The Phoenix Mercury had their best offensive performance of the season as they dropped 105 points on the stingy San Antonio Silver Stars defense. They scored in the paint (50-30), on the break (13-5) and from the line (27-21) and moved the ball extremely well (27 assists). The only Mercury player who couldn't get her offense going is someone called Diana Taurasi. She went 2-13 for seven points on the night.
Defensively, the Mercury did a much better job trapping Becky Hammon hard off the screens which prevented her from finding open players. They pushed her away from the hoop and rotated well behind the trap. The Silver Stars were without Hammon's pick and roll partner (Sofia Young, illness) but credit has to also go to the Mercury defense for holding their opponent to 43.4 percent shooting.
Penny Taylor picked up Taurasi's scoring slack with 30 points and Candice Dupree recorded her fourth-straight double-double with 20 points and 13 rebounds. DeWanna Bonner added eight points and 11 rebounds off the bench and Kara Braxton had a great game with 15 points and nine rebounds. Most of Braxton's points came on put-backs or basket cuts. Just like last season, it seems the Mercury have gone away from straight isolation post-ups and are back to using their ball movement and ability to catch and finish to score in the paint.
The final score is closer than the game actually was. The Mercury were up 17 with under five minutes to go before a flurry of desperation threes cut into the margin a bit. It was the kind of late-game surge that you don't really worry much about.
The Mercury now head to Atlanta for a game Friday and then immediately fly to Chicago for a road game on Saturday. The four-game road trip ends in Indiana on Tuesday with the next home game coming on July 1st against Chicago. Friday's game will be on Fox Sports Plus at 4:30 p.m. Arizona time.