Underdog Phoenix Mercury see season end after two straight battles with Minnesota

That was, until the 7:43 mark in the third quarter, when Mercury guard Sophie Cunningham chased down Lynx forward Bridget Carleton on a fast break. Cunningham blocked Carleton’s layup attempt in the front but wrapped her other arm around Carleton’s back shoulder, pulling her to the ground in a heap. Lynx guard Courtney Williams immediately came running over to defend her teammate. Cunningham’s foul was upgraded to a flagrant 1, and Williams was charged with a technical foul.

This exchange shifted the momentum of a game that had been back and forth to that point. At the time of the foul, the Lynx led Game 2 of the best-of-three series 53-52. A little over five minutes of game time later, the Lynx permanently pushed their lead to double digits, and they eventually won 101-88.

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“They’re a good team,” Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts told reporters postgame. “They move it around [and] put you in a lot of difficult situations playing side-to-side basketball. I thought we played two good quarters to start. The third quarter, we just, we did not play at the level that we needed to.”

The back-to-back losses were demoralizing for the Mercury in different ways. Of course, Wednesday’s loss was a heartbreaker because it ended the Mercury’s season, but Sunday’s loss in Game 1 was disheartening because of how close Phoenix came to getting the win.

With 2:06 remaining on Sunday, the Mercury led the Lynx 92-91. After a key foul put Lynx forward Napheesa Collier on the free-throw line, Minnesota took a 3-point lead with 1:15 to go. The Mercury failed to respond, opening the door for Carleton to drill a dagger 3-pointer with 39 seconds on the clock. The Mercury lost 102-95.

“I thought we raised our level of play,” Tibbetts said Sunday. “I thought we were super competitive. … Offensively, we did a great job sharing it. We got up 27 threes, which we want. We limited some of theirs the last three quarters, and we rebounded the basketball. Yeah, I thought the last three quarters we really competed defensively.”

The fact that the Mercury had a chance to win Game 1 was impressive in and of itself. They had trailed by as much as 23 points in the second quarter. They fought back, outscoring Minnesota 27-21 in the third quarter to give themselves a chance. 

Ultimately, it wasn’t enough, and Phoenix’s season was on the line heading into Wednesday. The Mercury came out much stronger on Wednesday than on Sunday. Instead of trailing by 13 points like they did in Game 1, the Mercury led by four after the first frame.

They carried their lead through the first several minutes of the second quarter, but eventually, Minnesota jumped in front. Cunningham’s flagrant foul created exactly the energy the Lynx needed to put the Mercury away for good and end their season.

Guard Natasha Cloud was the primary player keeping Phoenix competitive in the series. In Game 1, she had 33 points, 10 assists and six rebounds. She shot 60.9% from the field and 4-for-8 from beyond the arc. In Game 2, Cloud recorded another double-double with 16 points and 10 assists in addition to five rebounds.

“She’s the energy for us,” center Brittney Griner said postgame on Wednesday. “Like, literally, it starts with her. It ends with her. [If] she sees any of us down, not engaged, anything, she’s gonna bring us together, and we need that with our leader out there. I haven’t seen anybody that works as hard as she does and cares as much about every detail that goes into this team. I’m glad Tash is here with us.”

Unfortunately for Phoenix, the Lynx also had a star who seemingly could not be stopped on the offensive end. Collier scored 38 and 42 points in the two games. Her 42 points in Wednesday’s game tied the record for most points scored in a WNBA postseason game, and her 38-point performance on Sunday ranks in the top 10.

Collier reached these numbers by being incredibly efficient from all areas of the court. She shot 64.1% from the field and 89.3% from the free-throw line across both games.

“Obviously, [Collier’s] an unbelievable player,” Tibbetts said. “She puts you in a lot of difficult situations, but it’s also the surrounding group that makes it tough. … You have a decision to make when she goes down there in the post: Are you going to try to guard her one-on-one and hope for twos? Are you going to double and they’re making threes? …

“She’s playing at such a high level, and there’s a reason she [was] in the MVP discussion.”

Despite the Mercury’s season coming to an end, Tibbetts was hopeful as he reflected on his first year coaching in the WNBA. In just a season, he took the team from having the league’s worst record to the playoffs. He also won the favor of the players, including Cloud, who called him her favorite coach she’s ever played for.

Much is up in the air for Phoenix looking ahead to next season, especially the uncertainty surrounding guard Diana Taurasi’s potential retirement. Regardless of what the future holds, Tibbetts and company are proud of what they accomplished in Year 1.

“I think people forget that we literally took, what, a core of three, and then we added and plugged in a bunch of pieces,” Cloud said postgame Wednesday. “So a lot of the summer was spent trying to figure each other out chemistry-wise, figuring out how we wanted to play. …

“I think this is the most connected that we’ve been on both ends of the floor. Obviously, we could have stepped up better defensively in a lot of instances in both of these games, but I’m really proud of us for the year that we put together, staying the course, staying together even when shit got a little bit frustrating.”

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