by Erin Semagin Damio
PHOENIX -- Game four of the WNBA finals Thursday night was tied seven times, and saw 14 lead changes. Each team at one point led by as much as nine, but in the end it came down to a basket.
A three point shot by Kelly Miller and two jump shots by Cappie Pondexter propelled the Phoenix Mercury into a seven to three run in the last 1:55 in the game, beating the Detroit Shock 77-76.
The Shock had the ball for the last 21.7 seconds, but missed their one shot attempt.
"We just wanted, honestly, to just somehow, obviously, get Tweety (Deanna Nolan) the ball and let her break it down a bit, and obviously they ran at her and Pee Wee (Shannon Johnson) got a shot off in the corner," Detroit guard Katie Smith said about the Detroit possession in the last few seconds.
Phoenix was happy about their ability to match up to Detroit's more physical style of play.
"No matter what, in games like this, people want to talk about the up-tempo, but all year we have been grinding games, we've won it our way, we've won it other ways," Phoenix guard Diana Taurasi said. "And when the score is 90-90 or 70-70, the last two minutes are about possessions and stops. Today we fell back on getting stops and making plays on the other end, which we have done all year. So I think that just shows how much fight this team has. And I think that it will go a long way."
Cappie Pondexter had 26 points to lead the Mercury, along with five assists, three rebounds, and a steal. Taurasi added 20 points, six rebounds, an assist, two steals, and a block, and Kelly Miller had 13 points, four assists, four rebounds, and three steals. Penny Taylor was held to just six points on 1-11 shooting, but led the Mercury with nine rebounds, and had two assists, two steals, and a block.
Reserve Plenette Pierson led the Shock with 23 points, three rebounds, and two blocks, shooting 9-10 from the floor and breaking her own WNBA finals field goal percentage record, set earlier this year. Deanna Nolan had 17 points, eight rebounds, and five assists, and Smith added 14 points for the Shock. Cheryl Ford had just five points but led Detroit in rebounds with 14.
"I thought we came," Detroit coach Bill Laimbeer said. "We played hard. We didn't get it done. We didn't play smart, we played with enough fire and intensity to give ourself a chance to win. We like games like this. We enjoy elimination games. It makes us concentrate, it makes us play hard for the entire game. And that's what we're looking forward to in Game five."
The final game of the WNBA finals will be in Detroit at 4:30 on Sunday, September 16, televised on espn2. The winner of this game will win the WNBA title.
"It's going to be a really hard game," Taurasi said. "We know that. Like the other four have been. I think we just have to go to Detroit and just focus. Really have to be focused, because that house is going to be crowded. Their players are going to come out extra energized, extra ready to go, we're going to have to find a way to match it."
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