Kahleah Copper recorded her fifth 30-plus point game of the season with 35 and Brittney Griner had 28 as the Phoenix Mercury took advantage of a slow offensive game by the Seattle Storm, winning 87-78 on Sunday afternoon.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Diana Taurasi notched 13 points in her 300th win of her 20-year WNBA career for the Mercury (7-7). Phoenix shot 31-for-62 (50.0%) from the field and 7-for-18 (38.9%) from three.
Nneka Ogwumike finished with 15 points while Jewell Loyd, Skylar Diggins-Smith and Ezi Magbegor all had 14 each in the Storm’s (9-5) loss. Jordan Horston pitched in with 11 points.
Mercury dominated early, withstanding late push by Storm
After scorching for 28 points in the first quarter against the Las Vegas Aces on Thursday, the Mercury were back at it again with an explosive start, leading 25-14 over the Storm to begin the game. 18 of the Phoenix points were in the first 4:26 of Sunday’s game.
The star-studded duo of Copper and Griner combined for 35 points, making a major impact on both ends of the court in the first half. Griner had a steal, a block and her eighth 3-pointer of her career.
“I just need to pull them in the game,” Griner said on shooting threes. “I feel like I have been working on it for a while honestly, little more this year. I know I can make it for sure when I get low, it’s just something I am trying to add to my game.”
“I just feel like I need to pull them in the game.”
Our @AlecCipollini asked Brittney Griner (@brittneygriner) about if shooting from three is something she wants to do more often after making her 8th of her #WNBA career. #ValleyTogether #WNBA #TheNewStorm pic.twitter.com/CdnHWdRUIc
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) June 16, 2024
While the Mercury were having their way with scoring early on, the Storm couldn’t emerge out of their first half slump offensively. Through the initial two quarters, they shot 2-for-13 (15.4%) from three and 12-for-41 (29.3%) from the field.
In Diggins-Smith’s return to the Valley after her three-year stint with Mercury ended with heated tension, the six-time WNBA All-Star only had four points until the fourth quarter, when she got going with 10.
With the Storm coming into the game 8-2 in their last 10, defense was a point of emphasis that the Mercury needed to be proficient in if they wanted to pull out a victory.
“When our defense is good, our offense is even better because we are able to get out and transition,” Copper said. “Credit to that first half, we were really locked in. Communicating, when somebody helped, there was help to the helper. We were really, really good. We are going to continue to put it together for four quarters, but I am just proud of our defense because this team [Storm] was really rolling.”
“When our defense is good, our offense is even better.”
Kahleah Copper (@kahleahcopper) responds to our @AlecCipollini about how important defense was in the Phoenix Mercury’s win over the Seattle Storm.#ValleyTogether #WNBA #TheNewStorm pic.twitter.com/K9x0mbc4zt
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) June 16, 2024
The Storm had multiple offensive rebounds in the first half before they were limited to zero in the second, a testament to the Mercury locking down in the paint.
Combining 44 points into the paint offensively with zero offensive boards for the Storm in the second half, Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts lauded over Griner’s presence on the inside.
“We are going to evolve here as we start to throw it [the ball] to BG more,” Tibbetts said. “44 points in the paint is huge and she has a big part of that. I loved our aggressiveness. Our players were speaking up, saying keep going to her. She is just a huge presence down there and she makes good decisions.”
"We're going to evolve here as we start to throw it into [Brittney Griner] more."
Nate Tibbetts discussed how Phoenix's offense has begun to diversify itself with Brittney Griner's inside presence.#ValleyTogether #WNBA pic.twitter.com/uxCp9mbk3E
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) June 16, 2024
The Storm ended with 11 steals, 36 rebounds, nine turnovers and 42 points in the paint. On the other hand, the Mercury wrapped up their third win in four games with 37 rebounds, 15 turnovers and five blocks.
Next Games
Mercury: Home vs. New York Liberty (12-2) | June 18 | 7 p.m. PT
Storm: Home vs. Las Vegas Aces (6-6) | June 19 | 7 p.m. PT
Nate Tibbetts claims Phoenix Mercury’s best basketball is ahead
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
