Detroit 89, Phoenix 78 (F)
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. (AP) -- A year ago, the Phoenix Mercury were celebrating a WNBA championship at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Tuesday they made history again on the same floor, but this time, it wasn't something to enjoy.
The Mercury (15-17) lost 89-78 to the Detroit Shock, officially ending their chances at a Western Conference playoff berth with two games left in the regular season. Phoenix is the first defending WNBA champ to miss the playoffs in league history.
"This is hard,'' said Mercury forward Diana Taurasi, who scored 22 points in the loss. "But we have no one to blame but ourselves. Last year, we put everything into winning this, and this year we didn't have that effort. We don't deserve to make the playoffs.''
Phoenix head coach Corey Gaines, an assistant last season under
"She's one of the top five players in the world, and we didn't have her this season,'' Gaines said. "You don't just replace a player like that.''
The game was played 51 weeks after Phoenix's 108-92 win over Detroit in Game 5 of the finals, and the Shock acknowledged enjoying a bit of revenge.
"We talked about that before the game - that we could knock them out of the playoffs tonight,'' said Deanna Nolan. "They came in here and beat us in Game Five last year, so this felt pretty good.''
The Shock, though, had other things on their mind. They can clinch home-court advantage in the first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs with a win Thursday over the Washington Mystics, and still have a chance at the No. 1 seed.
"We knew that we had to win all of our home games after the Olympic break to get us set up for the postseason,'' said Plenette Pierson. "This gets us closer to that.''
Nolan led Detroit with 18 points and Katie Smith added 17, while Taj McWilliams-Franklin had 14 points and eight rebounds in her fifth game with the Shock.
"Taj has fit in here so well that it seems like she's been here all season,'' Pierson said. "She does so many little things well, and she's helped us replace Cheryl (Ford).''
Detroit had six players score in double figures.
Cappie Pondexter led the Mercury with 23 points.
"We had a chance to win this game, and we didn't get it done,'' Taurasi said. "That sums up the whole season.''
The Shock dominated early, but went cold in the second quarter, shooting just 27 percent in the period. That allowed Phoenix to narrow the gap to 41-40 at the half.
The Mercury led early in the third, but Detroit regained command with a 9-2 run late in the third.
Detroit expanded the margin to 13 early in the fourth, but Phoenix tried to keep its season alive with a 10-0 run that pulled them within 79-76 with 4:15 to go.
McWilliams-Franklin stopped the surge with a pair of free throws, and Barb Farris was called for an offensive foul on Phoenix's next possession, ending the Mercury run.
"Detroit got into the bonus about three minutes into the fourth quarter, and that really hurt us,'' Gaines said. "They got 14 free throws in the quarter, and they made every one of them. There's not much you can do about that.''