Her haters will say that she can’t possibly have that much of an impact at age 42. That she can no longer consistently make her audacious shots. That those shots will instead look foolish and ruin any chance the Phoenix Mercury have of winning in the playoffs.
But Diana Taurasi has made four trips to the postseason past age 35, playing in 20 games, and only once in that time has she had a real dud of a performance from beyond the arc. Other than that 1-for-8 showing in Game 3 of the 2021 Finals, she has shot 27.3 percent or better in every contest and 39.3 percent overall, including an 8-for-11 masterpiece in Game 2 of the 2021 semifinals, without which the Mercury don’t even make the Finals.
What a postseason 2021 was for Taurasi, as she almost captured a championship that would have tied her with fellow GOAT-conversation legends Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Maya Moore at four titles. Nobody is a more fierce competitor than Taurasi—at times in excess—as she demonstrated by repeatedly slamming and breaking a door at Chicago’s Wintrust Arena after the Mercury missed out on that title.
DT showed she’s still got it in Game 1
On Sunday, the GOAT was back in playoff action for the first time since she broke that door, and she showed that her hunger for that fourth championship would not in any way be diminished by Phoenix’s losing regular-season record (19-21). She doesn’t care what kind of path the Mercury take to get there, she just wants to win it all, and she backed up her determination with her play, going 5-for-10 from downtown en route to 21 points, as No. 7-seed Phoenix gave the No. 2-seed Minnesota Lynx all they could handle in a 102-95 Game 1 loss.
Taurasi turned 42 on June 11, and the Mercury community treated her 2024 regular-season finale last Thursday as if it might be her last professional game in Phoenix. When the Mercury meet the Lynx for Game 2 on Wednesday at 9:30 p.m. ET (ESPN), they will be fighting for at least one more game at Footprint Center this season for their beloved basketball colossus. If they lose, they will be eliminated and we will have to wait for Taurasi’s decision on whether to keep playing.
Whether or not she secretly knows it is her final season, Taurasi showed on Sunday that she isn’t letting it slip away without a fight. Her 21 points were instrumental in making the game as close as it was; the Mercury came back from down 23 and led by one point with 2:06 remaining. Will DT and company be able to give the Lynx problems again?
Can DT’s teammates help her force a Game 3 in PHX?
If they do, it will likely be because Kahleah Copper steps up and has a big Game 2. Outside of Napheesa Collier, who dropped a career-high 38 in Game 1, Copper could be the next-best player on the floor in this series. She got hot for a stretch in Game 1 and made it look like Phoenix had a good chance of winning. Her 3-point shooting, combined with her ability to attack the basket, is deadly. Then there’s Brittney Griner, who, like Taurasi, was on Sunday making her first playoff appearance since the 2021 Finals (which the Mercury lost to Copper and the Sky) and first since being wrongfully detained in Russia. Griner was phenomenal in the 2021 regular season (second in MVP voting) and playoffs, and has returned to professional basketball nicely, averaging over 17 points per game in both of the last two seasons. She even recorded the best field goal percentage of her illustrious career in 2024 at a league-leading 57.9 percent.
Copper had 16 points in Game 1, while Griner struggled and registered just 10. They averaged 21.1 and 17.8, respectively, on the season. The Mercury need more from them and less reliance on Natasha Cloud, who had 33 points in Game 1 but is typically more of a distributor than a scorer. With that being said, Cloud has scored 33 points in each of her last two playoff games (going back to 2023 with the Washington Mystics), proving that she can be a scoring star in her own right. Another star the Mercury have is Sophie Cunningham, who put up 21 points in a 2021 playoff game—before she was as good as she is now. Her career high in a regular-season game is 36. She’s the most accurate 3-point shooter on the Mercury (37.8 percent in the regular season) and was 2-for-3 from deep in Game 1.
Phoenix had the tools to be better than 19-21 in the regular season, and I think it has the tools to force a Game 3. I’ve mentioned a number of players besides Taurasi who will help decide the Mercury’s fate. But DT sets the tone. Her drive was never in doubt. And to the non-haters, neither was her ability to make tough shots—even at the age of 42—given her solid 14.9 points per game this season (33.3 percent on 3s) and previous agelessness in the playoffs.
Taurasi has scored in double figures in 66 of her 72 career playoff games has has reached at least 20 points in 44 of them. Her career playoff average is 20.5 points, meaning her first playoff game at age 42 was actually slightly above average by her lofty standard.
Just par for the course for the greatest player of all time.
