It may have cost her an Olympic medal around her neck but Australian basketball star Erin Phillips' commitment to her club yielded a WNBA championship ring for her finger.
Phillips' Indiana Fever secured their first WNBA title with an 87-78 win over defending champion Minnesota (Monday morning AEDT), the victory handing the Fever a 3-1 lead in the best-of-five series.
The 27-year-old from Melbourne produced one of the best performances of her career in the game four win with 18 points and eight rebounds as she joined the likes of fellow Australians Lauren Jackson, Tully Bevilaqua, Belinda Snell and Penny Taylor in winning a WNBA championship.
"They made some huge runs at us and gave it everything at us, and I'm just relieved more than anything because we deserve this," Phillips told reporters.
"We've been through so much as a team, we've lost in crucial times and we've stuck together. I'm just so proud right now."
But there was a price to pay for Phillips' success after she was overlooked by Australian coach Carrie Graf for the Opals squad which collected Olympic bronze in London.
Unlike Jackson - who opted to stay in Australia to prepare for the Olympics before rejoining Seattle after the Games - Phillips played the entire season for the Fever.
It is a decision the speedy guard believes played a role in her omission from the national side.
Having been a member of the Australian squad which claimed silver at the 2008 Games, Phillips was devastated at the snub.
But two months on, her decision was somewhat vindicated with her stand-out performances during the finals series.
Phillips, who won a WNBL title with Adelaide Lightning in 2007/08, took her game to a new level to help cover for the absence of injured star Katie Douglas.
Elevated to the starting side after the Fever's opening play-off game, Phillips went from strength to strength as the postseason went on.
Having averaged 6.1 points during the regular season, she stepped it up to average 6.7 points in the semi-finals and nine points per game in the conference finals.
Then in the finals series she more than doubled her regular season output as she averaged 13.5 points a game - which included her break-out performance in the title-clinching win.
She proved to be the perfect foil for final MVP Tamika Catchings, who top-scored with 25 points in the nine-point win over the Lynx.
An Olympic gold medallist and regular season MVP, the NBA title was the final entry into a glittering resume for the American superstar.
"When you come into this league, your goal and dream is to win a WNBA championship," Catchings said.
"Twelve years later ... it's so sweet right now."
AAP
Tags: basketball, sport, united-states First posted October 22, 2012 19:31:40
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