Lexi Held’s late-game heroics lead Phoenix Mercury over Golden State Valkyries
The Mercury ended the game on an 18-1 run, which included Lexi Held's go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:11 remaining. Held had a career-high 24 points and nine in the fourth.
PHOENIX — Lexi Held led the Phoenix Mercury’s game-ending 18-1 run to help snatch an 86-77 victory over the Golden State Valkyries.
Held had nine of her career-high 24 points in the fourth quarter and hit the biggest shot of the night, the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:11 remaining, which put Phoenix up 77-76.
“Just kind of like in the moment (Sabally) had a great pass to me,” Held said of her go-ahead 3. “She draws a lot of attention on offense. So she found me, and I had the hot hand, and once it went in, it was really fun.
“I mean, the crowd was crazy. Our bench was crazy. Everyone is always cheering for each other. So it was exciting.”
Thursday’s game was tied at 71 after three, but the Valkyries opened the fourth quarter on a 15-7 run to take a 76-68 advantage, their largest lead of the game, with 4:04 left.
But two separate 9-0 Phoenix runs down the stretch, where Held had seven points and Sabally scored six, saw the Mercury again find a way to win when they were far from their best.
“It was impressive. Right? I'm not sure what happened,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said after the victory.
The win moves the Mercury to 6-3 on the season and 5-1 at PHX Arena, matching the best start at home in franchise history.
“I think we're clearly a group that never gives up even when things aren't going our way, or we're not doing as well as we should,” Held said.
“We just have that relentless pursuit of competing and competing for each other and wanting to win. It might not look pretty every night, and we could fix a lot of things. But I think that's a good character quality that we have.”
Playing without Alyssa Thomas (left calf) for the fourth consecutive game and still without Kahleah Copper (left knee) and Natasha Mack (lower back), the Mercury were able to overcome another slow start, this time a stretch that would be defined by more than missed shots, but an overarching theme of sloppiness.
Phoenix had eight turnovers in the first 5:44 of the first quarter and started 2-for-10 (20%) from the field. Golden State wasn’t much better with seven turnovers in the opening period.
Phoenix entered averaging 14.8 turnovers per game but had 14 alone in the first half. Golden State had 11 first-half turnovers and entered averaging 17.7 per game.
Both teams finished with 19 turnovers, which tied the Mercury’s season high.
In addition to being shorthanded, Thursday’s game was the latest installment part of a brutal stretch of nine games in 18 days for the Mercury, and Phoenix looked every bit the more tired team.
“I thought we had played a pretty good game. Well, the first half was ugly. Way too many turnovers,” Tibbetts said. “It looked like a team that was on the road and fatigued, except we were home.”
The Mercury offense picked up by closing the opening period on a 14-3 run, as Held was the necessary spark off the bench for the Mercury.
Following the slow start and Tuesday's offensive nightmare, which saw the Mercury shoot 28-for-73 (38.4%) from the field and 5-for-30 (16.7%) from 3, the Mercury shot 16-for-31 (51.6%) in the second half and 4-for-10 (40%) from 3.
While the Mercury were making their open looks from 3 on Thursday, part of that came from playing against the Valkyries (who rank 11th in the league in 3-point defense) instead of the Lynx (who rank first in the league in 3-point defense).
Golden State allowed Phoenix a ton of good looks, and the Mercury made the Valkyries pay.
And much of the Mercury’s scoring came from the bench. Phoenix had a season-high 41 bench points behind Held’s game-high 24 and Murjanatu Musa’s career-high eight points.
Satou Sabally had just four points at the half, but finished with 19, despite battling being in foul trouble the entire second half.
“Well, I think she just got fed up with not playing very well,” Tibbetts said of Sabally’s slow start. “I've really been impressed when the games haven't been going her way. She kind of still always figures it out at the end. Things didn't go her way early. We didn't find her getting shots.”
Sabally picked up her fourth foul with 7:22 left in the third, and her fifth foul with 7:50 left in the fourth, but Tibbetts decided to leave her in the game in the final 5:27.
“We wanted them to keep playing,” Tibbetts said of Sabally and Sami Whitcomb playing with five fouls.
“I think sometimes coaches get nervous. Obviously, I was nervous, too. I didn't want them to foul out, but you want to trust them. That's the beauty of six fouls. You let them continue to play.”
Sabally’s offensive rebound and ensuing and-one with 33.1 seconds left put the Mercury up 80-77, and after the Mercury played great defense on the following possession to force a missed Veronica Burton layup, Sabally’s free throws helped seal the Mercury win.
“I trust in my game, and I'm a pretty consistent player,” Sabally said. “I just read the game, and you just have to trust it like, even if you don't get a lot of shots due to other people making shots. That's not you having a bad game or anything. It's just really just trusting the flow of the game.”
Phoenix will continue its three-game homestand on Saturday with a matchup against the Seattle Storm (4-4) at 7 p.m. The game can be watched on Arizona’s Family 3TV.