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Originally Published: October 1, 2009

Fever know Taurasi will turn it around

Phoenix star a combined 12 of 39 from field in first two WNBA Finals games

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By Mechelle Voepel
Special to ESPN.com
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ESPNews Highlight Of The Night

Fever even series with Mercury at one game apiece with 93-84 winTags: WNBA, Phoenix Mercury, Indiana Fever

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ESPNews Highlight Of The Night

PHOENIX -- Diana Taurasi could have been a natural in one of those old "never-let-'em-see-you-sweat" commercials.

After her Phoenix team lost 93-84 to Indiana on Thursday in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals, Taurasi wasn't up for fretting over what happened.

"We just have to stay with what we've been doing all season," she said. "There is no panic. There is no second-guessing of any sorts."

The fact remains that the numbers are rather unpleasant looking for her: In the two Finals games, Taurasi is a combined 12 of 39 from the field (31 percent). It's a bit more dismal for her from long-range: 5 of 18 (28 percent).

And teammate Cappie Pondexter was also off the mark a lot Thursday, going 5 of 16 (31 percent), including 0-for-4 from long range.

You might think the struggles of the league MVP and her fellow all-WNBA first-team member would be heartening to the Fever … but they're not.

"I'm not feeding into that," Indiana's Tamika Catchings said. "Cappie and Diana are too good. They might have a couple of bad games here and there, but don't ever think that's going to keep happening."

Or as the Fever's Katie Douglas put it, "They're like a bomb: They can go off at any time."

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Christian Petersen/Getty ImagesDiana Taurasi has shot 12-for-39 (30.8 percent) over the first two games of the WNBA Finals.

Catchings has primarily been responsible for guarding Taurasi and Douglas has been assigned to Pondexter, but it's still a team effort to try to slow the Mercury duo.

"Catch isn't guarding Diana all by herself, and I'm not guarding Cappie all by myself," Douglas said. "Our teammates are providing an enormous amount of communication and help-side [defense] for me. [Thursday], we got back to a lot more energy and communication out there."

One of the main reasons it's been so difficult to stop the Mercury all season is that it's so rare for both Taurasi and Pondexter to struggle in the same game. And it's really not something that Phoenix expects will happen multiple games in a row.

"Let me knock on something," said Phoenix's Le'coe Willingham, looking for some wood for good luck before she answered. "I just don't see that happening to them again."

Taurasi had seven rebounds, four blocks and three assists. So it's not at all like she didn't get anything done Thursday. It's just that fans are so accustomed to seeing shots fall for her, that it's alarming when so many don't.

When the Mercury cut the Fever's lead to five on Taurasi's layup with just more than a minute left, the Phoenix crowd probably thought there was still a chance that the Taurasi/Pondexter show might be able to steal the game away from the Fever.

It didn't happen, because the Mercury ran out of time to try. Taurasi knows she needs better accuracy next game, and that will especially be the case if Penny Taylor is feeling the lingering effects Sunday of taking an elbow in the mouth.

But Taurasi is not going to let this one loss become too big -- just as the Indiana players didn't after the Fever lost Game 1.

"Tonight showed the character they have as a unit," Taurasi said. "To lose a tough game like [Tuesday's] and come in here and play a great game.

"To make it this far, you have to have strong character. People that can recognize where there is a problem and try to fix it. That's what we're going to have to do when we go to Indiana."

Mechelle Voepel, a regular contributor to ESPN.com, can be reached at mvoepel123@yahoo.com. Read her blog at http://voepel.wordpress.com.