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There is no homecourt advantage in these WNBA finals. Each team can claim a victory in the other’s arena, and that should be some comfort to the Indiana Fever when they face the Phoenix Mercury in the deciding Game 5 on Friday night. In fact, Indiana has won two of three in Phoenix, once in the regular season then again in Game 2. The most important road victory, though, came when Phoenix got back in its fast-paced groove for a 90-77 victory Wednesday night in Indianapolis. In this high scoring, lots of energy series, the road team is 4-0 against the spread and 11-1 ATS in these finalist’s last 12 contests. This sends the series back to Arizona, where Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter, Penny Taylor and the rest of the Mercury can claim the franchise’s second title in three years.
“Our strength all year has been our confidence in our attack and I felt like we got that back,” Taylor said after Wednesday’s win. “We were playing with confidence and attacking every single time down the floor and that’s hard to defend for 40 minutes.”
There was no player or coach availability as the teams traveled on Thursday.
The teams have traded wins since the Mercury opened the series with a wild 120-116 overtime win in the highest-scoring game in WNBA history.
In winning its fifth consecutive elimination game, Phoenix simplified its sometimes complex offense to what coach Corey Gaines said was “one play, over and over again.” Gaines club is 19-10 ATS after scoring 80 points or more in three straight games this season.
That might be a stretch, but the Mercury did move the ball with more ease than at any other time in the series. Time and again, a Phoenix player would drive to the basket, draw a double-team and toss the ball out to a wide-open shooter.
“The plan was to space the floor,” said the Mercury’s Tangela Smith, who made 4 of 6 three-pointers. “When we looked at the film, we realized we didn’t have good spacing. We wanted to keep everyone spaced out. It worked. That’s what we need to continue to do in Game 5.”
The Mercury made 10 of 24 three-pointers, compared with 2 of 18 for the Fever. Indiana’s best shooter, Katie Douglas, was 2 of 14 overall, 1 of 7 on 3s.
“Katie Douglas, you’ve seen her shoot, she doesn’t shoot 2 of 14,” Fever coach Lin Dunn said. “I thought Tamika Catchings was scoring well, she was aggressive. But they had five people in double figures, we had three. There is the difference in the ball game.” Indiana’s lost opportunity leaves them at 4-13 ATS after scoring 75 points or more in three games in a row.
Gaines has repeatedly said he didn’t think it was the Indiana defense, just poor play by Phoenix that had shut down the potent Mercury attack. He said the same thing when asked about what his team’s defense did to slow down the Fever in Game 4.
“Truthfully, nothing, they just missed shots,” Gaines said, “and then in the fourth quarter, like most teams, if you’re behind those shots are tougher to take. The shots are easier to take when you’re up by 10, 12, 11 points.”
Catchings, who had 24 points and 12 rebounds in Game 4, said Indiana won’t go down without a fight, not after she waited eight years in the league to finally reach this moment.
“I mean, it’s an awesome feeling to think about winning a championship,” she said, “and it’s kinda like I don’t want to get too excited because I want to make sure it happens first.”
Sportsbook.com has Phoenix as a risky (based on past results) five-point favorite, with total of 178. The Mercury are dependent on offense rather than playing shutdown defense, which suits them since they are 13-3 ATS after a trio of games forcing opponent to commit 14 or less turnovers. In a deciding series conflict, the pressure goes both ways and Indiana is 6-0 ATS in road games versus good shooting teams making 44 percent or more of their shots this season.
Three of the last four games have played Under and typical series closers tend to be more conservative. Phoenix is 7-1 UNDER in home games off a road win where they scored 85 or more points and Indiana is 8-0 UNDER in road games off an upset loss as a favorite.
A new WNBA champion will be crowned on ESPN2 starting at 9:00 Eastern.
StatFox Power Line – Phoenix by 7
Bob Baum AP Sports writer contributed to this article.
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