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Phoenix Mercury

Taurasi Named Western Conference Player of the Month

August 20, 2018 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Phoenix Mercury News Release


PHOENIX - Three-time WNBA Champion and WNBA all-time leading scorer Diana Taurasi was named the Western Conference Player of the Month for August, as announced by the league office today. This marks the fourth time in her career Taurasi has been named WNBA Player of the Month (June 2013, June 2014, June 2018) and the second time this season. She's accounted for all four times a Mercury player has won the award since it was established in 2010.

Taurasi averaged a team-best 22.0 points and team-leading 7.4 assists during the month of August, guiding the Mercury to a 5-2 record during the month, including a 4-0 mark in the Mercury's final four games to close the season. The hot finish helped the Mercury clinch the fifth seed in the WNBA Playoffs and seal a Round 1 home game on Tuesday.

Taurasi scored 20 or more points in four of the seven games in August, including a season-high 37-point outing on August 1 at Las Vegas. She dished five or more assists in all but two of the games and knocked down at least one three-pointers in each of them. Taurasi, who led the WNBA in free throw shooting this season, shot 90.1 percent (50-for-55) from the charity stripe in the final month of the season, and tied her career highs in free throws made (17) and attempted (18) in the August 1 win against the Aces.

Taurasi's two most impressive performances of the month came in consecutive games on August 12 against Los Angeles and August 17 against Atlanta. In the win over the Sparks, Taurasi dropped 20 points on six-of-nine (66.7 percent) shooting and dished 14 assists in the win. She followed that up with a 27-point, 14-assist outing just five days later in a win over the second-place Atlanta Dream. The 14 assists set a career high for the 36-year old guard who's playing in her 14th season.

Taurasi has continued to add to her already decorated career this season, especially in the month of August. In the August 17 game against Atlanta, her four three-pointers put her over 100 makes on the season, marking only the second time in WNBA history a player has made 100+ threes in a season, both times by Taurasi (also made 121 in 2006). She now holds the top-six spots on the WNBA's all-time chart for made three-pointers in a season, while this season also marked the ninth time in her career she's led the league in triples. The second-most times a player in basketball history has led their league in three-point makes is five, which was done by Golden State's Stephen Curry. Additionally, Taurasi became the WNBA's all-time leader in free throw makes in the final game of the season against New York after finishing two-for-two at the charity stripe. She now stands at 2,005 free throw makes after passing Tamika Catchings (2,004) on the list.

Even in her 14th season, Taurasi is having an MVP-caliber summer. With averages of 20.7 points and 5.3 assists per game, she's the only player in the WNBA ranked in the top five in scoring (3rd) and assists (4th). She led the league in free throw shooting this season with a career-best mark of 95.5 percent (172-of-186 ended up with 106 makes from behind the arc, which is 28 more makes from beyond the arc than second place.

WNBA all-time leading scorer Diana Taurasi and 2017 WNBA scoring champion Brittney Griner return to Phoenix this summer to lead the Mercury in a quest for the franchise's WNBA-record tying fourth championship. Tickets to the Mercury's Round 1 Playoff Game against Dallas at Arizona State University are on sale NOW and can be purchased by calling 602.252.WNBA or by visiting PhoenixMercury.com.

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