PHOENIX – In a scoring battle between Kahleah Copper and Rhyne Howard, Howard tallied 31 points but Copper and the Phoenix Mercury beat the Atlanta Dream 74-66 on Tuesday.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Copper notched 28 points, Brittney Griner had 16 and Diana Taurasi chipped in with 13 for the Mercury (17-17). Phoenix was able to both snap a three-game losing streak and clinch a playoff spot with the win.
Tina Charles scored 12 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in the loss for Atlanta (11-22). Dream sharpshooter Allisha Gray was held to just nine points in her return to Phoenix after her huge performance at the 2024 WNBA All-Star Skills Competition.
Mercury punch ticket to playoffs after gritty win
Leading up to the matchup vs. the Dream, there has only been one other game where Natasha Cloud did not start this season, a 95-86 loss to the Indiana Fever on July 12 as she was dealing with a left knee injury.
Then on Sunday, the 5-foot-10 guard received her seventh tech of the year when guarding Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum. She was suspended one game by the WNBA on Monday for reaching the technical foul limit, which meant she was ineligible to play against Atlanta.
In Cloud’s place, Mercury rookie Celeste Taylor made her first WNBA start of her career. Playing the most minutes she has ever had in a WNBA game, she clocked in 32:35 of action and got two points, four rebounds, a block, two steals and two assists.
“She’s super solid,” Copper said when talking about Taylor. “Not your average rookie, you wouldn’t think that she bounced around a little bit. She communicates really well, really good defender and makes all the right plays. I am glad that she is here with us.”
“I am glad that she is here with us.”@AlecCipollini asked Phoenix Mercury star Kahleah Copper about rookie Celeste Taylor (@_celeste620) and how she did in her first #WNBA start vs. the Dream.#ValleyTogether #WNBA #AtlantaDream pic.twitter.com/saQMWdvlXz
— Burn City Mercury (@BurnCityMercury) September 4, 2024
Howard and Copper went rogue for both teams, trading bucket for bucket and forcing each other’s defense into trouble practically every time they touched the ball.
Copper got Phoenix’s offense up and going by scoring her team’s first seven points. For the Dream, they were a woeful 4-for-21 (19.0%) from the field in the first quarter even though they trailed by just four, 16-12.
Trying to snap the Dream’s cold streak, Howard flushed back-to-back 3-pointers effortlessly and 12 points in the second quarter despite the deficit widening to 40-25. Besides Howard, Jordin Canada and Tina Charles both had just four points each at the buzzer.
“It was fun to watch,” Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts said about the duel between Copper and Howard. “The game is so easy for her [Howard]. She got up 15 threes tonight and we are trying to take away threes, that’s how talented she is. Kah is like a force of nature when she gets going downhill. She had that pop tonight, she made a couple threes. You could see that confidence. That was a fun battle to watch.”
Over the past few games, the Mercury have been falling into turnover troubles and it rolled over to Wednesday. While Atlanta wasn’t much better with 13, Phoenix coughed up the ball 17 times.
Courtesy of eight points by Charles in the third quarter and Howard continuing her red-hot night, the Dream got within five and mounted the pressure on Phoenix. Charles, a former Mercury, finished with a double-double.
The game wasn’t necessarily the most offensive, but these two teams have already been in tight, one-score games twice this season. Despite the Dream’s 72-63 victory in which the offensive inconsistency was also the story on Aug. 21, Phoenix won 88-85 at the beginning of the season on May 18 and a few weeks ago 82-80 on Aug. 23.
“They’re [Atlanta] a good team,” Tibbetts said. “Their record doesn’t show who they are. They were super, super injured early in the season. If they would have been healthy, they would be in the mix for the playoffs just like we are. Charles is playing at a high level. Howard is a high, high-level wing. And so is Gray. Getting [Jordin] Canada back, she missed a bunch of games early and that really hurt them.”
“Their record doesn’t show who they are.”@AlecCipollini asked Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts about what makes the Atlanta Dream so tough to play against with multiple close battles this season.#ValleyTogether #WNBA #AtlantaDream pic.twitter.com/JT8Fpj8UTn
— Burn City Mercury (@BurnCityMercury) September 4, 2024
Atlanta was just four behind in the final frame before the Mercury claimed the victory and secured a spot in the playoffs. With a win over Atlanta and the Las Vegas Aces blowing past the Chicago Sky 91-70 on Tuesday, both the Mercury and Indiana Fever are locked in for the postseason.
While it wasn’t ideal for the team to miss Cloud due to suspension, Griner was glad they were still able to achieve gigantic success in her short-term absence.
“Going into the game, we really wanted to go get this win,” Griner said. “For us, just making sure we get that identity before we go to the playoffs. Getting the win for her [Cloud], I think that was all that was on our minds. Once we clinched, we were like, ‘We got in the playoffs.’ We were happy in the end.”
Next Games
Mercury: Home vs. Washington Mystics (9-23) | Sept. 5 | 7 p.m. PT
Dream: Home vs. Dallas Wings (9-23) | Sept. 6 | 4:30 p.m. PT
A’ja Wilson dominates with 41 points, 17 rebounds in Aces 97-79 victory over Mercury
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Reporter Alec Cipollini covers ASU Athletics, the Phoenix Mercury and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini
