Taurasi on the importance of Kia Nurse

[Lynx23]

I posted after the Mercury lost to the Sky that Kia's absence in the Finals might have affected the outcome due to her defensive prowess. There was some pushback from at least one BY'er who cited "points against" totals in games leading up to the Finals as evidence that the Mercury defense was porous even when Kia was healthy and on the floor., certainly inferring that her presence or absence likely didn't make a difference. That poster is entitled to his or her opinion but, truth is, we'll never know what the outcome might have been had she been able to play. In any event, the GOAT had an opinion on the same matter:

The Mercury believe Nurse would have made a difference in the latter part of the playoffs particularly helping to defend against Sky forward Kahleah Copper, who was Finals MVP.
"She (Nurse) is hard-nosed, she does all the little things that makes this team go," Taurasi said before Finals Game 4. "Offensively, she's another person we can rely on to make shots. We forgot how much Kia pushed our tempo just by her running alone. That one person makes a big difference. We never took her for granted, but not having her on the floor, we feel it."

 

[Plebe]

There's no way to know whether having Kia would've ultimately changed the outcome.

What I do know is that Phoenix is a much better team with her than without her, and the series would've been a much different series.

It's nice to know Diana Taurasi is of similar mind. Hers is an opinion I respect, and she is no smoke-blower.

 

[nwhoopfan]

Well I'm pretty sure this post is aimed at me. It's true we'll never know how the series would've turned out if Nurse was available, but I'm sticking with the point that Phoenix surrendered a bunch of points throughout the playoffs. They kept winning games because their offense was good enough to overcome their poor defense, until the Finals.

 

[DEpup]

Losing Nurse was a really big deal for them. Peddy was just too small and Sophie was also banged up to defend against Copper and deShields in particular. .

 

[MilfordHusky]

At a minimum, Kia could have given a rest to Diana, Skylar, et al. I think the Mercury lineup was too depleted to win unless they played nearly perfectly.