Inside scoring helps Phoenix Mercury to wire-to-wire victory over Seattle Storm
The Mercury shot 31-for-62 (50%) from the field and never trailed in Sunday’s 87-78 victory over the Storm. Phoenix's 44 points in the paint were also a season high.
PHOENIX — A strong start and an emphasis on attacking the basket helped the Phoenix Mercury to a wire-to-wire 87-78 victory over the Seattle Storm on Sunday.
Phoenix (7-7) has now won four of its past six games and for the first time this season, never trailed in a game.
“Thanks for pointing that out,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said with a smile. “The first games have been pretty stressful. With those first 13 back and forth and we’re not playing very well so that was the first one we’ve led start to finish and I think we have that potential. It’s us deciding that we can be that team each and every night.
“I thought up until the last five minutes of the fourth that’s when things got a little bit close but we stepped up and made the plays at the end.”
Sunday was also only the second time this season that the Mercury shot 50% or better from the field. Phoenix shot 31-for-62 (50%) and only attempted 18 3-pointers (7-for-18), signifying a shift in the team’s identity since center Brittney Griner returned from injury.
After a then-season-high 42 points in the paint in Thursday’s loss against Las Vegas, the Mercury surpassed that with 44 points in the paint on Sunday.
“We’re gonna evolve as we start to throw it in to (Griner) more,” Tibbetts said. “We only took 18 threes but like you said, 44 points in the paint is huge and she has a big part of that. But I loved our aggressiveness. I loved our players were speaking up, saying to keep going to her. And she’s just a huge presence down there and she makes some good decisions and I think when she gets in better basketball shape and just the touch, but she’s just a target for us to be able to throw it down there.”
The Phoenix Mercury’s Kahleah Copper finished with 30 points, six rebounds and two assists. Sunday was Copper’s fifth 30-point game this season (the most in the league).
The Mercury are now 4-1 this season when Copper scores at least 30.
“I just try to be aggressive,” Copper said. “I’m literally put in a position to do what I do and just make the right reads. That’s just what I was doing today. Me playing defense also fuels my offense. So, if I’m getting rebounds and I’m getting stops, it’s a lot easier for me to get into transition and get some easy ones. Being at the top of the scout is no joke, they want to take away things and you got to figure it out on the fly.”
A quick start was crucial for the Mercury against a Storm team that came in having won eight of their last nine and four of their past five road games.
And despite the noon start, the Mercury came to play. Phoenix had just one turnover after the first quarter (they finished the game with 15) and led by as many as 13 in the opening period.
Even though the Storm came in leading the league in rebounding (37.7 per game) and blocks (6.4 per game), the Mercury were unafraid to attack the basket from the get-go.
The Mercury started with an onslaught of points in the paint, quickly going to Copper for two layups and then giving Griner a couple of inside looks to start the game.
The Mercury started 8-of-11 (72.7%) from the field with 10 early points in the paint.
Phoenix continued working the ball inside against a big Storm team and 14 of its 25 first-quarter points came inside the paint.
However, also in the first quarter, Griner hit a 3-pointer which was just the eighth 3-pointer of her career.
Somewhat ironically, the triple came just before Griner became the eighth player in WNBA history to reach 2,000 made 2-pointers.
“I just need to pull them in the game,” Griner said about her 3-point shooting. “I feel like I’ve been working on them for a while honestly. A little bit more this year but I just never take them because I’m like I know for sure I make it go in when I get low. It’s just something that I’m trying to add to my game. Extend my career maybe a little bit. Shorten the court because that’s what all the old heads say … .”
Griner finished with 28 points (on 10-for-15 shooting), nine rebounds, and two blocks.
Sunday was just her fourth game of the season after coming back from a fractured toe that sidelined her for nearly a month.
“We’re getting there,” Griner said. “We’re getting close. We’re getting close. Don’t want to peak too soon, you know? But each day I feel better and better. I feel more comfortable each game, but it’ll come.”
Copper and Griner became the second teammate duo in WNBA history to each score at least 28 points and record at least six rebounds while shooting at least 55% from the field in the same game (Elena Delle Donne and Sylvia Fowles did so in 2013 with the Chicago Sky).
Former Mercury guard Skylar Diggins-Smith also made her return to Footprint Center on Sunday. Diggins-Smith left as a free agent during this past offseason and there was no love lost between her and the Mercury during her later years in Phoenix.
Diggins-Smith was met with a mixture of cheers and boos during player introductions and some Mercury fans booed Diggins-Smith after she made her first shot, but her overall reception remained mixed.
Diggins-Smith got off to a slow start but got it going later. Through three quarters she was just 2-for-10 from the field with three turnovers but finished with 14 points (on 6-for-15 shooting), eight assists, six rebounds and four turnovers.
After a Bec Allen offensive foul in the fourth quarter, Diggins-Smith turned to the Phoenix crowd and sarcastically clapped, but that brief moment was the only hostile interaction of the day.
And it wasn’t just Diggins-Smith who struggled offensively for Seattle.
The Storm collectively shot 29-for-75 (38.7%) from the field and just 5-for-26 (19.2%) from deep. Seattle’s Jewell Loyd was limited to 14 points on 3-for-15 shooting.
“I think today we let our offense dictate our temperament,” Seattle coach Noelle Quinn said. “I don't think we started the game with a defensive mindset and physicality and presence that is needed to play a team that has really good three-point shooting. A lot of those shots – some of them could have been a bit more contested -- but a lot of those shots were when coverages were not sharp and in transition, we were not matched up, the things that we really talked about and honed in on.
“Offensively, I thought temperament dictated what we did. We didn't move the ball enough or find great shots. In the second half, we kind of found a groove in that, but we have to flip our mindset on how it relates with the defensive side of the ball. That has to dictate everything that we do.”
Loyd was held without any points in the opening quarter, but a pull-up jumper with 7:28 left in the first half cut the Mercury lead to 27-23.
However, the Mercury quickly responded with a 13-0 run in a 3:31 span to take a 40-23 lead.
Copper had two of her 3-pointers during the run and started 7-of-10 from the field and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc. Seventeen of her 30 points came in the first half.
Copper now has made at least three 3-pointers in a WNBA-best 10 games (the next most is Las Vegas’ Kelsey Plum with eight such games).
“It does a lot for us,” Copper said about the team’s defense and strong start. “When our defense is good, our offense is even better because we’re able to get into transition and we’re not taking the ball out. Credit to that first half, we were really locked in, communicating whenever someone helped, there was a helper. We are going to continue to put it together for four quarters, but I am just proud of our defense because this team is really rolling.”
The Storm answered with a 6-0 run of their own out of a timeout, but the Mercury responded and went into the break up 47-33.
The Mercury, who entered today's game averaging 30.9 points in the paint, had 20 at halftime and assisted 14 of their 17 made field goals in the first half.
After a pair of Ezi Magbegor free throws, the Mercury went on a 7-0 Mercury run to start the third and grew their lead to 54-35, their largest lead of the game.
Phoenix’s Diana Taurasi blocked Diggins-Smith with 6:32 left in the third and Seattle’s first field goal of the second half didn’t come until Jordan Horston made a layup with 6:13 left in the third. Seattle had three turnovers during that stretch and Diggins-Smith showed visual frustration due to the sloppiness.
The Storm shot just 6-of-16 (37.5%) in the quarter and the Mercury had 12 of their 19 points in the quarter come in the paint. Phoenix also assisted all seven of their made shots in the third.
Seattle opened the fourth on an 11-4 run to cut the Phoenix lead to 72-62 with 5:06 left and Diggins-Smith later connected on a deep 3-pointer to make it a six-point game with 3:16 remaining.
But Griner immediately answered with an and-one that got Phoenix fans out of their seats to give Phoenix a 78-69 lead.
Later, Copper converted another and-one with 1:27 left to give her 30 points and put the game out of reach at 85-71.
After today's victory, Taurasi now has 300 career wins. She's just the third player in WNBA history to reach 300 after Sue Bird (333) and Lindsay Whalen (323).
Taurasi finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
“When I think of (Taurasi), I think of a winner,” Tibbetts said. “That is who she is. She prides herself on that. You can talk about a lot of different things as a basketball player, but what I hear (Taurasi) talking the most about is winning. That is the most important thing. Hopefully, when it is all said and done, she becomes number one in that list. I think she would be most proud of that.”
Phoenix will be back at Footprint Center for a home game against the New York Liberty (12-2) on Tuesday at 7 p.m. The game can be watched on Arizona’s Family 3TV or CBS Sports Network and streamed on Mercury Live.