Mercury makes history with comeback win in Game Four of semifinals

By Scott Mammoser

The Phoenix Mercury erased a 16-point Seattle Storm lead in the third quarter on Sunday, to pull out an 86-84 win and became the first team in WNBA history to force a decisive game of a best-of-five series after trailing 0-2. Game Five will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Seattle.

Mercury come from behind to force game five in Seattle

The top-seeded Storm came ready to play in Game Four, with a chance to return to the Finals for the first time since winning the 2010 title. Contrast to Friday’s 17-6 Mercury opening lead in Game Three, the Storm began the game on a 22-8 run, with league MVP Breanna Stewart leading the way.

Storm guard Sue Bird was bleeding after being hit in the face left midway through the second quarter and did not return. The Storm led 53-42 at halftime, despite Brittney Griner already pouring in 19 of her 29 points and grabbing seven of her 12 rebounds. Alysha Clark’s three two minutes into the third made it 60-44, and it seemed like the dagger, until Phoenix staged its comeback.  Diana Taurasi cut the lead to five with an off-balance three and two seconds to play in the third. Camille Little, who won a title with the Storm in 2010, scored to open the fourth, and the Mercury soon found itself trailing by only one. Griner knotted it at 76-76 at the six-minute mark, and DeWanna Bonner gave the Mercury the lead from the line on the next possession. Natasha Howard tied it at 84-84 for Seattle with 35 ticks on the clock, and Bonner grabbed her own offensive rebound and found Griner for the go-ahead basket at the 14-second spot. Out of the timeout, the Storm couldn’t get off a shot on its final possession, and the series shifts back to Seattle.

“We protected our house,” Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said, “and it went right down to the wire. We’re very excited to play a fifth game. I moved DeWanna Bonner to the three (which was the key to the comeback), she had been great in the four, but she’s been so aggressive. Camille came in and did a great job on Stewie (Breanna Stewart). Hopefully, everyone’s on board. We were not in plays like we should have been in that first half. We had to stay to what our philosophy is and being active and a sense of urgency.”

In addition to Griner’s double-double, Bonner scored 27 with eight rebounds, while Taurasi scored 16.

“We just regrouped and we’re not ready to go home yet,” Bonner said. “With 20 minutes to play, we could give it all we got, or we could go home tomorrow. We just wanted it a little more. They lost a big piece of their puzzle (Bird), and they only lost by two points, so it says a lot about them. They are going to bring it, I felt like they brought it today, it’s hard coming back from all of those leads, it shows a lot of character and heart. Nobody wants to go home.”

Stewart led the Storm with 22 points, Howard added 14 and Clark 13. Jewell Loyd, who has owned the Mercury in recent years, responded from an uncharacteristic 1-of-10 night on Friday and opened the first quarter 3-of-3. She ended 4-of-12 for 11 points.

“We put ourselves in some tough situations,” Stewart said. “The ball got a little stagnant, and those lulls don’t help us when we’re playing a team like Phoenix. Being under the basket with BG on you is a tough shot, but still I should have gotten a shot off on the last possession of the game. We got a little rushed and forced and lost the rhythm of what we normally play.”

The Washington Mystics defeated the Atlanta Dream, 97-76, in Game Four of the other WNBA semifinal series in D.C. to set up a decisive Game Five at 5 p.m. PT on Tuesday in Atlanta.