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2008 Phoenix Mercury season

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

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.

Offseason

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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

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WNBA draft

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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

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Trades

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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

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Player Signed Former team
Le'Coe Willingham March 10, 2008 Connecticut Sun
Barbara Farris March 14, 2008 New York Liberty
Olympia Scott August 7, 2008 Los Angeles Sparks
Player Left New team
Player Re-signed
Kelly Mazzante February 20, 2008
Tangela Smith March 11, 2008
Diana Taurasi March 20, 2008
Jennifer Derejanik April 3, 2008

Regular season

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Season standings

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Western Conference W L PCT GB Home Road Conf.
San Antonio Silver Stars x 24 10 .706 – 15–2 9–8 10–10
Seattle Storm x 22 12 .647 2.0 16–1 6–11 13–7
Los Angeles Sparks x 20 14 .588 4.0 12–5 8–9 12–8
Sacramento Monarchs x 18 16 .529 6.0 5–12 13–4 9–11
Houston Comets o 17 17 .500 7.0 13–4 4–13 10–10
Minnesota Lynx o 16 18 .471 8.0 10–7 6–11 8–12
Phoenix Mercury o 16 18 .471 8.0 9–8 7–10 8–12

Season schedule

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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

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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

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Player GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
Diana Taurasi 34 34 31.9 .446 .360 .870 5.1 3.6 1.4 1.4 24.1
Cappie Pondexter 32 32 31.3 .413 .313 .846 3.7 4.2 1.2 0.2 21.2
Tangela Smith 25 25 28.9 .417 .348 .867 7.0 1.1 1.1 1.2 11.1
Le'Coe Willingham 34 27 24.5 .570 .185 .741 5.9 0.9 0.7 0.2 10.1
Kelly Miller 34 34 27.8 .408 .385 .845 4.4 4.0 0.7 0.1 8.3
Kelly Mazzante 34 2 18.9 .332 .331 .833 1.9 1.1 0.7 0.1 5.8
LaToya Pringle 29 7 13.0 .448 .000 .824 3.5 0.3 0.3 1.5 4.4
Barbara Farris 34 8 16.3 .463 .000 .698 3.8 0.2 0.6 0.1 3.5
Olympia Scott 6 0 11.5 .364 .000 .000 3.2 0.5 0.2 1.0 2.7
Yuko Oga 23 0 7.3 .351 .000 .941 0.7 0.6 0.3 0.0 2.4
Allie Quigley 14 0 7.1 .333 .182 .500 0.8 0.3 0.4 0.1 2.1
Willnett Crockett 5 1 8.2 .375 .000 .600 2.2 0.0 0.8 0.2 1.8
Jennifer Derevjanik 17 0 8.5 .263 .125 .750 1.0 1.6 0.1 0.2 0.8

Phoenix Mercury Regular Season Stats

Roster

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

Awards and honors

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  • 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

References

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  1. ^ "WNBA.com: Atlanta Dream". Archived from the original on August 20, 2009. Retrieved April 24, 2008.
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