Phoenix Mercury find a way to win ugly, squeak by struggling Connecticut Sun
The Mercury got off to a strong start by getting to the foul line early, but the Sun slowed the game down before the Mercury hit three clutch 3s down the stretch.
Clutch shotmaking down the stretch saw the Phoenix Mercury squeak by the struggling Connecticut Sun, 83-75 on Wednesday.
The Mercury (9-4) took a 19-point lead in the second quarter and later held a 16-point lead past the midway point of the third quarter but had a difficult time putting the Sun (2-10) away.
The Mercury got off to a strong start by getting to the foul line early, but the Sun slowed the game down and forced Phoenix out of playing in transition.
The Mercury opened the game on a 10-0 run and built up a 22-9 lead after the first quarter by attacking the basket.
Phoenix had 10 points in the paint and went 9-for-10 at the line in the opening period. The nine points the Mercury allowed was a season-low for points allowed in a first quarter.
To begin the second quarter, it was more of the same from Phoenix. The Mercury had 10 more points in the paint and shot 10 more free throws in the period.
But an influx of turnovers in quick succession saw the Mercury unable to add to their lead.
“I thought we started the game really well, obviously,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “And then the last three quarters kind of played them even.”
At the 5:54 mark in the second, the Mercury took their largest lead of 19, but the Sun went on an ensuing 18-4 run to cut Phoenix’s lead to five, a sloppy sequence that saw the Mercury turn the ball over four times.
Phoenix ended the quarter on a 9-2 run to take a 48-36 lead into the half.
Connecticut then slowed the game down considerably in the second half, keeping Phoenix from playing in transition and getting to the line. After shooting 20 free throws in the first half, the Mercury shot just three in the third quarter, and the first attempt didn't come until the 0:54 mark.
“Our mistakes, us turning the ball over, putting them on the free-throw line, miscommunication,” Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas said was what allowed the Sun to get back in the game.
“In transition, when we did those things, we kind of were able to get our stops, get out and run and get what we wanted.”
The Sun did not shoot their first free throws of the game until the 5:39 mark in the second quarter, but from that point on, they shot 23 free throws compared to the Mercury’s 13.
As Marina Mabrey struggled by starting 0-for-6 from the field (she finished 2-for-11 with eight points), the play of Jacy Sheldon, Aneesah Morrow, Saniya Rivers and Jaelyn Brown kept Connecticut in the contest.
Morrow had a career-high and game-high 16 points, to go along with nine rebounds and three steals in 23 minutes off the bench.
Phoenix’s scoring was incredibly balanced, with Thomas (14), Lexi Held (14), Kahleah Copper (13), Satou Sabally (12) and Kitija Laksa (11) all scoring in double figures.
Nine different Mercury players scored, and only Kalani Brown (who played only 4:54 as she continues to work her way back from an illness that saw her miss two games) didn’t add to the points tally.
Thomas, who spent the first 11 seasons of her career with the Sun, registered her fourth double-double in a row and now has 49 assists over her past four games.
“Definitely emotional,” Thomas said on how she felt making her return. “I think I gave this organization everything I had, and the fanbase was always behind me supporting whether we were winning or losing. So just super grateful for them to definitely come out and get their support.”
Even though Copper struggled shooting the ball, (she began the game 0-for-7), she was able to get downhill and get to the foul line in the first half. She finished 7-for-8 at the foul line (and went 5-for-6 in the first half).
Last year, Copper led the Mercury with 5.6 free throws attempted per game, signifying what adding her into Tibbetts’ offense allows the Mercury to do.
Despite her struggles, Copper’s first field goal of the game couldn’t have come at a better time for Phoenix. She rattled in a 3 to beat the shot-clock buzzer with 2:54 remaining to put the Mercury up 10.
After the Sun’s Bria Harltey answered with a 3 on the other end, Copper hit another triple to put the Mercury back up double digits before Held’s 3 with 43.1 seconds left helped the Mercury hold on and win their first regular season game in Connecticut since Aug. 27, 2015.
“I think (Copper) is really trying to find her way,” Tibbetts said. “Her rhythm and timing and everything isn't where she wants it to be. It's not where we want it to be, but ultimately, she hits big shots and she hit two of them. I thought those were the two biggest shots of the night, the first one … she kind of fumbled it. It didn't even come off her hand right.
“But she had great focus and the will to win and knock down that shot. So I think every game that she's played, she's going to start to get more and more comfortable.”
With Phoenix playing on the first night of a back-to-back and Connecticut playing on the second night of a back-to-back, the game was closer than it should have been, especially considering the Sun have the worst point-differential in the league (-16.2), and entered Wednesday with the most points allowed (88.2), the worst offensive rating (90.4) and the worst defensive rating (112.7).
Thomas played 31 minutes, while Sabally played 29, which could come back to bite the Mercury as the play in New York in fewer than 24 hours.
The third leg of the Mercury’s four-game roadtrip will see them take on the Liberty (10-1) on Thursday at 4 p.m. MST. The game can be watched on Arizona’s Family Sports.