to stave off elimination.
"Shot the ball better, up-tempo game is our game," said coach Corey Gaines, whose team averaged a league-best 89.0 points. "I guess if we walk the ball down the court and play their style, they are better at that than we are. Hopefully we are better at the up-tempo game than they are."
Phoenix will look to keep up the pace Monday after being unable to get much offense going in Game 1, shooting 29.7 percent.
That was the sixth straight loss in Seattle for the Mercury, who have lost 11 of 13 overall against the Storm, including playoffs.
"It's no secret we have had a lot of struggles against Seattle," Diana Taurasi said Saturday after scoring 26 points - 15 more than in Game 1. "But I think we've always taken the good things that we've done. I think we came back to Phoenix not defeated one bit. They took care of home court. We took care of home court."
If the Mercury are going to advance to the conference finals for the third consecutive season - they were swept by Seattle in that round in 2010 - they'll have to post their first victory at KeyArena since a 92-84 overtime win Sept. 10, 2009.
They likely have to do a better job on the defensive end if they're going to advance to face top-seeded Minnesota or San Antonio.
The Mercury's point total Saturday matched a season high against Seattle, which led the league in scoring defense (69.9 points per game).
"We kind of were reacting to them as opposed to dictating things," All-Star point guard Sue Bird said after the Storm's eight-game playoff winning streak ended. "With a team like Phoenix, you can't do that, you really can't."
NEW YORK (20 - 16) at INDIANA (22 - 14)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
INDIANA is 8-8 against the spread versus NEW YORK over the last 3 seasons
INDIANA is 9-7 straight up against NEW YORK over the last 3 seasons
11 of 16 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons
PHOENIX (20 - 16) at SEATTLE (22 - 14)
There are no Top Trends with records of significance that apply to this game.
Head-to-Head Series History
SEATTLE is 11-5 against the spread versus PHOENIX over the last 3 seasons
SEATTLE is 12-5 straight up against PHOENIX over the last 3 seasons
8 of 16 games in this series have gone OVER THE TOTAL over the last 3 seasons
NEW YORK vs. INDIANA
The total has gone OVER in 6 of New York's last 7 games when playing Indiana
New York is 8-15 SU in its last 23 games when playing Indiana
The total has gone OVER in 15 of Indiana's last 22 games when playing at home against New York
Indiana is 18-2 SU in its last 20 games when playing at home against New York
PHOENIX vs. SEATTLE
Phoenix is 1-4-1 ATS in its last 6 games when playing on the road against Seattle
Phoenix is 0-5 SU in its last 5 games when playing on the road against Seattle
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of Seattle's last 12 games
Seattle is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home