Mercury author historic comeback, knot series with Lynx - ESPN

MINNEAPOLIS — To even their WNBA semifinal series at 1-1, the Phoenix Mercury had to do something no team had ever done in league history.

The Minnesota Lynx had never lost a playoff game in which they led at halftime by double digits (15-0). And they had never lost any game, playoffs or regular season, where they were up 16 or more at the half (61-0).

That is, until Tuesday's 89-83 Phoenix victory in overtime at Target Center. The No. 4 seed Mercury trailed 48-32 at the break and the top-seeded Lynx looked on their way to a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series.

Then, everything turned around. The Mercury fought their way back, setting up Phoenix guard Sami Whitcomb's game-tying 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left. Then Minnesota forward Napheesa Collier missed a jump shot at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime.

There, the Mercury completed their rally after being down as much as 20. It tied for the largest road comeback in WNBA playoff history, matching the Chicago's Sky's 20-point rally against the Atlanta Dream in 2014.

«Nobody said this stuff was gonna be easy,» Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said.

Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts, said, «Just pride, toughness, grit. I couldn't be more proud of our group for doing that. I mean, I'm fired up. Phoenix is going to be rocking on Friday and Sunday (for Games 3 and 4).»

Having lost the series opener 82-69 Sunday, the Mercury went to the locker room at the break Tuesday with their season hanging in the balance. Going back to Phoenix down 2-0 wouldn't have felt impossible, but close to it.

So, Tibbetts brought some heat for his halftime address to his team. How much heat? He said, «You'll have to ask the players.»

Whitcomb said it was an appropriate amount of heat, and the Mercury