Minus suspended Griner, Mercury drop game to Sun
The depleted Phoenix Mercury showed Wednesday night that no matter what they aren’t an easy out.
Playing without suspended superstar Brittney Griner and four injured others, the Mercury fell 20 points behind the Connecticut Sun in the third quarter at Talking Stick Resort Arena and appeared on their way to a blowout loss.
Instead, they opened the fourth quarter with an 11-1 run, pulling within three points (69-66) with 5:18 remaining and giving the Sun – in second place in the WNBA – a genuine scare.
“We can compete with anyone,” Mercury guard Yvonne Turner said after a 78-71 loss. “It doesn’t matter whether we have our full roster or not. We were right there with them, and if we would have made shots it would have been a different ball game.”
The Sun (17-8) regained control with three straight layups, two by Jasmine Thomas and one in between by Jonquel Jones to lead 75-66 with 3:17 left.
They never trailed in sweeping the season series vs. the Mercury (11-13) but for the second straight meeting couldn’t put them away despite Griner’s absence.
Connecticut won 68-62 on Aug. 1 when Griner played just 10 minutes due to an ankle injury.
“Our first 20 (minutes) we didn’t execute the game plan as well as we needed to,” Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said. “You take BG out, you’re still trying to find how we’ve got to play. But we gave them wide open looks, and they made their shots.”
Griner, who leads the WNBA in scoring (19.4 ppg), is out for two more games due to a league suspension for her part in an altercation against Dallas last week.
There were chants of “free BG” from a crowd of 8,734, but the reality of her absence was evident early on. The Mercury never led, falling behind 14-6 on the way to a 49-34 halftime deficit.
“She protects the basket so much,” Brondello said of Griner. “She’s like Jonquel Jones over there because her shot blocking changes a lot of shots for them. Then on offense, we play through her a lot. It’s hard when you take your best scorer out, your best player, gives us that inside attack . ... ”
Jasmine Thomas led the Sun with 18. Jones had a double-double (12/14 rebounds). DeWanna Bonner led the Mercury with 17 points and Yvonne Turner scored 15.
With just 10 games left and a 1-5 record since the WNBA All-Star Game, the Mercury are in the eighth and final playoff spot, 2.5 games ahead of Indiana (916) and three up on New York (8-16).
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— Atlanta (5-20) is on a 10game losing streak, not having won since July 12. The Mercury (11-13) have dropped three straight including 78-71 Wednesday to Connecticut and are playing their second game without suspended center Brittney Griner. Phoenix edged Atlanta 65-63 on July 7 with Griner scoring 31 points. that were distributed before the game. The WNBA scoring leader was not allowed to attend due to her suspension.
She is averaging 19.4 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks and shooting 54 percent. Only Washington’s Elena Delle Donne is ranked higher in WNBA efficiency.
Griner’s chances of earning her first WNBA most valuable player award could take a hit because of missing three games.
“Probably so,” she said.
“Does it bother me? No, not really. Honestly I just want to play at this point. The championship is the end. Playoffs is not the end. We want to get to the championship.”