Mercury lose Bria Hartley, top Lynx
The Phoenix Mercury reinvention continued Sunday.
Version 3.0, without center Brittney Griner and now guard Bria Hartley, laid down a second straight stellar offensive half then held on to beat nemesis Minnesota, 83-79, at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida.
The Lynx, 19-1 against the Mercury including five playoff wins since late August 2015, charged back from a 22point deficit to close within two before Skylar Diggins-Smith hit two free throws with 5.9 seconds left to ice a Phoenix win.
Before the game, Mercury coach Sandy Brondello announced that Hartley is out for the rest of the season with a right knee injury suffered Friday. The Mercury have been without 6-9 Griner for personal reasons since Aug. 21, a game the Lynx won 90-80 increasing their win streak in the series to six.
In the rematch, though, it was Minnesota playing behind almost the entire game as the Mercury hit four 3pointers in a 33-point first quarter for a 15-point lead. Phoenix still led by 15 (51-36) at halftime and 14 (65-51) going into the fourth quarter before rookie Crystal Dangerfield led a Lynx rally to within 77-74 with 1:27 left.
Diana Taurasi missed a 3-pointer
and guard Shey Peddy, playing in her second Mercury game, rebounded, setting up Diggins-Smith for a critical 15footer with 58 seconds left.
Mikiah Herbert Harrigan stuck a 3pointer for the Lynx before DigginsSmith went 4-of-4 from the line in the final 13 seconds.
The Mercury (9-7) won their third straight and remain in sixth in the WNBA standings, one game behind Chicago and two ahead of Connecticut. Eight teams advance to the playoffs.
Turner playing like Dennis Rodman
Diggins-Smith backed up her 24point game Friday with 25, one off her season high.
Taurasi had a 23-point, 12-rebound double-double, nearly matching her career rebounding high of 13 set in 2009. Brianna Turner also had a double-double of10 points and15 boards, two off her career high.
Brondello lobbied for Turner, a 6-3 forward in her second WNBA season, as league Defensive Player of the Year for her play particularly in Griner’s absence. She is averaging 12 rebounds and 3.75 blocks over the last four games.
“If she’s not Defensive Player of the Year, people are getting it wrong,” Brondello said.
Turner said the suggestion of winning that award, which Griner earned in 2014 and 2015, makes her laugh a bit, but it might not be completely far fetched with two weeks remaining in a 22-game regular season.
“Obviously a lot has been happening lately,” said Turner, among the Mercury’s most active players on social justice issues. “My mind has been everywhere, but the court is kind of a relief from everything happening. I’m just making it hard for the offensive player to get their shot off.”
Taurasi described Turner, runnerup MVP in the Australian WNBL for 2019-20, as the “WNBA version of Dennis Rodman. She’s everywhere. She showed it last year when we put her on some tough match-ups and had injuries and were like go guard A’ja Wilson, Elena (Delle Donne), Stewie (Breanna Stewart). She’s a handful. Every game I just tell her one thing, be a problem, and that’s what she is every game. She covers up so many things for us defensively. The kid is really good.”
So is WNBA career scoring leader Taurasi, of course, who at 38 is back playing close to her 2018 All-WNBA first team level. She missed most of 2019 due to back surgery and a hamstring injury.
Diggins-Smith, in her first Mercury season, also is challenging for AllWNBA. She had nine points in the first half and 12 after three quarters then more than doubled that total in the fourth quarter.
Those are the kind of performances that the Mercury, with just eight healthy players Sunday, need consistently to make up for the loss of double-digits scorers Griner and Hartley, who was having her best season in her first year with Phoenix.
“Think about what a great year she’s been having,” Taurasi said of Hartley. “She carried us through that first stretch of the season when we were trying to find ourselves. I’m sure Bria will come back stronger and better than ever.”
Shatori Walker-Kimbrough returned to the starting lineup for the fifth time, replacing Hartley. She had six points and four assists.
All eight Mercury players scored including Peddy with four plus five rebounds and four assists in 22 minutes.