Takeaways: In a battle of All-Stars, Washington’s Delle Donne and Toliver beat Phoenix’s Griner and Bonner

Star power led to offensive fireworks

WASHINGTON — On the first day of games after the All-Star break, four of the league’s 23 All-Stars shared the court in Washington, DC—and all four showed why they are among the league’s top players. Phoenix staged a thrilling fourth-quarter comeback behind Brittney Griner and DeWanna Bonner, but Washington’s Elena Delle Donne and Kristi Toliver staked the Mystics to a 23-point lead and then held on for a 99-93 win.

Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s tussle between the Mercury and the Mystics:

All-Stars lit up the nets…

Delle Donne was the game’s high scorer with 33 points on 14-20 shooting (70%), including 5-7 shooting on 3-pointers. She also chipped in 6 rebounds, 3 blocks, and 2 assists in 31 minutes. Toliver wasn’t far behind, pouring in 25 points on 9-17 shooting to go along with 4 assists. Two other Mystics scored in double figures, which is simply business as usual for this balanced squad. Before the game, Phoenix coach Sandy Brondello pointed out that Washington had seven players averaging over 9 points per game, so although Delle Donne is “a handful,” Phoenix “ to respect everyone else. We have to make sure we’re locked in.”

More from Phoenix Mercury

Although the Mercury had trouble containing Delle Donne and Toliver, Griner and Bonner posed problems of their own for Washington and combined for 55 points. The 6-8 Griner didn’t dunk like she did (three times) in the All-Star Game, but she did everything else, finishing with 30 points, 9 rebounds, and 5 assists. Washington spent a large portion of Sunday’s practice on the defensive game plan against Griner, but it didn’t work very well on Tuesday. After the game, Thibault and several Mystics players praised the Mercury star.

“We doubled her about 30 times and it didn’t matter a couple times,” Thibault said. “… She was 14 for 18 shooting—that’s a heck of a shooting night.”

Bonner was less efficient shooting the ball than Griner but nevertheless had 25 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. She scored nearly half of her points on free throws, shooting 12-13 from the line. By herself, she had over half of the free throw attempts for both teams (25), and no other player attempted more than four free throws.

Neither team’s dynamic duo will score 50+ points every night, but their ability to score efficiently and consistently despite generating a lot of defensive attention will be crucial for both teams’ playoff hopes. And when their top two players are scoring seemingly at will, as was the case on Tuesday, both teams are extremely tough to beat.

…but role players came up big

There was one other 20-point scorer besides the four All-Stars: Phoenix’s Leilani Mitchell, who heated up in the second half and finished with 25 points on 10-15 shooting, including a whopping 8 made 3-pointers in only 12 attempts. That tied the WNBA record for 3-pointers in a single game. Besides Mitchell, Mercury players shot 1 for 11 (9%) from beyond the arc, so Mitchell’s performance was crucial to keep the Washington defense from collapsing entirely on Griner and Bonner. As Thibault succinctly explained postgame, Mitchell “got hot and that allowed space for Bonner and Griner to operate.”

Mystics wing Aerial Powers countered Mitchell’s sharpshooting with contributions all over the court. She scored 13 points, including two 3-pointers of her own, and grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds in 25 minutes. She also made several hustle plays to secure loose balls on defense and retain possession on offense.

Her contributions were so critical that Thibault said afterward, “I had thought about playing a bigger lineup … but the way Aerial was playing, I thought we had to stick with the group that was out there.”

With Powers playing so well, there was also the added benefit of players like Ariel Atkins (16 minutes) and Tianna Hawkins (9 minutes) having lighter workloads. Both players have battled nagging injuries: Atkins missed the game against Atlanta on July 21 to rest a sore Achilles and Hawkins is dealing with ongoing knee pain. So, as important as Powers’s contributions were to securing Tuesday’s win, they were also valuable in the longer term as the Mystics try to get healthy for the stretch run.

Phoenix knows a thing or two (or three) about injuries, as Diana Taurasi (back), Sancho Lyttle (knee), and Essence Carson (calf) all missed Tuesday’s game. With the shortened bench, Mitchell played over 37 minutes. Washington simply had no answer for her shooting, despite having several talented defenders at the guard position. Phoenix is currently in seventh place in the WNBA standings, which means the Mercury would have to win successive single-elimination playoff games on the road just to make the semifinals. Mitchell’s play will be crucial to Phoenix’s chances of improving its seed and securing home court advantage or even a first-round bye in the playoffs.

Stars on the sidelines

As talented as the All-Stars on the court were, there was an equally impressive amount of talent on the sidelines for this game. Washington’s Mike Thibault and Phoenix’s Sandy Brondello are currently two of the longest-tenured head coaches in the WNBA and have combined for exactly 450 career wins. Both have also coached their national teams. A third national team coach, Team USA assistant and George Washington University head coach Jennifer Rizzotti, was in the building for a pregame ceremony with Team USA player Delle Donne. And 9-time WNBA All-Star and current University of Virginia head coach Tina Thompson sat courtside to watch Atkins, who she coached at Texas.

Atkins said that Thompson’s visit caught her by surprise, but she appreciated the gesture from her former assistant coach. “It’s fun,” Atkins told High Post Hoops. “She’s somebody that I really look up to and really helped me through my college years, so to have her there and kind of see me live out my dream is pretty cool.”

Delle Donne likewise spoke highly of Rizzotti and especially emphasized her impact on Team USA’s mental approach to the game. “She’s such a calm, collected coach,” Delle Donne said. “[… She] just always kind of keeps your head straight, even in big games.” Delle Donne added, “Any time I get to see her, it’s a great day.”

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In that case, it was a great day for Delle Donne both on and off the court. The win helped Washington keep pace with Connecticut and Las Vegas at the top of the league and tied the season series with Phoenix at 1-1. The stalemate will not last long, though—the two teams will play their final regular-season game on Sunday in Phoenix.

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