Lexi Held shoots from beyond-the-arc in the Phoenix Mercury’s 85-75 loss to the Dallas Wings. (Photo: Mason Garcia | The Podium Finish)
ARLINGTON, Texas — The struggles plaguing the Phoenix Mercury bled into College Park Center in Arlington as they fell to the Dallas Wings 85-70 on Thursday in WNBA Commissioner’s Cup play.
The Mercury dropped to 4-10 and 2-3 while the Wings advanced to 8-4 and 3-1 in Commissioner’s Cup play.
Phoenix’s struggle with offensive consistency has plagued the squad throughout the season. It did not improve in front of a sold-out College Park Center on Pride Night. The first quarter run discombobulated Phoenix’s momentum from the jump, and they were not able to recover.
The Mercury looked lost and unsettled, a sight that is nothing new this season but disappointing for a team with ample potential.
“I think we were a little bit rushed at times. You know, we maybe took shots quickly that helped them offensively. And then, you know, if we aren’t getting stops, then it’s hard for us to run and get in transition, which is a really big strength of our team,” said Lexi Held. “So, maybe shot selection a little bit played into it, our rhythm. I think we were bit rushed at times. And yeah, I mean, those possessions hurt us when we couldn’t, you know, settle in a little bit easier,”
“Yeah, I mean, I just think collectively, as a group, we gotta just keep trusting the class, play to the second side. There were some indecisions tonight in the first half. We didn’t play as well as we needed to on the road to get a victory. And, you know, this is a good team in Dallas, and we weren’t up to the challenge in the first half,” said Nate Tibbetts.
Alyssa Thomas tallied six points on 37.5% shooting while leading the Mercury in rebounds and assists with nine and 10, respectively. Natasha Mack added eight points, and Noemie Brochant four points on 25% shooting. Monique Akoa Makani gathered six points, four coming from the free throw line while making only one shot on five attempts, and Kahleah Copper was the sole Mercury starter to hit double-digits with 13 on 30% shooting. She drained two from beyond-the-arc.
The bench play was a different story for Phoenix. Head coach Tibbetts emphasized how important the role of his bench is to maintain success when defenses switch and start to figure out how to defend.
“When you go to your bench, you just want them to play confident. You know, I’ve really liked what Lexi Held has brought to us as a competitive defender on the ball. She has played well at times, just, you know, getting her to be more consistent. And I think she’s, you know, getting used to the speed of the game and those types of things. But yeah, I think our bench is going to be key,” said Tibbetts.
Tibbett’s prophecy on his bench play came true. They were the sole bright spot in a relatively abysmal game by the starting five.
Jessica Shepard (32) of the Dallas Wings marked her return to Target Center by nearly netting a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. (Photo: Dallas Wings)
DeWanna Bonner scored nine on 50% shooting while snagging seven rebounds and Jovana Nogic scored seven. Held stole the show. In 23 minutes, Held scored a Mercury game-high seven points on 60% shooting from the field and beyond-the-arc.
“Yeah, I think Lexi just gives us a spark off the bench consistently. We know that she’s gonna guard at a high level. And then tonight, you know, we needed her scoring for shooting. But yeah, we’re going to need that, you know, moving forward from our bench,” said Tibbetts.
Tibbetts also stated that Bonner and Copper would be the X-factors of the game. Although Copper struggled, Bonner held her own.
As a team, the Mercury shot 39% from the field compared to the Wings’ 52%. Phoenix shot better from three-point land at 33% (6-18) while the Wings shot 22% (4-18). Dallas focused on spreading the floor and pounding the paint which caused too much trouble for Phoenix’s defense to compensate outside of Bonner, Thomas and Mack.
The Wings scored 50 points in the paint with 66 points coming from inside-the-arc. All 14 of Jessica Shepard‘s 17 points came from the paint while shooting 87.5% (7-8). On the rebounding side, Shepard snagged 10, three offensive and seven defensive, while the Wings totaled 37 compared to the Mercury’s 30.
“I don’t know if it was, but so much, like, tough to deal with. I mean, they just out-rebounded us as a unit, you know? Like, as a whole, I feel like their guards got in there and rebounded the ball pretty well. Obviously, ours didn’t. We talk about effort and we just got to have more of that. So, I think their whole team just put forth an effort to rebound it and, yeah, we didn’t,” said Bonner.
Dallas’ guards accounted for 16 of their 37 boards while Phoenix’s guards grabbed 11.
Lexi Held takes the screen from Alyssa Thomas in the Phoenix Mercury’s 85-75 loss to the Dallas Wings. (Photo: Mason Garcia | The Podium Finish)
Held started the season with the Toronto Tempo and since coming back to the Mercury, she has taken her role in stride. The game against the Wings was no different.
“Yeah, I mean, I feel like my role is to just try to do anything I can to help impact positively on the court, and today, you know, they were guarding Kah and AT. They were guarding everybody pretty, pretty tough, so it left me a little bit more open at times, and I was able to, you know, knock down some shots to free them up, and, you know, it felt good to see a couple go in, and then like everybody, once you see a few go in, you feel better,” said Held.
In her five games back, she has averaged seven points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 17.2 minutes per game.
The Mercury, after a four-game road trip spanning 11 days, returns home to face off against the Los Angeles Sparks on Saturday. They are in need of a refresh and coming back home will hopefully help the Mercury get back on track after going 2-2 on the trip.
“I think it’ll be huge. It’s been a tough start, obviously, on the road, the schedule, you know, the record, there’s a lot of things that you can point to. But tonight I was just, I was disappointed in our approach in the first half. You know, we all got to be locked in and be ready to play, especially on the road. It’s been a tough trip, 11 days out. But yeah, it wasn’t good enough to win the game tonight and that was disappointing,” said Tibbetts.
