{"id":420990,"date":"2026-01-21T15:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/420990\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T15:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T15:03:07","slug":"why-phoenixs-1998-run-was-historic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/420990\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Phoenix’s 1998 Run Was Historic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Phoenix Mercury<\/a> got off to a great start in their early years. They made the playoffs in their first season, and they finished the season with a record of 16-12. They faced the New York Liberty in their first playoff game, and the Liberty came out victorious. <\/p>\n

New York picked up a 59-41 win over Phoenix, and the Liberty advanced to the WNBA Finals. They faced the Houston Comets, and the Comets beat them 65-51. Houston was the first WNBA champion, and the franchise would win three more after that. <\/p>\n

\"Houston<\/p>\n

May 13, 2006; Washington, D.C, USA; FILE PHOTO; Houston Comets at Washington Mystics — Houston forward Sheryl Swoopes brings the ball up court. Mandatory Credit: Sean Dougherty-USA TODAY \/ USA TODAY<\/p>\n

Houston faced Phoenix in the 1998 WNBA Finals, and while the Mercury won the first game, the Comets won the next two games. In that first game, Phoenix picked up a 54-51 win over Houston. Jennifer Gillom had a nice game, as she had 15 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks. <\/p>\n

Gillom was the only player who scored in double figures, but Michele Timms came close. She had nine points, five assists and four rebounds. <\/p>\n

\"Jennifer<\/p>\n

Xavier Prep head coach Jennifer Gillom calls out to her team during a game against Gilbert at Gilbert High School in Gilbert, Ariz., on Jan. 9, 2024. \/ Patrick Breen\/The Republic \/ USA TODAY NETWORK<\/p>\n

Before the win, the Mercury finished their first playoff matchup. They faced the Cleveland Rockers <\/a>in the previous round, and they beat them 2-1. <\/p>\n

Phoenix started the series with a 78-68 win. Gillom and Timms played well, as they had 21 points and 16 points, respectively. Gillom also had five rebounds, an assist and a steal. Timms had three assists, two rebounds and two steals. Michelle Brogan had 10 points, two rebounds, two assists and a block. <\/p>\n

Cleveland hosted Phoenix in the next game, and the Rockers beat the Mercury 67-66. Phoenix had three players who scored in double figures, as Gillom had a double-double of 27 points and 10 rebounds, Bridget Pettis had 15 points and Brogan had 11. <\/p>\n

In the final game of that series, the Mercury beat the Rockers 71-60. Pettis was the star of that game, as she had 27 points, 11 rebounds, five assists, two steals and a block. Brogan had 14 points, nine rebounds, an assist and a steal. Then, Gillom had 11 points, seven rebounds and two steals. <\/p>\n

The Mercury were headed to the Finals for the first time, and while they lost, they proved that they were a legitimate contender. There is also something interesting about this playoff run, as it was the first and last time the Mercury met either of these teams during the postseason.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"WNB\"<\/p>\n

Cleveland WNBA President of Business Operations, Allison Howard, addresses attendees of a Cleveland WNBA event celebrating the return of professional women\u2019s basketball to Ohio, Sept. 16, 2025, at Rocket Arena, in Cleveland. \/ Andrew Dolph \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

These teams folded, and while Cleveland will be returning to the league in the next few years, the original team has a special place in league history. The same can be said about the Comets. Houston was a dynasty, and today, teams are trying to accomplish what they did. <\/p>\n

Phoenix’s 1998 run was special, and it paved the way for future Mercury teams. <\/p>\n

Please follow us on X to read more about Phoenix’s series against Cleveland when you click right here<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phoenix Mercury got off to a great start in their early years. They made the playoffs in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-420990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}