Mercury’s 3-game victory streak ends
Phoenix dominates early but can’t earn home win
What looked like it would be a Phoenix Mercury-dominated game turned into a back-and-forth contest Friday as a New York comeback, led by guard Kia Nurse, erased an early home-team lead and delivered the Liberty the victory 80-76 at Talking Stick Resort Arena.
The first quarter belonged to the Mercury from tip-off, when Brittney Griner palmed down the ball to Sophie Cunningham in Cunningham’s first career start, then immediately got it back for a turnaround shot.
The Liberty tied it at 2-2 a minute later, the closest they would get leading that quarter.
The home team surged ahead, putting together a run of 10 straight points and growing their advantage to as much as 13.
Griner went 4-of-6 and put up nine points, while Leilani Mitchell went 2of-2 and scored seven.
“We were getting multiple stops in a row, and we were scoring,” Griner said. “We weren’t really turning it over.”
But five Mercury players, including three starters in Mitchell, DeWanna Bonner and Briann January, were held scoreless in the second quarter as New York’s Nurse put up 12 points in ten minutes to get the Liberty back in the game.
Charles gave the Liberty their first lead of the game three minutes into the third quarter, scoring twice to make it 48-44.
The two teams traded the advantage back and forth throughout the third quarter. With one minute left, Bonner, WNBA scoring leader who until that moment had been held to just four points, sunk a three-pointer from the line to put the Mercury ahead.
With the game tied at 76-76 with under two minutes left, the teams traded missed three-pointers back and forth. Charles finally broke through to put the Liberty ahead 78-76 with less than a minute left.
A potentially-tying Griner shot bounced off the rim with 5.3 seconds left.
“Wish I would’ve made that shot at the end,” Griner said. “... It felt good, it looked good, and then it bounced back at me.”
The Mercury were forced to concede their first loss in four games.
“(Griner) played great,” Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said. “She missed one shot, it’s not on her. She did everything she could to help us win that game.”
Overall, Phoenix went 26-of-62 and made 17 of its 18 free-throw attempts.
For New York, it was Charles’ fifth 20-point performance in her last six games, while Nurse matched her season high with 26 points.
For the home team, Cunningham pulled down a career-high six rebounds, while Griner topped her previous season-high with 30 points.
“BG was fantastic ... but we just didn’t have enough consistent contributors tonight, and we didn’t execute as well as we wanted to,” Brondello said. “And that’s what happens if you’re not ready to play . ... ”