2008 Phoenix Mercury season

The 2008 WNBA season was the 12th for the Phoenix Mercury. The Mercury were not able to win their second consecutive WNBA Championship and became the first defending champion to not qualify for the playoffs.

2008 Phoenix Mercury season
CoachCorey Gaines
ArenaUS Airways Center
Attendance8,522 per game
Results
Record16–18 (.471)
Place6th (Western)
Playoff finishDid not qualify

Offseason

On September 27, 2007, head coach Paul Westhead resigned and took a job as an assistant coach under P.J. Carlesimo for the Seattle SuperSonics. Assistant coach Corey Gaines was named the team's new head coach on November 7 of that year.

Expansion Draft

WNBA Draft
Round Pick Player Nationality School
1 13 LaToya Pringle  United States North Carolina
2 25
(from SA)		 Leilani Mitchell  United States Utah
3 41 Marscilla Packer  United States Ohio State

Transactions

Trades
April 22, 2008 To Phoenix Mercury
New York's third-round pick in the 2009 WNBA Draft		 To New York Liberty
Leilani Mitchell

Free agents
PlayerSignedFormer team
Le'Coe WillinghamMarch 10, 2008Connecticut Sun
Barbara FarrisMarch 14, 2008New York Liberty
Olympia ScottAugust 7, 2008Los Angeles Sparks
PlayerLeftNew team
PlayerRe-signed
Kelly MazzanteFebruary 20, 2008
Tangela SmithMarch 11, 2008
Diana TaurasiMarch 20, 2008
Jennifer DerejanikApril 3, 2008

Regular season

Season standings
Western Conference W L PCT GB Home Road Conf.
San Antonio Silver Stars x2410.706–15–29–810–10
Seattle Storm x2212.6472.016–16–1113–7
Los Angeles Sparks x2014.5884.012–58–912–8
Sacramento Monarchs x1816.52913–45–126.09–11
Houston Comets o1717.5007.013–44–1310–10
Minnesota Lynx o1618.4718.010–76–118–12
Phoenix Mercury o1618.4718.09–87–108–12

Season schedule
Date Opponent Score Leading Scorer Attendance Record
May 17 vs. Los Angeles 94-99 Cappie Pondexter (32) 13,749 0-1
May 20 @ San Antonio 76-81 Cappie Pondexter (23) 9,103 0-2
May 22 vs. Seattle 83-87 Diana Taurasi (23) 7,059 0-3
May 31 @ Minnesota 83-94 Cappie Pondexter (31) 6,914 0-4
June 3 vs. Washington 98-93 Diana Taurasi (29) 7,561 1-4
June 6 @ Los Angeles 85-79 Diana Taurasi (29) 13,142 2-4
June 11 @ Seattle 77-83 Diana Taurasi (37) 7,483 2-5
June 14 vs. Detroit 79-89 Cappie Pondexter (28) 7,696 2-6
June 18 vs. Connecticut 102-81 Diana Taurasi (32) 4,478 3-6
June 20 vs. Chicago 112-105 (OT) Diana Taurasi (33) 7,311 4-6
June 22 @ New York 72-105 Diana Taurasi (21) 8,688 4-7
June 24 @ Washington 98-90 Diana Taurasi (31) 6,662 5-7
June 26 @ Chicago 89-79 Kelly Miller (17) 3,103 6-7
June 29 @ Connecticut 87-80 Diana Taurasi (25) 9,518 7-7
July 1 @ Atlanta 97-79 Diana Taurasi (28) 9,795 8-7
July 5 vs. New York 83-93 Diana Taurasi (25) 6,481 8-8
July 6 @ Los Angeles 80-91 Kelly Miller (14)
Cappie Pondexter (14)		 10,004 8-9
July 8 vs. Houston 99-94 Diana Taurasi (30) 15,499 9-9
July 10 @ Seattle 78-89 Cappie Pondexter (20) 10,454 9-10
July 12 @ Sacramento 97-105 Cappie Pondexter (33) 7,044 9-11
July 15 vs. San Antonio 87-97 Diana Taurasi (23)
Cappie Pondexter (23)		 6,451 9-12
July 17 vs. Los Angeles 99-92 Cappie Pondexter (27) 7,981 10-12
July 19 vs. Atlanta 110-84 Diana Taurasi (21) 7,913 11-12
July 22 @ Houston 92-94 Diana Taurasi (31) 6,134 11-13
July 24 @ Sacramento 74-83 Cappie Pondexter (23) 11,946 11-14
July 25 vs. Seattle 94-80 Diana Taurasi (31) 8,323 12-14
July 27 vs. Indiana 84-88 Diana Taurassi (25) 7,924 12-15
August 28 vs. San Antonio 55-77 Diana Taurasi (13) 7,931 12-16
September 3 vs. Minnesota 103-96 Diana Taurasi (32) 7,722 13-16
September 5 vs. Sacramento 81-69 Diana Taurasi (26) 10,527 14-16
September 7 vs. Houston 99-74 Diana Taurasi (33) 10,261 15-16
September 9 @ Detroit 78-89 Cappie Pondexter (23) 7,495 15-17
September 12 @ Minnesota 96-87 Diana Taurasi (31) 8,343 16-17
September 14 @ Indiana 89-103 Cappie Pondexter (23) 8,776 16-18

Player stats
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game

Regular season
Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Diana Taurasi 343431.9.446.360.8705.13.61.41.424.1
Cappie Pondexter 323231.3.413.313.8463.74.21.20.221.2
Tangela Smith 252528.9.417.348.8677.01.11.11.211.1
Le'Coe Willingham 342724.5.570.185.7415.90.90.70.210.1
Kelly Miller 343427.8.408.385.8454.44.00.70.18.3
Kelly Mazzante 34218.9.332.331.8331.91.10.70.15.8
LaToya Pringle 29713.0.448.000.8243.50.30.31.54.4
Barbara Farris 34816.3.463.000.6983.80.20.60.13.5
Olympia Scott 6011.5.364.000.0003.20.50.21.02.7
Yuko Oga 2307.3.351.000.9410.70.60.30.02.4
Allie Quigley 1407.1.333.182.5000.80.30.40.12.1
Willnett Crockett 518.2.375.000.6002.20.00.80.21.8
Jennifer Derevjanik 1708.5.263.125.7501.01.60.10.20.8

Phoenix Mercury Regular Season Stats

Roster
Phoenix Mercury roster
PlayersCoaches
Pos.#Nat.NameHeightWeightDOBFrom
PG 24 Derevjanik, Jennifer 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 140 lb (64 kg) George Mason
C 54 Farris, Barbara 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Tulane
SG 33 Mazzante, Kelly 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 155 lb (70 kg) Penn State
PG 2 Miller, Kelly 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 140 lb (64 kg) Georgia
PG 1 Oga, Yuko 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) 140 lb (64 kg) Japan
SG 23 Pondexter, Cappie 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Rutgers
F/C 30 Pringle, LaToya 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 162 lb (73 kg) North Carolina
PG 14 Quigley, Allie 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) 140 lb (64 kg) DePaul
C 0 Scott, Olympia 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 175 lb (79 kg) Stanford
F/C 21 Smith, Brooke 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Stanford
C 50 Smith, Tangela 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 160 lb (73 kg) Iowa
G/F 3 Taurasi, Diana 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 172 lb (78 kg) Connecticut
PF 43 Willingham, Le'Coe 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Auburn
Head coach
Assistant coaches
Athletic trainer
Strength and conditioning coach
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (FA) Free agent
  • (IN) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injured

Awards and honors
  • Diana Taurasi, WNBA Player of the Week (June 2–8, June 16–22, June 23–29, and September 1–7)
  • Cappie Pondexter, WNBA Player of the Week (July 14–20)
  • Diana Taurasi, WNBA Peak Performers (Points)
  • Diana Taurasi, All-WNBA First Team
gollark: <@509849474647064576>
gollark: ```Y'allEver hear of a cool language?It goes a little likefibs = 0 : 1 : zipWith (+) fibs (tail fibs)Oh, you didn't understand that?ExactlyHaskell is the worstWorse than this verseIf you use Haskell, reverseI just rhymed reverse with verseHaskell is still worse than this verseThose who use Haskell, let me enlighten youHaskell is the only language that can't shine a light on youWhy? Because that's IO (oh)Haskell has a successor functionWhat a coincidence, because it sucksLet me introduce you to my friend FoopyFoopy's my own language, it's everything Haskell couldn't doHey, Foopy, my main man?Foopy: Yeah, dude?You suck too!Foopy is impossible to useFunctional programming's like boozeWith objects you can't loseHaskell's the worst, Foopy's the worst, OOP is the wayFP's the worstWorse than this verseIf you use FP, reverseI just rhymed reverse with verseFP is still worse than this verseLemme introduce some morePython, Rust, Ruby, these aren't choresRust's the ultimate high-level languageIt's taking the world by stormPython and Ruby are your Swiss army knivesAlways there when you need them mostThese languages are beautiful in their simplicityBeautiful in their complexityHaskell only has complexityUgly complexityHard to use, hard to learnHaskell is the worstWorse than this verseIf you use Haskell, reverseI just rhymed reverse with verseHaskell is still worse than this verse```From the Esolangs server.
gollark: I mean, it's probably right, but not much use.
gollark: Kind of?
gollark: Er... maybe?

References
  1. "WNBA.com: Atlanta Dream". Archived from the original on 2009-08-20. Retrieved 2008-04-24.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.