Mercury veteran DeWanna Bonner explains when she plans to retire
Phoenix Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner tells the media whether she will play an 18th WNBA season or not, if she plays a 17th season.
After a stunning overtime win in Game 2, the Phoenix Mercury have a chance to swing the pendulum against the Minnesota Lynx in Phoenix.
With Games 3 and 4 at home, the Mercury are in the right spot to take the best-of-five semifinals.
“We’re confident. We’re confident in us and we’ve been battling all season,” Satou Sabally said. “You can’t give up a basketball game if you’re down whatever. I believed at halftime, and that’s what we did.”
All it took was the Mercury erasing a 20-point deficit in the third quarter on the road and trusting in their bench. Sami Whitcomb played some major minutes, including hitting the second-chance 3-point shot to go to overtime. Kathryn Westbeld exploited the Lynx’s mistakes in the third quarter and was scoring in transition.
Five of the Lynx’s 18 turnovers came in the third quarter and three were in OT. The Lynx were whistled for a five-second violation with 47 seconds left in regulation and had a slight 3-point lead before the Mercury sent it to overtime.
“Phoenix did a good job coming out aggressive, but I think we beat ourselves,” Lynx forward Napheesa Collier said. “Unforced turnovers, not taking care of the ball when they were pressuring us. It’s definitely frustrating, but it’s a series. A long series. We’re tied now, we’ve got to go to Phoenix and take care of business.”
Much like in the first-round series, the Mercury proved again that the first game isn’t the indicator of how the series will go. The Mercury had several areas to fix from both Game 1s and did so in the following game.
The improvements in the semifinals took a little longer, but once the second half hit, the Mercury were operating much better with more players sharing the ball.
Kahleah Copper carried the team in the second half of Game 1 against the Lynx, but got more help when she went down in the third quarter of Game 2.
Copper rolled her right ankle when she collided with Westbeld in the closing seconds of the third quarter and was limping visibly. She immediately headed back to the locker room when the quarter ended, but returned later on. Her corner 3 with 1:47 left in overtime put the Mercury up 85-79 and in the next play, she stripped the ball from Collier.
The shocking win against the Lynx could be the tipping point of the series, or it could be a wake-up call for the Lynx.
The Lynx have been one of the most defensively sound teams in the WNBA and rarely let teams take advantage of them. Head coach Cheryl Reeve is also known for figuring out her opponents and making the right adjustments to win.
Since the loss, the Lynx will likely have figured out what went wrong, and it will come out with a new attack. But the Mercury have proven their resilience and could counter.
Game 3 will be at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 26, and will be shown on ESPN 2. The winner will have a chance to eliminate the other in Game 4 on Sunday, Sept. 28.