Suddenly, the Mercury Looks Like a Challenge

While Houston Comet Coach Van Chancellor was making sure he was transmitting the right vibes to his players Tuesday, the Phoenix Mercury’s Cheryl Miller unveiled her secret weapon.

And suddenly, the WNBA’s best-of-three championship series, which begins here tonight, doesn’t quite look like a Houston coronation anymore.

The Comets were 27-3, flattened Charlotte 2-0 in a non-competitive semifinal and seemingly headed, in cruise control, for its second straight championship.

Then, Phoenix’s secret weapon.

From Russia With Love.

Maria Stepanova, at 6 feet 8, looks like she belongs on a surfboard at Huntington Beach.

Until she came off the bench in Cleveland on Wednesday to help spur Phoenix into the finals, she’d sat mostly this season--a project in waiting.

Stepanova played passively at times this season, but here suddenly was a highly motivated, almost angry-looking woman, mixing it up with Cleveland’s big inside players, rebounding, blocking shots and scoring.

Early in the second half, Miller’s Australian forward, Michelle Griffiths, asked to be taken out, for a breather.

Enter Stepanova, 19, who hadn’t played in the previous four games.

In nine minutes, she scored six points, grabbed two rebounds, had an assist, block, a steal . . . and, in perhaps the fastest WNBA disqualification yet, fouled out.

Said Miller on Wednesday: “She’d been practicing so well, I was losing sleep over it. I just decided I had to get her in the game at Cleveland.”

So Phoenix, 19-11 in the regular season and a winner of nine of its last 12, now meets a team it has already beaten this season.

It came at America West Arena on June 24, 69-66. Houston then won 15 in a row.

But one of those wins was at Phoenix. Afterward, Miller grabbed the PA mike and said to the crowd: “You’ve just seen a preview of the league championship in August . . . but then the result’s going to be different.”

The matchup brings together Houston’s superstar wings, Cynthia Cooper and Sheryl Swoopes, and the Mercury’s strong inside game, led by 6-3 Jennifer Gillom, who played for Chancellor at Ole Miss.

Houston’s Tina Thompson played for Miller at USC.

So why did Chancellor make his players practice Tuesday, the day after they’d clinched against Charlotte?

“We have a bunch of blue collar players on this team, and I think a day off would have sent out the wrong message, particularly at championship time,” he said.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

WNBA Finals

HOUSTON VS. PHOENIX (Best of three)

* Tonight: at Phoenix, 5 (ESPN)

* Saturday: at Houston, 1 p.m. (NBC)

* Tuesday: at Houston, 5 p.m. (ESPN)-x

x-if necessary; all times PDT