The 2007 WNBA Championship seemed like a distant memory.

Phoenix didn't make even get the opportunity to defend that title, stumbling to a sub-.500 (16-18) record and missing the playoffs altogether in 2008.

So the team came out with a vengeance this year.

The Mercury claimed the league’s best overall record (23-11), the top seed and home court advantage for the WNBA playoffs - before promptly losing the first game of the Western Conference Semifinals.

But then the team got hot, winning 4 of their next 5 - while topping 100 points three times - to reach the WNBA Finals.

Where the Indiana Fever proceeded to stretch Phoenix to its limit.

Game 1: an overtime thriller; a Phoenix win. Games 2 and 3: back-to-back Indiana victories that put the Fever on the championship brink. Game 4: a powerful response from the Mercury players with their backs against the wall. Game 5: an elimination game with everything on the line.

Finals MVP Diana Taurasi led the way with 26 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks and a steal, capping the most trying season of her basketball career with a 94-86 victory. And after holding off a late Fever rally, Phoenix returned to the top of the podium for the second time in three years.

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