Diana Taurasi closes out what could be final home game of her 20-year career

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Diana Taurasi closes out what could be final home game of her 20-year career

2024-09-20 12:57 Last Updated At：13:01

PHOENIX (AP) — Diana Taurasi stood in the middle of the court where she won championships and broke records during one of the greatest careers in women's basketball history.

She tried to get out the words out, but Phoenix's fans quickly interrupted.

“If this is the last time ... “ Taurasi said before the crowd started a lengthy chant of ”One more year!"

Taurasi hasn't decided if she will return for a 21st season, making Thursday night's game against Seattle as potentially the final at home in her storied career.

The Storm spoiled Taurasi's night with an 89-70 win, but there's no doubt what playing in Phoenix has meant to the player who has widely been called the best of all time.

“If it is the last time, it felt like the first time,” Taurasi said.

Taurasi’s teammates wore her No. 3 jersey — with a head of a goat (greatest of all time) sticking out of the number — for player introductions, a nod to the possibility it was her last game.

Despite a deafening roar during player introductions and her college coach Geno Auriemma of UConn in the stands, Taurasi treated the game like any other, slapping hands with her teammates before trotting onto the floor.

The night didn't turn out the way Taurasi wanted, but she got one last curtain call as Mercury fans started a chant of “We want DT” with three minutes left in the blowout loss. Taurasi's return lasted less than a minute before she jogged back to the bench waving as the fans chanted “One more year!”

“On a night like tonight, you don’t want to make it about you — you want to make it about DT,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “This is a moment, when you experience it, you’re going to remember forever.”

The 42-year-old Taurasi finished with nine points on 3-of-9 shooting in 18 minutes, but gained much more in a game that meant little in the WNBA standings with the Mercury locked into a first-round playoff series against Minnesota.

The Mercury played a tribute video before Taurasi addressed the crowd and she lingered on the floor, hugging and taking pictures well after the final buzzer, including a long embrace with Auriemma.

"It's bittersweet in a lot of ways," Taurasi said. "When the season is over, I'll have a better idea of what it looks like for me in the future.”

Taurasi has been coy about retirement, remaining noncommittal while hinting it might be right around the corner.

The Mercury stoked the retirement talk embers on social media with a post last week that said “ If this is it ” and another early Thursday that included the reading of a letter by her wife, former Mercury player Penny Taylor.

Whenever Taurasi does hang up her basketball shoes, her place in women's basketball history will already be secured.

Taurasi won three straight national championship at UConn and kept on winning after the Mercury selected her with the No. 1 overall pick of the 2004 WNBA draft. She earned WNBA rookie of the year honors and won the first of three WNBA titles in 2007.

The Glendale, California native is one of four players to win multiple WNBA Finals MVPs (2009, 2014) and was the league MVP for the 2009 season. She won six Euroleague championships while playing year round most of her career and claimed her sixth Olympic gold medal at this summer's Paris Games. She's the WNBA's career scoring leader — about 3,000 more than Tina Charles in second — top playoff scorer and has made the most 3-pointers in league history.

Taurasi also made the all-WNBA first team 10 times and is an 11-time WNBA All-Star, including this season.

And she's barely slowed at 42, averaging 15.1 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists while leading the Mercury to the playoffs.

“There’s still days where I’m like: I can still do this, I can still want to play basketball,” Taurasi said. “But then there’s days where I can barely crawl out of bed. That’s the struggle when you’re at this point in your career; you have to do so much you have to do to get back on the court."

Taurasi will be back on the court at least twice, against the Minnesota in the playoffs.

The Mercury will need to win at least one game to keep her season — and potentially career going — but Taurasi will go out on top no matter how it ends.

AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball

Jets' Aaron Rodgers returns to huge cheers for 1st home game since Achilles tendon injury last year

2024-09-20 12:51 Last Updated At：13:01

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — No American flag this time for Aaron Rodgers. But a thunderous ovation greeted the New York Jets quarterback as he jogged onto the field at MetLife Stadium.

Rodgers was home again and ready to play. Finally.

The 40-year-old four-time MVP made his first home start Thursday night since leaving his debut with the Jets with a torn Achilles tendon just over a year ago. And he walked off a winner after he helped lead New York to a dominant 24-3 victory over the New England Patriots.

Rodgers was the last Jets player introduced to the crowd — “And, your quarterback ...,” blared the public address announcer — before the game and the fans, many wearing green and white No. 8 jerseys, went into a frenzy. Fireworks lit up the night sky and the LED wristbands given to the fans in attendance made the stands glow in a sea of green light.

And he delivered some excitement in the first half, helping the Jets to a 14-3 lead.

Rodgers' first touchdown at home with the Jets went to his former Green Bay teammate Allen Lazard, who raced from the end zone right to his quarterback to give him the ball and help Rodgers celebrate the moment.

Rodgers finished 27 of 35 for 281 yards and two touchdowns, and also was able to keep plays alive with his legs all night.

“This was kind of a first step in playing like I know I’m capable of playing,” he said after the game. “I felt like I was, you know, myself.”

The last time Rodgers jogged onto the field to play at MetLife Stadium, he emerged from the tunnel carrying an American flag on Sept. 11, 2023, the 22nd anniversary of the terrorist attacks. The crowd roared while the flag fluttered behind him.

Rodgers called it one of the most special moments of his playing career.

Minutes later, the excitement and jubilation were replaced by the shocking sight of the quarterback struggling to get up and off the field. Rodgers had torn his left Achilles tendon on the fourth snap of his Jets debut.

Tests confirmed the diagnosis the next day. He had surgery on Sept. 13.

Rodgers said he had brief thoughts of doubt immediately after the injury, wondering if it was the last time he'd ever play. He turned that into motivation, aiming for an unlikely return late last season if the Jets made the playoffs. Once New York fell out of the postseason hunt, Rodgers focused on being ready for Week 1 this year.

He made it, and Rodgers was solid but unspectacular in a season-opening loss to San Francisco followed by a win at Tennessee during which he went 5 for 5 passing to lead the Jets on a winning touchdown drive. Rodgers entered the game against the Patriots with three touchdown passes, 343 yards passing and an interception.

And now he's back at MetLife Stadium, looking forward to further pushing the disappointment of his last start at home by creating a few other memorable moments. For the right reasons this time around.

“I mean, I feel good about it. It’s been a long time since I took the field at ‘JetLife,’” Rodgers said earlier this week. “So, it’ll be a lot of emotions, for sure. But we’re thankfully already into the third game of the season.

“Played two full games, body feels good, about as good as it can on a short week.”

The Jets played their third game in 11 days to start the season, a tough stretch for any player, let alone a 40-year-old quarterback still shaking off the rust from a long layoff and playing with a surgically repaired Achilles tendon.

“Testing the body, for sure,” Rodgers said. "I’ll be ready to go Thursday night and look forward to three days off.”

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL