WNBA Notebook: Can Indiana Keep Up?

PHOENIX -- Emptying the notebook at the WNBA Finals, where the Phoenix Mercury and the Indiana Fever will tip off Thursday night (9 PM ET) at the US Airways Arena.

Statistics suggest that Indiana can't afford to keep pace with Phoenix and stay in this series for long. The Fever have been averaging 81.5 points a game in the postseason thus far, a number inflated by Tuesday night's 116-point output in the overtime loss.

Indiana will run at its own peril from here on out.

"That's our style," Phoenix coach Corey Gaines said. "I don't want the score to be 75-72. If you play your style, you have the best chance to win. I'd rather go high (scoring) than low."

The Fever proved they are capable of playing up-tempo, of busting out a big offensive night, even if it is not advisable ...

• Statistics don't also suggest that Indiana star Tamika Catchings will struggle the way she did on Tuesday night, going 2-for-7 with eight points and six personal fouls.

Catchings said she woke up with a fresh outlook Wednesday.

"I just thought, thank God I've got another day," Catchings said. • Newly minted MVP Diana Taurasi said she won't go back and watch film of Tuesday night's record-setting game, in which the two teams combined for 83 made field-goals and 236 points, both league records.

"There was a point there where every shot, you'd be going for the rebound and there was no rebound," Taurasi said. "It was exciting to be in it, but with games like that I don't go back and watch. I never went back and watched national championship games (at Connecticut). If you go back and look, you just end up seeing mistakes and turnovers. Just keep it how it is."

• Gaines' team had the best record in the regular season, but he said Wednesday his players are still looking to preseason prognostications – which had LA winning the conference and title -- for motivation.

"People still say they don't care for the way we play. It's not traditional. They say you can't win that way," Gaines said. "I'd rather our players have that chip on our shoulder. We've still got to prove that we're the No. 1 seed."

Only to themselves.

• Indiana forward Ebony Hoffman left the court after turning her right ankle late in Tuesday night's game. She was moving well at practice Wednesday and coach Lin Dunn said she was "fine."

• Phoenix Suns general manager Steve Kerr followed in the footsteps of Indiana's Larry Bird and bought the 7,000 tickets in the upper level at the US Airways Center, giving the tickets away for free to fans who showed up on a first-come, first-serve basis.

The upper section of the arena was, by the naked eye, a little better than half full.

Suns coach Alvin Gentry is now taking his turn for Thursday's Game 2. The 7,000 seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis at the US Airways Center ticket office.

• Ratings for Tuesday night's game on ESPN2 are in and they are up significantly.

The game pulled a .43 rating, a 39 percent ratings increase over Game 1 a year ago. The viewership number of 555,000 was a 59 percent increase over last season as well.

It was the most viewed WNBA game since Game 4 of the 2007 Finals between Phoenix and Detroit.