Alyssa Thomas, Phoenix's third-quarter run fuel Mercury over Mystics
After a tight first half, the Mercury allowed a season-low 26 points in the second half and forced 15 turnovers, which led to 20 points.
Alyssa Thomas had another MVP-type performance and the Mercury dominated both sides of the ball in the second half to beat the Mystics, 88-72.
Thomas tallied 27 points on 12-for-17 (70.6%) shooting, 11 rebounds and eight assists and was instrumental in the Mercury outscoring the Mystics 46-26 in the second half.
Thomas became the first player in WNBA history to have at least 25 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and shoot at least 70% from the field in multiple games in her career.
“She's a winner. Whatever it takes. I've really enjoyed coaching her,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “Nothing really surprises me anymore. Just her approach and her toughness and her want-to are second to none. She's going to continue to break records, as long as she stays healthy and keeps playing, and she's special. That's the only way I can describe it.”
In addition to Thomas’ offensive dominance, Thomas and the Mercury’s defense shined in the second half.
After trailing by four at the break, the Mercury (16-9) allowed a season-low 26 points in the second half and forced 15 Mystics’ (12-13) turnovers, which led to 20 points.
“I thought we got back to Mercury defense, to be quite honest. We've given up 89 and 90 points in the last two games, they were on pace for 92,” Tibbetts said.
“We had a discussion at halftime that that wasn't good enough, and all we were doing here lately has been talking, and we haven't been guarding. And so I loved our toughness and grit.”
The first half was a back and forth affair that saw neither team lead by more than six.
The game flipped in the third quarter when the Mercury stepped up their defense and forced a young Mystics team into turning the ball over 10 times in the period.
The Mercury outscored the Mystics 26-12 in the quarter, which included an 11-0 run where they held the Mystics without scoring for 4:47. Washington had four turnovers during that stretch.
“(Defense) has been our identity the first half of the season,” Thomas said. “The last couple of games we've gotten away from that. Even in the first half. I think the message at halftime was to come out and play our basketball, which is the defense.
“Offense will take care of itself. It just came down to us locking down and doing what we needed to do.”
In the fourth, the Mercury were just as good defensively and held Washington without a field goal for the game’s final 6:09. Phoenix forced eight more Washington turnovers in the final quarter, which led to nine more points.
Shakira Austin finished with 20 points (on 8-for-18 shooting) to lead the way for Washington, but 14 of her points came in the first half.
The Mercury did a much better job with their pick-and-roll defense in the second half and defending without fouling, what assistant coach Michael Joiner calls “intelligent aggression.”
In the second quarter, the Mystics shot 12-for-13 (92.3%) at the line, helping them grow their lead to six. The Mercury kept the Mystics off the foul line for the game’s remainder, as they shot just seven free throws the rest of the way.
“I mean, I'll give her a lot of credit. She's had a very good year,” Tibbetts said about Austin. “I think she had (eight) in the first quarter, and our focus needed to go to her a little bit more. This is a big, physical team. They've had a great year. They make you fight, they make you compete. And I give her credit. She was really good tonight.”
Mercury beat Mystics by getting to the rim
After their first-half struggles from deep, which saw the Mercury shoot just 2-for-13 (15.4%) from 3, the Mercury moved away from shooting the 3 and were able to win the game by attacking the basket and getting to the foul line.
The Mercury finished with 50 points in the paint (25-for-33), just off their season-high of 56 against the Minnesota Lynx on July 9.
“I think we've proved that we've had games where we're not hitting the 3 that we can do other things,” Thomas said.
“Yeah, right now, it's not falling. That's okay. We're going to continue to shoot them. At some point in the season, they'll start falling again. We have plenty of other weapons and things that we can do to win ball games.”
The Mercury attempted just eight 3-pointers in the second half (3-for-8) and just two during the third quarter when they went on their run.
Instead of falling into the repeated pattern of stubbornness of continuing to shoot 3-pointers when they’re not falling, which has plagued the Mercury at times this season, the Mercury turned to Thomas to score inside, who had 11 of her points in the third.
“Nate came to me and said we wanted to move me around a little bit today,” Thomas said. “We basically just take what the defense is giving us. If they're gonna mess up in point switch, we're gonna find the open player and that's kind of just what I'm looking for.”
Phoenix also narrowly missed out on a season-high field goal percentage in Sunday’s win. The Mercury went 35-for-68 (51.5%) from the field, just falling short of the 41-for-78 (52.6%) they shot against the Liberty on June 27.
Phoenix pulls away in the fourth
The Mercury started the fourth on a 10-3 run to extend their lead to 17, their largest of the game.
Kitija Laksa scored six points during that stretch and finished with 13 points (on 4-for-7 shooting) in 11 minutes.
Laksa had the type of bounce-back game she was looking for after she went 8-for-46 (17.4%) from the field over her past eight games.
The Mystics answered with a 9-0 run to cut the Mercury’s lead to eight just outside of five minutes to go before Phoenix responded with another 8-0 run to put the game out of reach.
The third leg of Phoenix’s five-game roadtrip will see the Mercury face the Indiana Fever (14-12) for the first time this season on Wednesday at 4 p.m. MST. The game can be watched on Arizona’s Family 3TV, Arizona’s Family Sports and ESPN3.