Jeff Metcalfe
Jeff Metcalfe
The Phoenix Mercury rolled out the red carpet Wednesday for Brittney Griner in her first game back to her WNBA home for 11 seasons at an arena that honors her release from Russian captivity with an outdoor mural.
Only for Griner and her new team, the Atlanta Dream, to pull the carpet out from under their favored hosts, winning 90-79 before a sellout of 11,850 including former Mercury greats Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor.
About the only thing missing in the emotional night was Taurasi pulling a Venus Williams comeback and suiting up at halftime to ignite the Mercury after a near season low 34-point first half.
“We looked rusty,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “We didn’t play our brand of basketball. It was extremely disappointing. We haven’t had any of these, but we had one tonight. You’ve got to give Atlanta credit.”
The Dream seemed to be at a disadvantage, playing back-to-back on the road after losing 87-72 Tuesday at Las Vegas. But the Mercury, playing for the first time in a week because of the WNBA All-Star Game, were the team that needed to ramp up especially with three players – Satou Sabally, Kahleah Copper and Lexi Held – returning from injuries.
Alyssa Thomas, Sabally and Copper played just their seventh game together, and that Big Three for the first time with recently acquired DeWanna Bonner. The Mercury still were missing starting point guard Monique Akoa Makani (concussion protocol), expected back during a five-game road trip starting Friday in New York.
“It shows how much we need her (Akoa Makani),” Sabally said. “We had Lexi jumping back in and getting her wind back,” after being out since June 19 due to a collapsed lung. “She (Held) will continue to do a great job, but we want Mo to be healthy and be with us. She’s definitely a missing piece.”
Allisha Gray, who rocked PHX Arena during the 2024 All-Star Game by winning the skills and 3-point contests, did so again with 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting, seven rebounds and six assists. Makani’s absence was felt defensively as Gray hurt the Mercury in multiple ways.
“We gave up three or four back doors to her,” Tibbetts said. “I don’t know if we’ve given up three or four all year. Just a lack of focus and execution. She’s having a hell of a year for them especially with (Rhyne) Howard out. She carried it for them tonight.”
The Dream never trailed after first leading at 7:14 of the opening quarter and were up by 16 (79-63) before the Mercury made a too-late push in the final five minutes.
Griner was good (17 points/8 rebounds) as Tibbetts expected her to be against a team she still wanted to play for this season only for the Mercury to opt for a larger rebuild in conjunction with Taurasi’s retirement.
“The business part is always tough,” Griner said pre-game. “Especially when you’ve been somewhere so long where it feels like family and it’s hard to have those tough conversations sometimes. But it’s just all love. I’m happy for them and happy for myself as well. Everything all worked out.”
Even with a second straight loss, the Mercury (15-8) are third in the WNBA, 1.5 games ahead of Atlanta and Seattle (both 14-10). Other former Mercury players Natasha Cloud and Sophie Cunningham are succeeding with second-place New York (16-6) and Indiana (12-12). So in a way it’s been a win all the way around in deals that brought Thomas and Sabally to Phoenix.
On this night, though, the big winner was 6-9 Griner, embraced by the fans and honored by the Mercury for her years of service with a pre-game video and continuation of her Heart and Soul community shoe drive.
“It mean everything,” Griner said. “When I I looked over, I saw Dee (Taurasi) and Penny over there, I think that kind of ignited me a little bit.
“Just being back on the court that I basically started my career on and played the majority of, it just felt good. Like the crowd, seeing familiar faces, hearing old stories, signing jerseys. It was a really good, good feeling. I said I was going to hold my tears to the end, but they got me, they got me a little bit.”
The Mercury will play in Atlanta on Aug. 1 then the Dream return Aug. 10. The winner of the season series could matter when it comes to playoff seeding.
