Taurasi ties 3-point record; Mercury wipe out Dallas
Mitchell leads balanced Phoenix with 19 points
What a difference 13 days and not playing the day after a wedding makes.
The Phoenix Mercury were much more cohesive and, truth be told, not as hung over in their second meeting against the Dallas Wings on Saturday night than they were in the season opener May 14, less than 24 hours after Diana Taurasi’s wedding.
The Mercury had more rebounds (22) at halftime than in the entire first meeting and nearly as many points (46) as in that 68-58 loss, also at Talking Stick Resort Arena. They quickly expanded a 10-point halftime lead to 17 in the third quarter on their way to a dominating 107-65 win, the largest victory margin in the 21-year franchise history (39 was the previous high, set in 2011).
Taurasi, back from a one-game suspension, scored a season-high 18 points and in the third quarter tied Katie Smith for the WNBA career 3-point lead with 906. She had nine points at halftime and added nine in the third as Phoenix built its lead to 76-52, then did not play in the fourth quarter.
“I always talk about Katie being one of my biggest heroes growing up,” Taurasi said. “Her work ethic, got to share the court with her at the Olympics. To be tied with her right now is kind of cool. I feel like if we could just end it there and we’ll both be on top, we’d both be pretty happy with that.”
Mercury coach Sandy Brondello considered bringing Taurasi in to get the record at home but did not think Taurasi would want that in a blowout. Taurasi is 127 points away from becoming the WNBA career-scoring leader.
“We’re hanging our hat on our defense, then when the ball goes in the hole, it’s fun,” Brondello said. “Everyone came in and did their job. It’s great you can go to the bench and you know nothing is going to drop off. We actually create a little bit more energy with our athleticism on the bench.
“You saw the chemistry is coming, just real good people buying into what we want to do and playing team ball.”
Leilani Mitchell went 4-of-6 from 3point to lead the Mercury with 19 points. Brittney Griner and Emma Cannon each added 12, ending Griner’s streak of nine straight 15-point games. Griner also did not play in the fourth quarter.
Six Mercury players reached doublefigure scoring. Phoenix had a 63-23 edge in bench scoring, 19-8 in fast-break points and 15-5 in second-chance points.
The Mercury, finishing with a 41-34 rebound edge, improved to 3-2. Dallas fell to 2-2.
In a foul-filled first half, the Mercury took their first lead with 4:10 left in the first quarter and led the rest of the way for a 46-36 intermission edge.
Phoenix went up 37-24 on three Taurasi free throws, one off a technical foul, with 5:33 left in the second quarter. The Mercury had 22 first-half rebounds, five more than their total in the first meeting with Dallas.
Griner scored 12 first-half points and the Mercury bench contributed 20, offsetting four Phoenix players picking up two fouls in the first quarter.
Dallas center Theresa Plaisance, starting for an injured Courtney Paris, committed three fouls in 17 seconds early in the second quarter, giving her four total in the first half.
Paris, who suffered a knee injury against San Antonio on Thursday and is expected to be out 6-8 weeks, had two points and seven rebounds in the first meeting against Phoenix.
Griner came in on a nine-game streak of scoring 15 or more points, longest of her four-year pro career. She also had at least two rebounds and two blocks in each of those games.
The Mercury, who allowed 89.5 points per game in a 0-4 start last season, went into Saturday with a WNBA best 67.8 points-allowed average.
Stephanie Talbot entered Saturday as the WNBA’s rookie-rebounding leader, averaging five boards. T
Mercury 107, Wings 65
DALLAS (65) Christmas 2-10 6-6 11, Diggins-Smith 3-8 1-2 8, Gray 3-9 2-2 8, Johnson 4-9 3-4 12, Plaisance 1-5 0-0 3, Akhator 0-1 1-2 1, Chong 2-4 0-0 4, Davis 3-9 2-3 8, Lewis 0-3 3-4 3, Thornton 3-7 1-4 7. Totals 21-65 19-27 65.
PHOENIX (107) Griner 4-11 4-7 12, Little 1-3 0-0 2, Robinson 2-5 3-4 7, Talbot 2-4 0-1 5, Taurasi 5-9 6-6 18, Brunner 0-1 0-0 0, Cannon 4-6 4-4 12, George 4-7 0-0 10, Mitchell 6-8 3-4 19, Murphy 4-10 1-1 11, Prince 1-3 0-0 3, Turner 3-7 2-2 8. Totals 36-74 23-29 107. Dallas 17 19 16 13 — 65 Phoenix 25 21 30 31 — 107 3-Point Goals—Dallas 4-21 (Johnson 1-1, Plaisance 1-3, DigginsSmith 1-4, Christmas 1-5, Davis 0-1, Chong 0-1, Gray 0-3, Thornton 0-3), Phoenix 12-25 (Mitchell 4-6, George 2-3, Murphy 2-4, Taurasi 2-5, Talbot 1-2, Prince 1-3, Turner 0-2). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Dallas 34 (Gray, Thornton 6), Phoenix 41 (Cannon 8). Assists—Dallas 10 (Diggins-Smith 4), Phoenix 20 (Robinson 7). Total Fouls—Dallas 25, Phoenix 24. Technicals—Dallas team. A—9,245 (18,422).