Mercury-Silver Stars Preview

By BRETT HUSTON
Posted Jul 27 2011 1:29PM

The San Antonio Silver Stars closed out a three-game road swing on a positive note. The Phoenix Mercury are hoping to begin their own trip in positive fashion after wrapping up a disappointing homestand.

The Silver Stars return home looking for a fourth victory in five games Thursday afternoon against the Mercury, who have won five of six on the road - including an impressive performance in San Antonio last month.

Three days after starting their trip sandwiched around the All-Star break with a 10-point win in Los Angeles on July 18, the Silver Stars (10-5) turned in their worst performance of the season. They shot a woeful 27.7 percent and trailed by as many as 28 points in a 73-55 loss at Seattle last Thursday.

San Antonio's Becky Hammon was honored at Saturday's All-Star game as one of the WNBA's top 15 players of all-time, and in her first game after the break, she played like one. Hammon had 22 points - the team's only starter in double figures - and the Silver Stars took advantage of 19 Washington turnovers Tuesday in a 73-67 victory.

"Most of the time I feel like I have to get other people going,'' said Hammon, who entered with a league-best 6.2 assists per game but had only two against the Mystics. "On nights when it's a struggle, sometimes you just have to take more shots than you normally would.''

Phoenix's Diana Taurasi, who joined Hammon on the WNBA's top 15 list, also returned from the break with a strong performance, but her team couldn't follow suit. Taurasi had 26 points, four assists and three steals Tuesday against Seattle, but the rest of her team shot 34.0 percent in an 83-77 loss.

"We didn't come to play,'' Mercury coach Corey Gaines said. "I talked to the team, they listened. We just didn't come to play. Just didn't play well.''

Phoenix (10-6) lost 106-98 to Minnesota on July 20 after opening its homestand with a win over Washington, but has been more comfortable on the road lately.

The Mercury, who visit New York and Minnesota after leaving San Antonio, are 5-1 away from home since June 21, when they beat the Silver Stars 105-98 behind 30 points from Taylor and 20 from Candice Dupree.

Hammon outscored Taurasi 28-7, but it didn't make a difference.

As much as the Mercury rely on Taurasi's scoring, she's been making a concentrated effort on finding her teammates more often, averaged 5.6 assists in July - more than double her 2.4 mark in June.

The Silver Stars, meanwhile, need to get their other All-Star going. Rookie center Danielle Adams has totaled 17 points in her past three games after averaging 17.6 in her previous six contests.

Adams had 16 points in 19 minutes in the Silver Stars' 101-99 win at Phoenix on June 17.

Hammon scores 33, Silver Stars top Mercury 102-91

Posted Jul 28 2011 4:41PM

SAN ANTONIO (AP) Becky Hammon scored 33 points, including a trio of 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, to lead the San Antonio Silver Stars to a 102-91 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Thursday.

Phoenix came within striking distance midway through the fourth before Hammon, who has been battling a nagging right shoulder injury all season, hit back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead back to 14 points.

Moments later, Harmon hit another three to put the Silver Stars up 100-87 with 2:08 left, and the Mercury would get no closer than 10 points the rest of the way.

San Antonio has won four of five and pulled within a half game of Western Conference-leading Minnesota.

Diana Taurasi finished with 27 points, five assists and went 11 of 11 from the free throw line for the Mercury. Candice Dupree had 17 points and 14 rebounds for Phoenix (10-7), which has lost three straight.

``I think we did some good things and we did some things that didn't help us,'' Taurasi said. ``San Antonio played really well, they executed, and they made a lot of plays throughout the game.''

The Silver Stars (11-5), who were without All-Star rookie forward Danielle Adams due to a sprained right toe, dished out 29 assists on 37 field goal attempts.

``I thought we really played well as a team today,'' Hammon said. ``Sophia (Young) did a great job finding open people. We did a great job of moving the ball around, and we shot better because of it. Its just a great team win.''

Harmon also finished with seven assists and went 7 for 10 from beyond the arc for the Silver Stars, who scored 32 points off 21 Phoenix turnovers.

The Silver Stars built an early 14-point lead in the first quarter, with Hammon scoring 13 points in the quarter.

But Taurasi, who was held scoreless for most of the first half, hit a few key baskets to ignite a 13-0 run late in the second quarter to trim a 14-point to one with 2:39 left in the half.

San Antonio's Scholanda Robinson hit a 3-pointer before Jia Perkins nailed a jumper at the buzzer to push the Silver Stars' lead to 48-42 at intermission.

``When you play Phoenix, the lead doesn't matter,'' Hammon said. ``You can't get ahead of this team and you can't get behind. I tell this team all the time, whenever you play Phoenix, if you're down 20 you're in the game, if you're up 20, they're still in the game. They always come back at you.''

Down 71-62 midway through the third, the Mercury pulled within one again with a 10-1 run capped off by a Taurasi pull-up jumper.

San Antonio came right back with seven straight points, including a 3-pointer by Hammon after a bad pass by Taurasi to give the Silver Stars a 78-70 lead going into the fourth.

``I was really pleased that we answered their runs,'' San Antonio coach Dan Hughes said. ``We got control of the game early, but you know they're going to come back. They're such a difficult team to guard, but I thought this was a more aggressive San Antonio team that (Phoenix) played today.''

Perkins finished with 14 points, while Danielle Robinson and Scholanda Robinson each added 11 points for the Silver Stars.

Taylor and Kara Braxton finished with 11 points apiece for the Mercury.

• Mercury: --
• Silver Stars: --

• Mercury: Taurasi
• Silver Stars: --

• Lead Changes: 1
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #13 Cameron Inouye, #18 Kurt Walker, #21 Byron Jarrett
• Attendance: 14797
• Duration: 1:56