Players hail ‘one of the GOATs’ as Taurasi walks off

MINNEAPOLIS — At 10:42 p.m. Wednesday, one of the greatest players in basketball history walked off the court for — maybe — the last time.

Diana Taurasi drew her sixth foul with 2 minutes, 34 seconds left in the Phoenix Mercury‘s 101-88 loss to the Minnesota Lynx in Game 2 of their first-round playoff matchup. In what might have been her final game, the WNBA’s all-time scoring leader left the court as players from both teams as well as the Minnesota crowd gave her an ovation.

Taurasi, who finished with 10 points, has not made any official declarations about her future, but the postgame mood seemed to signal a finality to a 20-year run that few athletes in basketball history have matched.

After suffering losses in both games in Minneapolis, Taurasi did not participate in either postgame news conference. But those who’ve watched her, played with her and competed against her told the story of her unrivaled legacy.

“We’ll see what she decides to do,” first-year Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts said. “It’s kind of been her approach the whole way, but personally, I’d just like to thank her [as] a new coach coming into a new league … the way that she welcomed me and helped me through this season. What an opportunity for me to coach the greatest ever, and I’m super thankful for that.”

The Mercury never seemed to find their stride this season, their third straight with a sub-.500 record. They struggled after the All-Star break and stumbled into a first-round matchup against the Lynx, the hottest team in the WNBA in recent months and a franchise that had defeated the Mercury five times in their past six playoff matchups. Lynx star Napheesa Collier elevated her play in this series, totaling 80 points in consecutive games to set a WNBA playoffs record, according to ESPN Research.

In Game 1 on Sunday, the Mercury overcame a double-digit deficit to briefly take the lead in the final minutes before the Lynx rallied. In Game 2, the Mercury had a two-point edge early in the third quarter but could not sustain it.

But Taurasi, in the final game of her season and possibly her career, left Minneapolis as a fighter. Early in the fourth quarter, she chirped at Lynx forward Myisha Hines-Allen after a foul. Both players drew technical fouls as several of Taurasi’s teammates held her back while she continued to talk.

That spirit helped her win six Olympic gold medals, three WNBA championships and three NCAA championships at UConn. Taurasi was the 2009 MVP and earned all-WNBA first-team honors 10 times. There were also multiple stretches in her career when Taurasi had a claim as the best player in the sport.

Taurasi started her pro career in 2004, four years before the first iPhone was released, and stuck around until cars could drive themselves. At 42 years old, however, she is still a talent, as she proved in a 21-point effort in Game 1, becoming the first player in WNBA history to score 20-plus in a playoff game after age 40.

“I’ve never seen somebody come in, day in, day out, do the exact same thing and add to it so she can stay on this court,” Mercury center Brittney Griner said. “I’ve always said I credit a lot of my game to the way I read it, the way I can see things developing on the court, to [Taurasi]. But I’m also lucky to take away life lessons from [Taurasi], too.”

Added Natasha Cloud: “[Taurasi] is one of the GOATs of this game. She will forever go down as one of the greatest to ever touch this ball.”

As good as Taurasi has been in her career, no other player in the league has matched Collier through a pair of playoff games. She became the first WNBA player to score 35-plus points in consecutive playoff games in league history. And just over 72 hours after scoring a career-high 38 points in Game 1, Collier topped that effort in Game 2 with 42 points.

“It’s not like I sit back and think about, ‘OK, I need to score this many points to break a record,'” Collier said. “I’m just playing for my team. I’m trying to win a game. I’m trying to take advantage of what the defense is giving me. It’s not even like I’m going out there with a goal in my head. I’m just trying to win the game.”

On Sunday, Collier said she’d planned to send Taurasi into retirement. She did so not with vitriol toward another former UConn star, but with intention. Collier had also said that, after finishing second to A’ja Wilson in the MVP race this year, she would come for Wilson next season.

She might have started her campaign early.

“I did have a moment in the first half when I looked up and I saw that up on the in-arena scoreboard she had 22 [points] in the first half,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “And I thought, ‘Wow, that’s pretty good.’ I didn’t realize she had done that well.”

Wednesday night might have been the last game for Taurasi, but her teammates tried to write another ending. Griner had 24 points and a pair of blocks and Cloud had a double-double (16 points, 10 assists) for a Mercury team that shot 52% from the field.

The Lynx, however, are playing on another level, one Taurasi has reached a few times in her career.

Even though she’d fouled out, Taurasi stood up during timeouts, pumped her fists and tried to motivate a team that had sunk into a double-digit deficit late in the game.

But they didn’t have another run in them, and as the final buzzer blasted throughout Target Center, fans cheered and both teams shook hands and hugged in typical postgame pleasantries.

At 10:49 p.m., Taurasi walked into the tunnel to the locker room, but not before she reached out her hand toward a young fan.

Then, she was gone.

“I mean, 20 years is incredible,” Reeve said. “It’s really incredible. Even think about 20 years at a high level. And I’ve said this repeatedly: [She’s] one of the all-time great competitors in any sport.”

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