Phoenix Mercury red-hot from the field in close win over Dallas Wings, Arike Ogunbowale
The Mercury had arguably their most complete offensive game to this point.
The Phoenix Mercury scored a season-high 104 points and shot a blistering-hot 55.4%, also their highest this season, in their 104-96 win over the Dallas Wings at College Park Center on Wednesday night.
“It helps when you make shots,” coach Nate Tibbetts said.
“I thought we did a great job with our execution, only having nine turnovers was big. We’ve got talented offensive players, and we had a lot of them play at a high level tonight.”
The Mercury had all five of their starters in double-figure scoring, led by Kahleah Copper. Copper had 34 points on 14-of-20 shooting (3-of-4 from 3-point range).
“I was having fun,” Copper said. “I was aggressive, I was playing defense. Easier to play off our defense.”
Copper’s sixth 30-point game is the most in the WNBA this season.
In addition to their sky-high field-goal percentage, the Mercury shot 11-of-23 (47.8%) from 3-point range, which is their second-best on the road. Phoenix entered Wednesday night’s game with the worst field-goal percentage (38.1) of any team in the WNBA on the road.
The Mercury held at most an 18-point lead with 9:05 left in the third quarter against the Wings, who have the league’s worst record.
“They’ve been complete, down-to-the-wire,” Tibbetts said of the Mercury’s three games against the Wings, two of which have been decided by fewer than 10 points. “...It feels like every time we play them, it’s headed [to overtime].
“In his league, you match up against different teams and they present different challenges just like you do for them.”
Specifically, the Wings are one of the largest teams in the WNBA by size. They entered the game second in the league in offensive rebounding at 10.7 per game. Dallas also led the league in second-chance points at 15.6 per game.
Still, Phoenix is looking to find a rhythm within its offense even though it had its best statistical game to this point.
“I kind of mentioned it, this is our 10th game with [Brittney Griner],” Tibbetts said. “We’re trying to find a balance of having her on the perimeter and in the post. The way that (general manager) Nick (U’Ren) and our front office built this team is, we want shooters at the four. Obviously with Bec (Allen) and [Sophie Cunningham], they kind of help spread the floor.
“There’s a balance, right? We need to throw it down there to ‘BG’ at times. Our players understand that and they know how important it is.”
The Mercury now stand No. 6 in the WNBA in offensive rating (100.6) and look to improve more before the league’s All-Star break, which will be July 19 and 20, and following the break for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Phoenix has said many times it wants to shoot 35 to 40 3-pointers per game, something that it has not wavered from even though it has not attempted 30 3-pointers since its 73-60 loss on the road to the Minnesota Lynx on June 22.
Three of the five Mercury starters, however, finished with at least two 3-pointers made. Allen was 4-of-5, Copper was 3-of-4 and guard Diana Taurasi, who did not play on Monday in the Mercury’s 83-72 loss to the Connecticut Sun due to back tightness, was 2-of-6.
Phoenix won the game and looks to recover since it had played four games in six days.
“I’m just really impressed,” Tibbetts said.
“That Indiana loss, probably, if you were to ask our group, was the toughest loss of the season just because as far as execution down the stretch. We were up seven with 3 ½ to go, those are games with a veteran group you want to get. So that one hurt. You go into the next night kind of beat up with players out. Probably the first time that we’ve kind of questioned what we were doing down the stretch.
“We’ve struggled on the road,’ Tibbetts continued. “For us to come out and compete at the level that we did tonight I think shows a level of maturity. I’m excited about the second half of the season.”
Desert Wave Media will be at the Mercury’s next game on the road against the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday. The contest will tip off at 4 p.m.