Mercury improve to 8-2 in single-elimination playoff games since 2016 format change
PHOENIX – The three-time WNBA Champion Phoenix Mercury earned a spot in another win-or-go-home single-elimination showdown, this time a Round 2 tilt against the Seattle Storm this Sunday, September 26 at NOON Phoenix time (3 p.m. ET) on ABC in Everett, Wash. Phoenix earned the second-round berth by virtue of a 83-82 win over the New York Liberty in Round 1 of the 2021 WNBA Playoffs tonight at GCU Arena.
Phoenix improved to 8-2 in single-elimination playoff games since the league changed its postseason format in 2016. In Round 2 of the 2021 WNBA Playoffs, the fifth-seeded Mercury and fourth-seeded Storm meet, while the sixth-seeded Chicago Sky will take on the third-seeded Minnesota Lynx. The winners of these games will advance to play in the best-of-five semifinals against either top-seeded Connecticut or second-seeded Las Vegas.
Seattle won the regular season series over the Mercury this season, 2-1, with the home team coming away win a win in each matchup (Mercury won 85-77 on July 9 in Phoenix, but lost 82-75 on July 11 and 94-85 on September 17 in Seattle). With a win on Sunday, the Mercury would make its seventh appearance in the WNBA Semifinals (the league’s “Final Four”) in the last nine seasons.
2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medalists Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and Skylar Diggins-Smith return to Phoenix this summer, as the trio attempts to lead the Mercury to a WNBA-record tying fourth championship in 2021.