09/19/24 11:59:00
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09/19 23:57 CDT Diana Taurasi closes out what could be final home game of her
20-year career
Diana Taurasi closes out what could be final home game of her 20-year career
By JOHN MARSHALL
AP Sports Writer
PHOENIX (AP) --- Diana Taurasi stood in the middle of the court where she won
championships and broke records during one of the greatest careers in women's
basketball history.
She tried to get out the words out, but Phoenix's fans quickly interrupted.
"If this is the last time ... " Taurasi said before the crowd started a lengthy
chant of "One more year!"
Taurasi hasn't decided if she will return for a 21st season, making Thursday
night's game against Seattle as potentially the final at home in her storied
career.
The Storm spoiled Taurasi's night with an 89-70 win, but there's no doubt what
playing in Phoenix has meant to the player who has widely been called the best
of all time.
"If it is the last time, it felt like the first time," Taurasi said.
Taurasi's teammates wore her No. 3 jersey --- with a head of a goat (greatest
of all time) sticking out of the number --- for player introductions, a nod to
the possibility it was her last game.
Despite a deafening roar during player introductions and her college coach Geno
Auriemma of UConn in the stands, Taurasi treated the game like any other,
slapping hands with her teammates before trotting onto the floor.
The night didn't turn out the way Taurasi wanted, but she got one last curtain
call as Mercury fans started a chant of "We want DT" with three minutes left in
the blowout loss. Taurasi's return lasted less than a minute before she jogged
back to the bench waving as the fans chanted "One more year!"
"On a night like tonight, you don't want to make it about you --- you want to
make it about DT," Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. "This is a moment, when
you experience it, you're going to remember forever."
The 42-year-old Taurasi finished with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting in 18
minutes, but gained much more in a game that meant little in the WNBA standings
with the Mercury locked into a first-round playoff series against Minnesota.
The Mercury played a tribute video before Taurasi addressed the crowd and she
lingered on the floor, hugging and taking pictures well after the final buzzer,
including a long embrace with Auriemma.
"It's bittersweet in a lot of ways," Taurasi said. "When the season is over,
I'll have a better idea of what it looks like for me in the future."
Taurasi has been coy about retirement, remaining noncommittal while hinting it
might be right around the corner.
The Mercury stoked the retirement talk embers on social media with a post last
week that said " If this is it " and another early Thursday that included the
reading of a letter by her wife, former Mercury player Penny Taylor.
Whenever Taurasi does hang up her basketball shoes, her place in women's
basketball history will already be secured.
Taurasi won three straight national championship at UConn and kept on winning
after the Mercury selected her with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2004 WNBA
draft. She earned WNBA rookie of the year honors and won the first of three
WNBA titles in 2007.
The Glendale, California native is one of four players to win multiple WNBA
Finals MVPs (2009, 2014) and was the league MVP for the 2009 season. She won
six Euroleague championships while playing year round most of her career and
claimed her sixth Olympic gold medal at this summer's Paris Games. She's the
WNBA's career scoring leader --- about 3,000 more than Tina Charles in second
--- top playoff scorer and has made the most 3-pointers in league history.
Taurasi also made the all-WNBA first team 10 times and is an 11-time WNBA
All-Star, including this season.
And she's barely slowed at 42, averaging 15.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.4
assists while leading the Mercury to the playoffs.
"There's still days where I'm like: I can still do this, I can still want to
play basketball," Taurasi said. "But then there's days where I can barely crawl
out of bed. That's the struggle when you're at this point in your career; you
have to do so much you have to do to get back on the court."
Taurasi will be back on the court at least twice, against the Minnesota in the
playoffs.
The Mercury will need to win at least one game to keep her season --- and
potentially career going --- but Taurasi will go out on top no matter how it
ends.
___
AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball
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