Morning Meltdown – Phoenix Mercury Edition

For this Morning Meltdown let’s take a look into some of the buzz surrounding the Phoenix Mercury especially their new relevancy ranking and a preview of their next game.

With the news emerging that American Airlines will not renew the naming rights for the Phoenix Mercury/Suns/Rattler stomping ground, Bright Side of the Sun examines the rankings of these teams.

"“Recent greatness has also struck with the unofficial Queens of U.S. Airways Center, the Phoenix Mercury, winning two championships since 2007 and zeroing in on a third this year. The niche sports have taken over the downtown arena that has been the home of the Phoenix Suns for over 22 years.Of course in the NBA there is more of a competitive disadvantage with 14 other teams in the conference alone, and, in a dynasty league; it is extremely difficult to grab that brass ring.For the Mercury, they are in a dynasty league as well, but have the pieces to be that dynasty team. The Houston Comets owned the league for 4-5 years, then the Los Angeles Sparks for 3-4 years, then the Detroit Shock, then the Mercury, then the Minnesota Lynx, and now… Back to the Mercury.”"

To read the rest of the article, click here.

Mechelle Vopel of espnW.com previews the Phoenix Mercury’s next game against the Chicago Sky after they beat the Fever.

"“The Mercury had a league-record 29 victories. The Sky, by contrast, won almost as many games in the past two weeks (four) as they did during the entire two months of June and July (six).Phoenix is one of the WNBA’s original franchises (the league began in 1997) and is in its fourth WNBA Finals, having won two titles. The Sky are an expansion team that began in 2006 and didn’t win a playoff game until this August.….But will the Sky finally run out of answers against the might of the Mercury?At this point, the Mercury are not going to make the mistake of being overconfident. That Phoenix has the upper hand, though, is undeniable.The Mercury won both regular-season meetings with Chicago: 87-69 on July 2 in Phoenix, and 72-66 on July 11 in Chicago. Delle Donne didn’t play in either of those games; she missed most of June and July dealing with the effects of a flare-up of Lyme disease.”"

To read the rest of Vopel’s piece, click here.

Tune in for Sunday’s Game 1 on ABC, 3:30 p.m. ET. 

For all of the latest Phoenix Mercury news, stick with us at Heat Waved and check back daily to read more about your favorite Arizona teams.