PHOENIX — When Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts walked down the sideline to where Diana Taurasi was sitting late in the fourth quarter of Thursday night's 89-70 loss to the Seattle Storm, he had to enlist the help of Brittney Griner, Natasha Cloud and Sophie Cunningham to convince the WNBA's all-time leading scorer to return to play in what could be the final home game of her illustrious career.
Eventually, the quartet, along with the help of a packed crowd chanting “DT,” convinced Taurasi, 42, to come out and greet the crowd. The plan was for her to sit out the fourth quarter, but with 3:11 remaining, the only WNBA player to score 10,000 career points entered the game at the Footprint Center to a standing ovation. She acknowledged the fans’ response with waves and applause as chants of “one more year” echoed throughout the arena.
Then, six seconds later, Taurasi was substituted and, possibly for the last time at Footprint, left the court where she played 261 games, scored 5,156 points, dished out 1,137 assists, grabbed 1,040 rebounds and hit 678 three-pointers.
She hugged Tibbetts and as she walked back to the bench, she stopped to hug and kiss her parents, Mario and Lily Taurasi, who were sitting courtside, before hugging each teammate until she reached the end of the bench.
Whether it was the last time she played in front of the home crowd that has cheered her since she was drafted No. 1 overall by the Mercury in 2004 remains to be seen. There is still basketball to be played. Phoenix travels to Minnesota for a best-of-three playoff series that begins Sunday against the Lynx. Beyond a possible Game 3 in Arizona, Taurasi isn't sure if Thursday was, in fact, her last home game.
“I think once the season is over, I'll have a better idea of what my future looks like,” Taurasi said after the game.
However, Thursday night had all the flavour of a farewell.
For weeks, the Mercury had been running a social media campaign titled “If This Is All…” Fans at the game were greeted with T-shirts hanging above their seats in honor of Taurasi. From there, the pomp and circumstance continued.
During warmups, Kahleah Copper joined Cloud and Cunningham and wore Taurasi jerseys from different eras. All three, along with Griner, wore Taurasi jerseys during introductions.
Her former University of Connecticut coach, Geno Auriemma, traveled to attend the game, as did longtime friends Sue Bird and Megan Rapinoe. Taurasi’s former Mercury coach, Corey Gaines, was in attendance along with several former college and high school teammates. Her small group of best friends made the trip, as did a large contingent of family and other friends.
And Taurasi had no idea they were coming.
“Everyone was telling me, 'Good luck tonight' and 'See you in the winter,'” Taurasi said.
“I went to warm up and I saw Corey Gaines, who I respect a lot. We learned a lot from him. He was the first domino to fall. And then as the game was going on, I was like, 'Uh-oh. ' There were a lot of nice faces that I shared a lot of great moments with. And tonight we're going to break bread.”
For years, Taurasi has said she didn't want a farewell tour and would likely walk away without announcing her retirement. The preparation and attention throughout the night — Tibbetts said before the game that the goal was to make the night as special as possible for Taurasi — was “a lot,” Taurasi said, especially with a playoff series on the horizon.
“But you can't stop and think and think if it's the last time you walk through that tunnel, the last time you put on that jersey at home, I have so many wonderful memories in this building,” he said. “This city is second to none for me.
“It's my home now and it's great to see the kids who started coming here in 2004 and now they're married, they have families, they own their businesses. You've seen them grow up and they've seen me grow up, in a way, and that's been great.”
As fans wept at the end of the regular-season finale at home, Taurasi said she didn't want to bottle up her feelings. She wasn't going to fight a feeling or try to feel a certain way.
“I just took it all in,” she said. “I was also trying to focus a little bit on the game, but there are so many memories that go through your mind, the good ones, the bad ones, and more than anything, I'm just so grateful to have really good people around me throughout my career and in the future.”
“That's all I remember. It's been the same faces for 20 years and that feels as good as wearing the jersey for 20 years.”
In many ways, the game was inconsequential. Both teams had their seedings and playoff schedules solidified before tip-off. Tibbetts said during his postgame press conference that his rotations were evidence that beating the Storm wasn't the priority. He just wanted Phoenix to get through the game in good shape.
It was all about Taurasi.
He played 18 minutes and finished with nine points, two assists and one rebound, scoring all of his points on 3-pointers. He scored Phoenix's first points with 7:08 left in the first quarter and then hit another 3-pointer in the final minute of the first. His final points came early in the second quarter.
After the game, the Mercury showed a short video of friends, family and teammates reading a letter to Taurasi, and then Taurasi spoke to the crowd. She said that when she arrived in Arizona in 2004, she “knew” she was going to be in Phoenix for a long time. As she tried to finish her speech, she began to say, “If this is the last time…” and was interrupted by chants of “one more year.”
In the end he concluded: “If it is the last time, it feels like the first.”
In the locker room after the game, Taurasi made a brief assessment of her future in a conversation with Griner.
“I talked to BG and I was like, 'There are still days where I think I can still do it. I still want to play basketball,' and then there's the other side of it where there are days where I just get out of bed and I guess that's a struggle you have when you get to this point in your career,” Taurasi said. “You have to do a lot to be able to get back on the court and it's bittersweet in a lot of ways.”
At this point, those days are 50/50, Taurasi said. No matter how good she feels on good days or how bad she feels on bad days, Taurasi, a mother of two, knows it's time to look at the bigger picture when thinking about her basketball future.
“I have to take a step back and think about what lies ahead,” he said. “I have to think about my family. So as soon as we win this championship, I'll make a decision quickly.”
