Winner take all
Mercury have one last chance to unseat Comets
Posted: Tuesday September 01, 1998 12:25 PM
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"I'll be ready for double- and triple-teaming and the unnecessary rough stuff," Gillom said AP |
HOUSTON (AP) -- Jennifer Gillom played one of her worst games of the season when the Phoenix Mercury had their first chance to clinch the WNBA championship.
She's promising a different performance when the Mercury and the Houston Comets face off for a winner-take-all game Tuesday night.
"You won't see the Jennifer you saw Saturday, believe me," Gillom said Monday.
Gillom, the Mercury's top scorer, was bottled up by the Comets in Game 2 and managed to score only eight points as her team lost 74-69 in overtime. She shot just 3-for-15 in the game, which tied the best-of-3 series at 1-1.
The Mercury won the opener 54-51 in Phoenix, and had the upper hand in Game 2, but Gillom didn't respond well to the double-teaming and the pushing and shoving inside.
"I'll be ready for double- and triple-teaming and the unnecessary rough stuff," Gillom said. "It frustrated me Saturday, but I won't let that happen again."
Despite losing a 12-point lead in the final eight minutes of Game 2, the Mercury haven't lost their confidence.
"We're looking at this positively, that we did get 12 points up on them," guard Michele Timms said. "We're going to see it as a positive thing rather than we got 12 points up and they came back and bit us."
For the Comets, it gave them a shot of confidence.
"They blew the lead because we started playing defense," the Comets' Cynthia Cooper said. "During the timeout, we said, 'Let's rebound and get the job done on defense, and everything else will fall into place.'"
Coach Van Chancellor put the Comets through their regular workouts Sunday, while the Mercury took the day off. Both teams worked out at Compaq Center on Monday.
Phoenix coach Cheryl Miller is positive, considering that her team lost by only five points in Game 2 despite an subpar from her best player.
"If you thought Game 2 was a dogfight, you haven't seen anything yet," Miller said. "We won't hold anything back. ... I don't need to reiterate the obvious. They have played with the passion of champions."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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