Napheesa Collier recorded her ninth double-double of the season with 23 points and 14 assists as the Minnesota Lynx beat the Phoenix Mercury 73-60 on Saturday night.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Alanna Smith scored 14 points and Courtney Williams added 12 for the Lynx (13-3). With this result, Minnesota increased its winning streak to six straight games and is now 9-1 at home this year.
Natasha Cloud had 14 points, Rebecca Allen notched 11 and Brittney Griner finished with 10 in the defeat for the Mercury (8-8). Phoenix shot 23-for-74 (31.1%) from the field and 7-for-34 (20.1%) from three.
Lynx take advantage of offensive woes by Mercury
Both teams were playing stout defense early on, resulting in the offenses starting out cold. There were four turnovers from each side in the first quarter with the Lynx up 19-15.
While the defensive gridlock rolled on into the second quarter, Minnesota found life on the attack while Phoenix was getting the opportunities that they wanted to score but couldn’t capitalize on them.
Struggling to get a rhythm going in the second quarter, the Mercury were held to just four points 6:32 into the frame and outscored 19-10 by the Lynx. Before the halftime buzzer, Phoenix was a woeful 1-for-16 (6.3%) from three.
“Man, we got shots and looks at the basket that we wanted, the ball was just not dropping tonight,” Cloud said. “On offense, I know it looked bad because we weren’t making shots but we were getting really good looks. Defensively, we held a really great team in this league to under their quota. We made things tough for them. It is really hard to come into this environment.”
"Regardless of what the score is, this is about us. This is about being where we want to be at the end of the season."
Our @AlecCipollini asked Phoenix Mercury G Natasha Cloud (@T_Cloud4) about her takeaways from the loss to the Minnesota Lynx, stressing how important defense is… pic.twitter.com/lYhovge4Tp
— Burn City Sports (@BurnCitySports) June 23, 2024
Going into the second half, the Mercury suffered two injury scares that could have been more severe than they turned out to be.
Trying to set a screen, Brittney Griner tweaked her right leg in a collision before Diana Taurasi ran into a Lynx player’s elbow. After being visibly in pain, both players returned from the bench towards the end of the third quarter. However, the Lynx went on an 11-2 run to wrap it up.
Minnesota controlled the flow throughout the game, getting revenge for the Mercury’s nailbiting 81-80 win over them on June 7. Creating a large contrast between the teams, the Lynx outrebounded the Mercury 44-31, with 39 of Minnesota’s coming from defensive rebounds courtesy of missed shots by Phoenix.
“They got 39 [defensive] rebounds because we weren’t making shots,” Tibbetts said. “We shot poor from the field, we shot poor from the 3-point line. They got a lot of rebounds because there was a lot to be had with us missing shots.”
Collier and Smith kept causing Phoenix headaches as they would stop one, and the other would be left open. Collier went 9-for-16 from the field and Smith was 3-for-4 from deep.
While it was the outcome that they didn’t want, the Mercury did limit the Western Conference’s No. 1 seeded team in the Lynx to 73 points, something that they can build off of going forward.
“My overall takeaway from this game is we have to continue to play and continue to get better every single night,” Cloud said. “Regardless of what the score is, this is about us, this is about being where we want to be at the end of the season. Whether our shots are falling or not, we got to hang our hats on the defensive end and we gonna stick to that. Defense is gonna bring offense and we got to stay true to that, that is our identity.”
Minnesota will now head to New York and face the Liberty for the 2024 WNBA Commissioner’s Cup championship.
Next Games
Mercury: Home vs. Los Angeles Sparks (4-13) | June 28 | 7 p.m. PT
Lynx: Away at New York Liberty (14-3) | June 25 | 5 p.m. PT
Phoenix Mercury stars shine, yet overlooked in early WNBA All-Star voting
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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
