# 2006 Phoenix Mercury season

The 2006 WNBA season was the tenth for the Phoenix Mercury. The Mercury drafted Cappie Pondexter with the 2nd pick overall in the WNBA Draft. They were close to qualifying for the playoffs, but lost to a tiebreaker to the Houston Comets and the Seattle Storm.

## Offseason

* Ann Meyers-Drysdale was hired as the Phoenix Mercury general manager.

### WNBA draft

| Pick | Player |
| 2nd | Cappie Pondexter |
| 18th | Liz Shimek |
| 31st | Jamie Carey |

## Regular season
### Season standings

| Western Conference | W | L | PCT | GB | Home | Road | Conf. |
| Los Angeles Sparks $^x$ | 25 | 9 | .735 | – | 15–2 | 10–7 | 15–5 |
| Sacramento Monarchs $^x$ | 21 | 13 | .618 | 4.0 | 14–3 | 7–10 | 10–10 |
| Houston Comets $^x$ | 18 | 16 | .529 | 7.0 | 12–5 | 6–11 | 11–9 |
| Seattle Storm $^x$ | 18 | 16 | .529 | 7.0 | 9–8 | 9–8 | 10–10 |
| Phoenix Mercury $^o$ | 18 | 16 | .529 | 7.0 | 10–7 | 8–9 | 8–12 |
| San Antonio Silver Stars $^o$ | 13 | 21 | .382 | 12.0 | 6–11 | 7–10 | 10–10 |
| Minnesota Lynx $^o$ | 10 | 24 | .294 | 15.0 | 8–9 | 2–15 | 6–14 |

### Season Schedule

| Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Record |
| May 20 | at Sacramento | 78-105 | Loss | 0-1 |
| May 25 | vs Seattle | 81-94 | Loss | 0-2 |
| May 31 | vs San Antonio | 76-82 | Loss | 0-3 |
| June 2 | at Seattle | 87-97 | Loss | 0-4 |
| June 6 | vs Sacramento | 90-76 | Win | 1-4 |
| June 9 | vs Detroit | 93-79 | Win | 2-4 |
| June 13 | at Los Angeles | 84-98 | Loss | 2-5 |
| June 16 | vs Connecticut | 91-86 | Win | 3-5 |
| June 18 | at Minnesota | 82-94 | Loss | 3-6 |
| June 21 | at Seattle | 87-80 | Win | 4-6 |
| June 23 | vs Indiana | 73-83 | Loss | 4-7 |
| June 25 | vs Chicago | 90-77 | Win | 5-7 |
| June 28 | vs Minnesota | 81-78 | Win | 6-7 |
| June 30 | at Los Angeles | 83-85 | Loss | 6-8 |
| July 2 | vs Washington | 78-81 | Loss | 6-9 |
| July 6 | at Detroit | 91-76 | Win | 7-9 |
| July 8 | at Connecticut | 77-82 | Loss | 7-10 |
| July 9 | at New York | 94-88 (OT) | Win | 8-10 |
| July 14 | vs Los Angeles | 85-95 | Loss | 8-11 |
| July 16 | vs New York | 80-70 | Win | 9-11 |
| July 18 | at Indiana | 65-71 | Loss | 9-12 |
| July 19 | at Washington | 96-83 | Win | 10-12 |
| July 22 | at Charlotte | 78-74 | Win | 11-12 |
| July 25 | vs Seattle | 85-91 | Loss | 11-13 |
| July 27 | at Houston | 95-98 | Loss | 11-14 |
| July 28 | at San Antonio | 96-98 | Loss | 11-15 |
| July 30 | vs Houston | 80-82 | Loss | 11-16 |
| August 1 | at Chicago | 90-70 | Win | 12-16 |
| August 3 | vs Charlotte | 112-84 | Win | 13-16 |
| August 5 | vs Los Angeles | 96-80 | Win | 14-16 |
| August 8 | vs Minnesota | 99-68 | Win | 15-16 |
| August 10 | at Houston | 111-110 (3OT) | Win | 16-16 |
| August 12 | at San Antonio | 95-93 | Win | 17-16 |
| August 13 | vs Sacramento | 81-71 | Win | 18-16 |

## Player stats

Note: GP= Games played; FG = Field Goals; MIN= Minutes; REB= Rebounds; AST= Assists; STL = Steals; BLK = Blocks; PTS = Points
| Player | GP | MIN | FG | REB | AST | STL | BLK | PTS |
| Diana Taurasi | 34 | 1152 | 298 | 122 | 139 | 42 | 27 | 860 |
| Cappie Pondexter | 32 | 1067 | 219 | 107 | 98 | 37 | 4 | 624 |
| Kelly Miller | | | | | | | | 296 |
| Penny Taylor | | | | | | | | 277 |
| Kamila Vodichkova | | | | | | | | 272 |
| Jennifer Lacy | | | | | | | | 162 |
| Kristen Rasmussen | | | | | | | | 146 |
| Belinda Snell | | | | | | | | 100 |
| Jennifer Derevjanik | | | | | | | | 96 |
| Crystal Smith | | | | | | | | 60 |
| Tamicha Jackson | | | | | | | | 24 |
| Ann Strother | | | | | | | | 16 |
| Bridget Pettis | | | | | | | | 14 |
| Sandora Irvin | | | | | | | | 7 |
| Mandisa Stevenson | | | | | | | | 3 |
| Kayte Christensen | | | | | | | | 3 |

## Awards and honors

* 8/14/06: Diana Taurasi, WNBA Player of the Week
* 7/10/06: Diana Taurasi, WNBA Player of the Week
* 6/12/06: Cappie Pondexter, WNBA Player of the Week