Phoenix Mercury flash depth, beat Dallas Wings behind balanced scoring
The Mercury had five players score in double-figures and eight players score at least seven points in Wednesday's win over the Wings.
PHOENIX — The Phoenix Mercury flashed their depth and beat the Dallas Wings, 93-80 behind balanced scoring on Wednesday.
As the Mercury (7-4) returned to nearly full-strength, they had five players score in double-figures, eight players score at least seven points and 34 bench points in the win.
It was Phoenix’s fifth game of the season with at least 25 bench points, the most in the WNBA. The Mercury did that on just three occasions during the entire 2024 season.
Satou Sabally led the way with 20 points, Alyssa Thomas and Kathryn Westbeld each added 11, while Kitija Laksa and Lexi Held scored 14 and 11 points off the bench, respectively.
Monique Akoa Makani had nine points, Sami Whitcomb added eight and Murjanatu Musa scored seven.
“I thought tonight our energy was better defensively, because people were playing less minutes,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “That's what we're gonna need as we continue to add Kahleah (Copper).
“We've got a deep team and we play hard, and I think we can play harder when the minutes go down.”
Thomas (left calf) and Natasha Mack (back) both made their returns to game action on Wednesday after missing the past five and 10 games, respectively.
Thomas started alongside Sabally, Westbeld, Whitcomb and Akoa Makani, while Mack came off the bench.
Both players were on a minutes restriction. Thomas played 23:35, while Mack played 12:56 and had two points, two rebounds, two steals, two blocks and an assist in her season debut.
“I thought they were very productive in their minutes,” Tibbetts said.
“(Thomas) does such a good job of getting to the paint and finding our shooters. If you were a shooter in this league, that's a player that you'd want to play with, because she does such a good job of finding people.”
Thomas was able to flash her ability as a facilitator on Wednesday, as she had 10 of the Mercury’s 23 assists. Seven of Thomas’ assists came on 3-pointers, including four assists on 3-pointers in the fourth quarter.
The Mercury shot 15-for-35 (42.9%) from 3, which was a mixture of Phoenix knocking down shots and Dallas struggling to defend beyond the arc.
“I've always asked for shooters around me,” Thomas said. “And you know that's what they went and got. When you're able to have that kind of spacing it just puts the defense in trouble.
“You're either going to help in on me, or I'm just going to spray out and find my teammates. So it's just really fun to play. You know, you don't really have to run that much. It's just about what the defense does really.”
As balanced as the Mercury offense was, the Wings were extremely one dimensional.
Paige Bueckers made her return after missing the past four games due to a concussion and a subsequent illness she picked up.
She led the way with 35 points on 13-for-19 (68.4%) shooting.
“Just trying to work to win games, do anything it takes on any given night to contribute to winning,” Bueckers said. “I felt a little winded, and I’m just coming back from a break.
“I feel like I could have used my voice more and been more disruptive and crashed the glass more, so I get wind under me and I’ll be better in those areas. But like I said, just trying to contribute to winning and whatever that looks like on any given night, trying to put your full effort toward that.”
She connected on her first seven shots, while Arike Ogunbowale missed her first seven shots.
Bueckers had 18 of Dallas’ first 28 points and while she was 7-for-7 (100%) at that point, the rest of the Wings were 4-for-24 from the field (16.7%).
Bueckers’ previous career high was 21 and she eclipsed that mark in the first half, where she had 22 of Dallas’ 36 points at the break, as Phoenix led 42-36.
Aside from Bueckes’ dominance, the only thing keeping the Wings in the game was their ability to control the glass. The Wings out-rebounded the Mercury, 21-14 in the first half. Dallas finished the game with 36 rebounds to Phoenix’s 28.
But it was specifically the Wings’ ability to create second-chance points via offensive rebounds that kept it close in the first half.
In the first half, Dallas had six offensive rebounds, which they turned into nine second-chance points. Phoenix meanwhile had just two second-chance points in the opening half.
“It was always right there, not ever really out of hand, always within striking distance,” Dallas coach Chris Koclanes said.
“Credit our fight and just willingness to not lay over – that's a bit of resilience there. And then (Bueckers) had a really good game, kept us in it a lot.”
Bueckers slowed down in the second half as the Mercury started to defend her with more physicality and aggression.
“Those are two really good guards in our league,” Tibbetts said on the defense against Bueckers and Ogunbowale. “It's tough for these rookies to come into this league after the college season. They get three weeks off, and they're thrown into the fire. I know (Bueckers) has been out with a concussion, and then the sickness, but it's probably the best her body has felt in months. So she looked refreshed.
“I thought we did a good job on (Ogunbowale). Those are the two that are going to look to score, and you know they're the ones that make that team go. I thought (Bueckers) had a really good night. I thought we competed on her. We competed all night against her, and she's going to be a really good player in our league.”
Bueckers only had three points in the third quarter and finally checked out for the first time at the 2:43 mark in the third. She played 37:17, slightly above her season-average of 34 minutes per game.
Sabally meanwhile had 10 of her points in the third. She overcame another slow start, where after having five points on 1-for-4 (25%) shooting at the half, she shot 6-for-11 (54.5%) and had 15 points in the second half.
Having both Sabally and Thomas on the floor helped draw the Wings’ defense toward both of them, creating another dimension to Phoenix's offense.
“Every time (Thomas) drives, it’s just such a force that three people have to be on her,” Sabally said.
“So she finds the passes, kicks them out, and then every time I drive, people need to be on me and she’s just right there, so she’s a great complement to the game.”
Bueckers scored 10 more in the fourth, but at that point it didn’t matter. Back-to-back 3s from Akoa Makani and Laksa saw Phoenix cap a 12-4 run to take its largest lead of 16 points at 79-63 with 5:12 left.
Phoenix shot just 5-for-18 (27.8%) from 3 in the first half, which included a stretch where the Mercury missed eight 3s in a row, but the second half saw the Mercury shoot 10-for-17 (58.8%) from deep, which helped the Mercury put the Wings away.
The Mercury will now head to Las Vegas where they will begin their four-game roadtrip on Sunday at 3 p.m. MST against the Aces (4-4). The game can be watched on Arizona’s Family 3TV and Arizona’s Family Sports.