The Phoenix Mercury escaped the first round of the WNBA playoffs with a narrow win that raises as many questions as it answers.
The good news is that Phoenix gets to play another day.
The bad news is everything else.
The Mercury are set to travel to Seattle to take on Sue Bird and the Storm, the team that beat Phoenix a week ago.
The Mercury should be hot to avenge that loss, since it put them into the single-elimination playoff game against the New York Liberty that almost ruined the season.
Anything can happen in a winner-take-all playoff game, and it almost did.
What does win say about Phoenix?
The Liberty, by virtue of their 12-20 record, were the worst playoff team in the history of the sport.
But they denied Brittney Griner the ball in the post and knocked down 46 percent of their 3-point attempts. That plus a 14-point, 11-assist double-double from Sabrina Ionescu put New York in position to knock off one of the hottest teams in the league over the second half of the season.
Liberty wing Betnijah Laney hit a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left to tie the game at 83-83. The Mercury ended up winning on a Brianna Turner free throw.
But what does it say that one of the greatest post players in the history of the sport was held to just eight shots by a team that plays center by stacking two or three short players on top of each other then asking them to slip on one long jersey?
Does anyone think this team can really go up to Seattle on Sunday and contain Jewell Loyd, who blitzed them for 22 first-quarter points on Sept. 17?
And can they do it without Diana Taurasi?
The White Mamba is one of the greatest basketball players to ever lace up a pair of sneakers, but lately she’s only been wearing one shoe. Her left foot has been encased in a giant, protective boot as she sat out her fifth game with a sprained ankle. Will she be ready by this weekend?
Do the Mercury see this as an opportunity to avenge the Game 5 loss to the Storm in the 2018 semifinals? Seattle won it all that year, and they took the title last year, too. Phoenix hasn’t been that close to a ring since.
And does the close call give ammunition to the exigent X-Factor calls for Sandy Brondello to be replaced?
There’s a segment of the fanbase that thinks Brondello has underachieved since winning a championship in her first season in Phoenix, guiding Diana Taurasi, Brittney Griner and DeWanna Bonner to a 29-5 regular-season record and a 7-1 postseason record, including a sweep over Chicago in the 2014 WNBA Finals.
But Brondello has had to weather one injury after another (many to Taurasi) in recent years. It would be nice to see what she can do with a full roster for once.
Can Diggins-Smith keep answering?
There’s a lot of bad news to consider there.
But the good news is that a win over Seattle changes everything by setting up a semifinal series against Connecticut, giving Phoenix a chance to knock off the best team in the league on the way to the franchise’s first championship-round play in seven years.
The other good news?
Skylar Diggins-Smith is at the top of her game.
She scored 22 points and helped limit Sabrina Ionescu to 5-of-11 shooting, including 1 of 6 from 3-point range.
Diggins-Smith scored 10 in the fourth quarter, five of which came in the final 2 minutes.
She helped the Mercury escape with a narrow win, a victory so close it would be impossible to slip even a stat sheet between winning and losing.
It was such a close game that it raises entirely too many questions.
The best news is that Phoenix has at least one more game to answer them.
Reach Moore at gmoore@azcentral.com or 602-444-2236. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter @SayingMoore.
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