The Phoenix Mercury won their second consecutive game on Sunday afternoon on the road against the Dallas Wings. Phoenix is now 2-0 since the return of Brittney Griner and Bec Allen, winning two nail-biters in a row. The Mercury scratched by the Lynx by just a point thanks to Kahleah Copper’s game-winning 3-pointer, and it took two overtimes for them to put away the Wings. Despite two close affairs, Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts is impressed with his teams resilience as of late.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!"We just keep fighting. We've got a team full of fighters."
Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts broke down his team's win over the Dallas Wings on Sunday, crediting Brittney Griner and the rest of his group.
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“We’ve been super resilient all year,” said Tibbetts on Sunday. “I think we just keep fighting, we’ve got a team full of fighters. I thought the first half we played really well defensively. We didn’t let us missing shots in the first half affect our defense. I thought we had some great looks, I think we got 15 3-pointers up, we were 2-for-15 from three in the first half, and I would say 12 of them were great looks.”
Tibbetts also touched on balancing the minutes to ensure players are getting the proper rest. With the schedule being more packed than usual due to the impending Olympic break, the Mercury have been traveling and playing way more than normal. Eight games in 15 days is draining, and could increase the likelihood of injuries. Tibbetts has managed his groups minutes effectively to make sure he doesn’t overplay any of his players.
But logically, Tibbetts was forced to overplay his top lineup due to two overtimes. After all, you want your best lineup to close out a game for you. He credited his starters for taking on the extra workload following the game.
Phoenix Mercury celebrate the winning 3 point shot from guard Kahleah Copper (2) at the Footprint Center in Phoenix on Jun. 7, 2024.
Nicole Mullen/The Republic
“Credit to our group,” Tibbetts added. “I’ve really tried to manage the minutes. I apologized to them after the game, but our starters really stepped up. Great to have [Brittney Griner] back. Geez — 24 [points], nine [rebounds], five [assists]. The training staff probably not too happy with the minutes restriction, but we just kept pushing and we’ll get a couple of days off here.”
Again — eight games in 15 days is a lot. But after grinding out a tough win, Phoenix now looks forward to three days of rest ahead of the Las Vegas Aces.
Coincidentally, Phoenix started and finished its eight-game stretch against Dallas. Sunday resulted in a win, but the first time around looked much different. The Wings bested the Mercury by 15-points in a game that Dallas controlled from start to finish. Dallas’ Arike Ogunbowale poured in 40 points in that game to go along with 7 3-pointers, leading Dallas to the victory.
15 days later, Ogunbowale still found a way to score 25 points while dishing out 10 assists. But this time around, she was held to just 9-for-27 shooting and 3-of-11 from long-range.
The last time Phoenix played Dallas, the Wings scored 107 points. Through regulation and two overtimes, Phoenix held Dallas to 90 points tonight.
Nate Tibbetts discussed his team's defensive efforts and praised Kahleah Copper for her contributions.
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“Last time we played them, [Dallas] scored 107 [points] against us,” Tibbetts said. “I would say our defense from the start, I thought we were really good defensively. For the most part all the way through we did a really good job on Arike [Ogunbowale], she hit seven or eight 3-pointers in the last game against us. So to hold her to three, I thought [Kahleah Copper] did an unbelievable job on her. And then when we got into our switches, whoever switched up to her, we tried to get her to play inside of the three. She still got 11 of them up, but that’s what she does, she’s a great player.”
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Justin LaCertosa covers Phoenix Sports News for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @LaCertosaSports
