Taurasi leads Mercury into WNBA semifinals

NEW YORK — Diana Taurasi tends to play her best when the most is on the line.

The star guard scored 30 points and Brittney Griner added 22 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks to help the eighth-seeded Phoenix Mercury beat the No. 3 New York Liberty 101-94 on Saturday night. Taurasi is 13-3 in WNBA elimination games in her storied career, including a 6-0 mark on the road.

“I’m not afraid of it. It’s a challenge. It’s fun,” she said. “When you go on the road, especially here at the Garden. These fans are so thirsty they want a championship so bad. We came in the underdog. Today was a whole lot of fun.”

The Mercury will head to Minnesota for the semifinals, which is a five-game series as opposed to the single elimination games that Phoenix won in the opening two rounds of the postseason.

“It’s going to be hard. They are the best in the league right now,” Taurasi said. “They are the defending champs. We know what they do. They know what we do. It’s going to be a battle of wills more than anything. Right now we’re finding our groove. Finding who we are.”

Just as they did …

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