Kahleah Copper’s late game heroics lead Phoenix Mercury to win over Minnesota Lynx
Kahleah Copper finished with 34 points and had 10 points in the final 1:10 of action to help the Mercury to a come-from-behind victory over the Lynx on Friday.
PHOENIX — Phoenix Mercury forward Kahleah Copper’s 3-pointer with 0.7 seconds left lifted the Mercury to an 81-80 win over the Minnesota Lynx on Friday at Footprint Center.
Copper erupted for 34 points on the night while shooting 13-of-23 from the field. After the Mercury trailed 77-71 late, Copper had 10 points in the final 1:10 to single-handedly power Phoenix (5-6) to victory over Minnesota (7-3).
Copper is now the only player in the WNBA this season to have four games with at least 30 points. She also became the third player in WNBA history to have multiple games in a single season with at least 30 points, at least five made 3-pointers and at least four steals/blocks, joining Cynthia Cooper (1997) and Diana Taurasi (2008).
After the game, Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts revealed the final play was actually drawn up for Taurasi, but after Taurasi wanted Copper to get the final look, a new play was drawn up.
“The thing I’m most proud of and I told the team this, ‘I’m gonna have some tough decisions down the stretch and who to go to.’ We’ve got a lot of great players and all of them would probably like to shoot that ball,” Tibbetts said.
“I actually drew up a play for (Taurasi) and after I drew it up (Taurasi’s) like ‘No, no lets run (it) for (Copper).
“What we’re trying to build here, the type of people, the selflessness, what we want to be about, it doesn’t matter who. I’d give a ton of credit obviously to (Taurasi). There’s a lot of people that would’ve been thinking I want that moment and she’s had a ton of those. She felt like (Copper) had it going and (Copper) just stepped up once again I mean that was a big-time shot.”
“I think it meant a lot just going back to the timeout,” Copper said. “The play was drawn for (Taurasi) and she was like, ‘No, we gon’ run it for (Copper), she gon’ score,’ so (Tibbetts) is like ‘Alright,’ he drew it back up and we went out there and we executed like to the T and I was just in a position to just knock down a big shot.”
Copper’s late-game surge started when she made a driving layup with 1:10 left and after a Minnesota shot clock violation, Copper made another driving layup and had a chance for an and-one. She missed the free throw and Brittney Griner hobbled to Phoenix’s bench and it looked like that could have been the difference.
And things got worse for Phoenix when an Alanna Smith layup put Minnesota up 79-75 with 25.1 seconds left.
However, Copper buried another triple to make it a one-point game with 23 seconds left, but on the ensuing play, Phoenix mysteriously let 15 seconds run off the clock before fouling.
“We did not handle that situation right,” Tibbetts said. “We should have went and looked to double quicker. That’s the communication from coach to players. I did not do a good enough job with that obviously.”
But the Mercury were bailed out when Minnesota’s Bridget Carleton went 1-of-2 at the line with 5.1 seconds left to put the Lynx up 80-78.
“Thankfully, it worked out but we need to (snaps fingers),” Tibbetts continued. “That’s a situation where we need to look, ideally, we would look to double early and then foul with like 12 seconds to go, but it played out obviously. Her missing that free throw was big.”
That’s when Tibbetts drew up a play for Taurasi but the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer’s selflessness opened up an opportunity for Copper to nail the 25-foot game-winner.
“It was a moment...When you get in the zone – I was there for l think a minute – I was there and I was super locked in. I was just ready to make a big play,” Copper said.
After the official review, 0.7 seconds were left on the clock for Minnesota but Lynx guard Kayla McBride’s 29-footer at the buzzer was no good.
Despite the missed chance at the end, McBride was sensational on the night. She had 25 points and was 8-for-13 from beyond the arc.
“It would have felt a lot better if we won,” McBride said. “I have a lot of confidence in who I am as a player. I didn’t even realize I took 13 threes until I looked at the box score, but that is what my team needs me to do. Napheesa (Collier) is so dominant at all three levels, Courtney (Williams) in the mid-range, (Smith) in the paint and outside.
“I think that’s my job for this team, it has been. I think I took a big step for myself overseas in just my ability to get my shot off on any point in the possession, that is something I really worked on. As you get older, it’s hard to go in there and bang with these players so I want to be as efficient as I possibly can from the three-point line. Not taking bad shots, but just being able to take the shots that I know I can make, the ones I work on every single day and that is my job for the team.”
Friday was also monumental as it marked Griner and Bec Allen’s return to the starting lineup for the Mercury.
Griner missed the first 10 games of the season after fracturing a toe on her left foot and Allen was held out the last five games after suffering a head injury during the Mercury’s 107-92 loss to the Dallas Wings on May 25.
“It’s good,” Griner said about her return and the team’s chemistry. “We’re just going to keep building, keep getting better, keep locking in. I need to catch those passes, that’s on me. I need to get my timing down for these butter-finger hands.
Griner had three turnovers on the night and the Mercury finished with 12 in total.
“But like I said, it feels good,” Griner continued. “We put in a lot of hard work in training camp, all season, everything. Season’s just go how they go sometimes, and sometimes you’re a little delayed. Credit to the team, they held it down. They didn’t crumble, they were like, ‘We got this, we’re going to hold it down for you,’ and I’m really proud of them.”
“It’s huge, literally,” Copper said about Griner’s return to the team. “Let’s just start with defensively, nobody is going down there in the paint, it is just not happening. Offensively, it just opens things up for us. No one can guard her one-on-one on the block. Then you send the double and we have shooters spaced around her. We get it out and maybe we get a re-post, it does a lot for us.
“Also having (Allen) back, defensively she’s long, she can shoot, she can score. So, having both of them back, having us at full strength tonight was great.”
With Griner and Allen’s presence, the Mercury’s style of play changed on Friday and they were able to get to the rim and score with ease.
Tibbetts in the past has said he strives for his team to shoot “35-40 3-pointers per night” but the Mercury were able to use Griner and Allen’s size and length to their advantage and create mismatches on both offense and defense.
The Mercury’s inside game proved to be immense, as Phoenix struggled shooting the three early and went 1-for-9 from deep in the first half.
The Mercury finished 9-for-26 from three while the Lynx went 15-for-34. Copper was 5-for-12 from deep, while her Mercury teammates shot a combined 4-for-14.
Although Tibbetts’ team has forged its identity as a side that wants to shoot more 3-pointers than any other team, the points in the paint tally is what proved to be the difference on Friday. Phoenix outscored Minnesota 34 to 18 in that category and attacking the basket was a plan that worked for Tibbetts’ offense for much of the night.
The Lynx won the points in the paint battle 32-26 in their 95-71 victory over the Mercury on May 31 but Friday was a much different story.
The Mercury had 12 points in the paint in the first quarter (compared to Minnesota’s two), 10 points in the paint in the second quarter and eight points in the paint in the fourth quarter. It was the third quarter when the Mercury only had four points in the paint that the game got away from them.
“I think our best basketball is ahead of us,” Tibbetts said. “What (Allen) and (Griner) give us defensively is just that length and size. (Allen) in the first quarter probably had four or six deflections. Then with (Griner) at the rim, (the Lynx) finished with 18 points in the paint. I don’t know how many they had last game against us, but it felt like 50 without (Griner).
“Just having her down there, she had a tough matchup first game back. Smith can shoot it, does she help or not help? I thought she had a really good balance. Even on the jump ball when she walked out there, I was like ‘Wow – we are big again.’ I haven’t seen her out there a lot, this is new to me. I leaned to (Kristi Tolliver) (and said), ‘We got our size back,’ which was awesome.”
Minnesota went on a 12-0 run in the third and the Lynx ultimately ended the third quarter on an 18-5 run. Lynx guard Kayla McBride had 13 of her 22 points in the third quarter alone.
“(McBride’s) will in the second half was just really incredible,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said. “I thought her toughness recognized our team in the second half, but led by (Collier), and obviously (McBride) making shots just kind of loosened things up a little bit for us. Unfortunate that it came in a tough loss, but nonetheless it was a great performance by (McBride).”
Also in the third quarter, Lynx forward Alissa Pili entered the game for the first time with 2:54 left in the quarter. She played only 3:48 total and was held scoreless after scoring a career-high 20 points against the Mercury on May 31 while shooting 7-of-9 from the field and 4-for-4 from three.
Without Pili for much of the contest, Minnesota turned to Collier who played all 40 minutes and finished with 20 points, 12 rebounds and six assists.
“Obviously it is tough. (Copper) made some really good plays, she had 34 points and it is a tough way to end,” Collier said. “I thought we battled pretty hard, so kind of just have to take this on the chin and move on. Sucks for us right now, but we have a lot more games this season, so just learn from it the best we can and move on to the next one.”
After Copper’s 34 points, Taurasi’s 12 points and Griner’s 11 points led the way for Phoenix. Nine of Griner’s points came in the first half and she and Allen (who hit a 3-pointer to start the game and finished with nine points), gave the Mercury a much-needed lift after the team’s recent struggles.
Friday’s victory was the type of win that could give the Mercury some much-needed confidence coming off a brutal stretch where they dropped five of their past six games.
“Yeah, when it comes to Commissioner’s Cup, it was a must-win,” Tibbetts said. “You lose this game and more than likely your chances drop drastically. It was tough to watch our clips against this team from a week ago. We showed our team clips this morning and before the game of what we looked like – it looked like we were playing in mud, we were moving slow. A great bounce-back game for us, we needed this win as a group.
“Adding (Allen) and (Griner), I thought Sophie (Cunningham) coming off the bench gave us great energy, just kind of balances our roster out a little bit. It was exciting to see.”
The Mercury will now head to Dallas to play the Wings (3-6) on Sunday at 1 p.m. MST. The game can be watched on Arizona’s Family 3TV or streamed on Mercury Live.