The Phoenix Mercury beat the Dallas Wings 69-64 on Wednesday. Will the win carry over when the same teams face off again on Saturday?
There are two major topics of conversation that pop to mind when discussing the Phoenix Mercury’s 2019 season: injuries and rebounding. Wednesday afternoon’s Kids’ Day game was no different. The Dallas Wings simply weren’t able to exploit those weaknesses sufficiently to pull out the victory. The two teams continue their regular-season series on Saturday. What should we expect to see based on their previous match-ups?
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A Little more
With Sancho Lyttle out for 4-6 weeks, the Mercury are in need of bigs. The Mercury has gotten little production from either of their rookie forwards, so the options are limited. The other Little–Camille–stepped in to provide much-needed inside help against the Wings on Wednesday.
Little went 2-2 from the floor including connecting on a 3-point shot. A 6-10 day at the line gave her a season-high 11 points. Six rebounds and two blocked shots were equally important.
“She was fantastic,” Mercury head coach Sandy Brondello said. “It’s really unfortunate about Sancho (Lyttle), we feel for her and she was just getting back to her full strength, so it sucks. But Camille really stepped up, because we needed her. Camille made a three, so I thought everybody was happy to see that go in. She’s smart, she has a high basketball IQ, she gets to the right spots, she’s good defensively. She was critical for us today.”
On the rebound
When Dallas hosted Phoenix just over a month ago, the Wings exposed the Mercury on the boards. The Wings out-rebounded the Mercury by 20 en route to a 69-54 victory. Phoenix was still talking about it on Wednesday.
Poor rebounding by Phoenix isn’t exactly a secret. It was a topic of conversation at media day, especially by Brittney Griner.
The Mercury were able to hold their own on Wednesday, but it still wasn’t enough to win the rebounding battle. Phoenix did not have anyone pulling down double-digit boards, which Imani McGee-Stafford was able to do for Dallas. DeWanna Bonner led the host team with 8 boards on the day.
Phoenix is averaging 32.3 rpg while giving up 38.3 to their opponents. Bonner leads the team with 7.8 rpg, and Brittney Griner stands at 7.1 per game. The next best? Leilani Mitchell at 3.4 rpg. In contrast, Dallas has four regular players averaging between 4.3 and 6.3, and two more rebounding at a clip greater than that of Mitchell.
The rebound-by-committee approach Dallas employs may not be flashy, but it was enough to beat Phoenix on the boards which led to winning the battle for second-chance points. If the game in Dallas turns into another close one, that could be the difference.
Immediate impact
The two teams showed starkly contrasting use of rookies. Cunningham saw some important minutes during the recent Women’s EuroBasket when the Mercury were short-handed. With Yvonne Turner playing for Hungary and a laundry list of injuries, there were few options. Outside this stretch, Cunningham has only played 10 or more minutes twice all season.
| Rk | Date | Age | Tm | Opp | GS | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS | GmSc | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 2019-06-11 | 22-299 | PHO | @ | CHI | L (-7) | 0 | 9:01 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | |
| 6 | 2019-06-23 | 22-311 | PHO | LAS | W (+10) | 0 | 12:22 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -2.8 | ||
| 7 | 2019-06-28 | 22-316 | PHO | IND | W (+22) | 0 | 21:32 | 5 | 6 | .833 | 3 | 3 | 1.000 | 6 | 7 | .857 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 19 | 16.2 | |
| 8 | 2019-06-30 | 22-318 | PHO | @ | SEA | W (+2) | 0 | 17:13 | 2 | 5 | .400 | 1 | 4 | .250 | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5.6 |
| 9 | 2019-07-05 | 22-323 | PHO | NYL | L (-4) | 1 | 14:37 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 0 | 1 | .000 | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2.7 | |
| 10 | 2019-07-07 | 22-325 | PHO | ATL | W (+2) | 0 | 16:22 | 0 | 3 | .000 | 0 | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | -0.5 | ||
| 11 | 2019-07-10 | 22-328 | PHO | @ | WAS | W (+23) | 0 | 6:42 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 1.6 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/18/2019.
As for the other Mercury rookies, Alanna Smith has played 10 or more minutes five times in 2019, but has struggled to have a statistical impact on the team. Fellow first-round pick Brianna Turner is barely seeing the court, totaling just 4 points and 8 rebounds in 27 minutes all season.
Dallas, on the other hand, is getting great production from Arike Ogunbowale. The former guard from Notre Dame has only scored in single digits four times all season. She’s averaging 14.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 28.7 minutes per game. She also leads the league in turnover percentage, turning the ball over just 7.2 times per 100 possessions. She ranks third in usage percentage at 28.6.
Ogunbowale’s two games against Phoenix show her growth over the season. On June 20, she didn’t start, but she had 9 points, 3 rebounds, and a steal in her 18 minutes off the bench.
In the month since that game, Ogunbowale has stepped back into the starter’s role she occupied at the beginning of the season. In the 12 games she has started, she is averaging 15.8 ppg and has scored in single digits only once. Numbers like that are bound to get her Rookie of the Year consideration.
| Rk | Date | Age | Tm | Opp | GS | MP | FG | FGA | FG% | 3P | 3PA | 3P% | FT | FTA | FT% | ORB | DRB | TRB | AST | STL | BLK | TOV | PF | PTS | GmSc | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2019-05-24 | 22-083 | DAL | @ | ATL | L (-4) | 1 | 20:30 | 5 | 16 | .313 | 1 | 6 | .167 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 4.4 |
| 2 | 2019-06-01 | 22-091 | DAL | MIN | L (-3) | 1 | 19:45 | 5 | 13 | .385 | 1 | 3 | .333 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 4.1 | ||
| 8 | 2019-06-26 | 22-116 | DAL | CON | W (+1) | 1 | 37:18 | 10 | 17 | .588 | 3 | 4 | .750 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 23 | 16.8 | ||
| 9 | 2019-06-28 | 22-118 | DAL | @ | NYL | L (-1) | 1 | 31:15 | 2 | 23 | .087 | 2 | 13 | .154 | 4 | 4 | 1.000 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 10 | -0.6 |
| 10 | 2019-06-30 | 22-120 | DAL | MIN | W (+3) | 1 | 28:20 | 7 | 12 | .583 | 3 | 4 | .750 | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 17.1 | |
| 11 | 2019-07-05 | 22-125 | DAL | IND | L (-20) | 1 | 31:54 | 5 | 13 | .385 | 0 | 3 | .000 | 5 | 7 | .714 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 9.6 | |
| 12 | 2019-07-07 | 22-127 | DAL | @ | CHI | L (-12) | 1 | 37:17 | 7 | 21 | .333 | 2 | 5 | .400 | 6 | 8 | .750 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 22 | 13.2 |
| 13 | 2019-07-09 | 22-129 | DAL | LAS | W (+12) | 1 | 30:50 | 5 | 14 | .357 | 0 | 4 | .000 | 4 | 4 | 1.000 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 14 | 6.2 | |
| 14 | 2019-07-12 | 22-132 | DAL | @ | SEA | L (-14) | 1 | 30:03 | 6 | 11 | .545 | 4 | 5 | .800 | 7 | 8 | .875 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 23 | 17.9 |
| 15 | 2019-07-14 | 22-134 | DAL | CHI | L (-10) | 1 | 31:57 | 8 | 15 | .533 | 2 | 4 | .500 | 2 | 2 | 1.000 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 11.3 | |
| 16 | 2019-07-17 | 22-137 | DAL | @ | PHO | L (-5) | 1 | 35:06 | 6 | 22 | .273 | 1 | 7 | .143 | 1 | 2 | .500 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 3.4 |
| 17 | 2019-07-18 | 22-138 | DAL | @ | LAS | L (-5) | 1 | 34:31 | 3 | 13 | .231 | 1 | 4 | .250 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 4.4 |
Provided by Basketball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 7/19/2019.
Phoenix scoring lulls
Both Little and Griner mentioned the scoring lulls the Mercury went through in the game on Wednesday. Undoubtedly, those are partially credits to the defenses they face, but the Mercury’s players believe they have to take their own steps to avoid those breaks on offense when they face the Wings again on Saturday.
“It’s going to be tough going there,” Little said. “We had a grind today and it’s probably going to be a grind on Saturday. We have to focus on playing hard, having shorter times when we don’t score. We keep having those lulls where we don’t score for three or four minutes at a time, and it’s hard to win games like that. If we can eliminate those kinds of things and we keep getting stops and rebound better, we’ll have a better chance at success.”
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