PHOENIX -- The play that ended the game was undeniably in question. As for the player who ended it, there was never a doubt.
Maya Moore stepped to the line with 1.5 seconds to go, the fate of two teams in her hands and stomachs dropped all over Talking Stick Arena. Because to know Moore is to know that in these deciding moments, she doesn't miss.
In this case, she actually did miss, but even that had a purpose that pushed her team to a win. Moore coolly dropped what would be the game-winning free throw and then missed the second intentionally to burn the final 1.5 seconds off the clock without giving the Mercury a chance at a miraculous response.
Moore headed off the floor with the Minnesota Lynx to celebrate a 72-71 win over the Phoenix Mercury to send the Lynx to their fourth WNBA Finals in the past five seasons. And she walked off secure in the knowledge that she literally did everything she could do, scoring 40 points and coming up with some of the game's biggest plays.
"Most of the time, I'm not really aware of what I'm doing," Moore said, getting a laugh and a jab from teammate Seimone Augustus. "I'm just so locked into the moment. I'm just trying to make the play for my team in the moment."
Even that final sequence, which will burn in the guts of the Mercury players until next summer, had Moore's fingerprints all over it.
It was Moore who drew a foul that knocked out Phoenix's most reliable offensive player, DeWanna Bonner, with 38.7 seconds left. Bonner exited with six fouls to watch the excruciating final seconds from the bench.
It was Moore, herself playing with five fouls, who hit both free throws after that foul to tie the game at 71-71.
It was Moore who came up with the steal on the inbounds play with 5.4 seconds to play, knowing the ball was going inside to 6-foot-8 Brittney Griner and just hoping she could get a hand on it.
"I just tried to get a deflection, same thing I've done all year, tried to make something happen for my team," Moore said.
It was Moore who drew the controversial foul down the sideline on Noelle Quinn with 1.5 seconds to go that led to the free throw that won the game.
It was Moore who literally kept the Lynx in the game with 40 points -- a career-high playoff total for the young superstar -- 8 rebounds (including 5 on the offensive end), 4 assists and 3 steals.
The Lynx needed Moore in a bruising battle between Western Conference heavyweights, and they got it.
"Maya is relentless and we needed every bit of it," Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve said. Moore was 13-of-29 from the field, 4-of-10 from beyond the 3-point arc and 10-of-12 from the line.
"She was really good early, but I think as the game wore on, things were more challenging for her," Reeve said. "She was kind of like a tired boxer, kind of laying on her defender, not being as active a cutter. She was spent, really spent."
But the Lynx offense needed her, particularly in the second half, when options started to run dry. Moore had six of Minnesota's 11 field goals in the final two quarters. Minnesota dominated the boards, winning by a 36-26 margin -- Sylvia Fowles pulled down 14 of those -- but scoring for everybody but Moore was difficult.
"We had a challenging time finding offense," Reeve said. "Phoenix is an outstanding defensive team. It was hard for us to get it done."
Moore said she was just trying to play through her fatigue and "keep things simple."
"It's a matter of 'what I need to do right now,'" Moore said.
And she wanted to deflect to her teammates.
"Everybody had their moments today," Moore said. "Whenever my teammates do their thing, it makes my job a lot easier because the other team can't just focus on me. Everybody had a role."
Augustus said Phoenix began to pick up the defensive pressure in the second quarter, down by 10 points. And Moore kept the Lynx in the game.
"She got into a groove and from that point, it's like the basket looks like an ocean for her, so we just kept going to her," said Augustus, who finished with eight points, six in the first half. "It creates a lot of difficult situations for them on the defensive end, especially getting Bonner into foul trouble because she's one of their best defenders."
Moore was still dissecting her game after a big win, talking about the lack of discipline she showed in picking up five fouls, the ways she could have been smarter, more aggressive. How she can be a better leader.
"Seimone, Rebekkah [Brunson], [Lindsay] Wha[len]. They are our leaders, I'm a leader-in-training," Moore said. "I have my moments, but these three, when it comes to emotional leadership, these guys are stepping up and keeping our team's head in the right place. It's so important when it comes to maintaining greatness."
The Phoenix locker room was a disappointed, even a little angry, place after the game.
Head coach Sandy Brondello said she believes the game should have gone into overtime.
"Are you kidding me? No. 1, it wasn't a foul. It's just frustrating," Brondello said. "Let the two best teams decide in the extra five minutes who wins the game. We gave ourselves a chance to win. It was unfortunate we didn't get another five minutes to see who could win it."
Guard Monique Currie, who finished with 14 points and seven rebounds for the Mercury, said she and her teammates looked at the replay several times after the game and didn't see a foul.
"It's a tough situation to be in. It's tough to end the series on a call 70 feet away from the basket," Currie said. "I didn't see a foul. I don't know if some other people saw one, but I didn't. In my opinion, there was no foul."
But Currie and Brondello both gave credit to Moore.
Brondello said Moore is a "special player."
"Maya is one of the best players in the world and she had one of those days where she was really hot," Currie said. "But if you look at the stat sheet, she had 40 and the next couple of players had eight. Sometimes that's just the way things go. You can't stop Maya, only try to contain her and don't let anyone else go off."