Rockers Look For Mercury Falling

The Cleveland Rockers hope the law of averages takes effect in their WNBA playoff series with the Phoenix Mercury, the only team that swept them this year.

“They’re looking at us like they know they can beat us because they’ve beaten us three times already,” point guard Suzie McConnell Serio said. “But I always believe it’s hard to beat a good team three times. Now they have to beat us five times.”

Although the Rockers (20-10) are the Eastern Conference champions, they visit the Mercury (19-11) to start the best-of-3 series. Game 2 will be in Cleveland on Monday, with Game 3, if needed, also in Cleveland on Tuesday.

It’s a format that could have the higher seed down 0-1 before it gets the home-court edge.

“We’re the underdogs,” Rockers forward Janice Braxton said. “We know we can beat them. We had so many turnovers in the last game we played here.”

The last Phoenix-Cleveland meeting wasn’t calculated to make either team overconfident.

Phoenix center Jennifer Gillom hit a 3-point bank shot that forced a second overtime, and the Mercury won 82-80 on Aug. 10. The next night, Gillom had another 3-pointer to force overtime against New York before the Liberty won by one point.

It was the last loss by the Mercury, who take a four-game winning streak into the playoffs.

“It’s sort of scary, because we beat them three times this season,” Gillom said about Cleveland, which also has won four straight. “Hopefully, we don’t take them lightly, just come out and play like we have been. I think we can make it to the finals.”

Gillom ranks second in scoring (20.8) and fourth in rebounds (7.3) in the league and had big games against the Rockers - scoring 28, 29 and a league-high 36 points in the series.

Despite the odds against continued domination of another elite squad, she likes the new postseason look better than last year’s, when the Mercury were knocked out in a one-game playoff. “We had such a horrible game, and couldn’t get a second chance at it,” Gillom said.

“We know it’s going to be a dogfight,” guard Bridget Pettis said. “We don’t expect an easy game.”

WNBA PLAYOFFS Today’s games Houston at Charlotte, 1 p.m. (NBC) Cleveland at Phoenix, 5 p.m. (Lifetime) Both series best-of-3