Dominant.
That’s the only word to describe the Mercury’s 94-79 win over the Seattle Storm Friday night.
The win marked the fourth-straight for Phoenix who is now 7-5 on the year. Amazingly, it was also the Mercury’s 7th win against the Western Conference in 2015 (Phoenix is 0-3 against the East). The two teams will face each other again on Sunday, this time in Phoenix at US Airways Center at 3 P.M.
The seven-game winning streak against the Storm is the longest in streak in series history.
Stat of the night: Leilani Mitchell was a perfect 4-of-4 from downtown for all 12 of her points.
Here’s what we learned from #MercAtStorm:
Lock-Down Defense
The Mercury held the Storm to 79 total points, but Phoenix’s defense was far better than even the score indicates.
Phoenix held Seattle to 13 points or under in the first and third quarters respectively. The Storm erupted for 32 points in the fourth, but that came when the Mercury were still ahead by close to 20 points.
More importantly, though, Phoenix forced Seattle into just 57 total shot attempts (the Mercury had 71) and 15 turnovers. Additionally, the only Storm player in double-digits was Renee Montgomery (14).
Phoenix, on the other hand, was…
Absolutely on Fire
Shooting 52 percent Friday night (37-of-71), the Mercury has now shot above 50-percent from the field in each of their last four games en route to a four-game winning streak.
Remarkably, Phoenix has combined to shoot 54.2-percent (140-of-258) over the last four games.
In the first eight games of the 2015 season, the Mercury shot 37.4-percent (201-of-537) and did not shoot above 45-percent in any game. Phoenix is now shooting 43.0-percent as a team through 12 games this season. (Source: John Steinmiller, Mercury Communications)
The Big Three
Phoenix is the only team in the WNBA with three players averaging 15 or more points this season. DeWanna Bonner (18.4), Brittney Griner (17.3) and Candice Dupree (15.6) are averaging a combined 51.3 points per game.
The trend continued Friday night.
Bonner (15), Dupree (16) and Griner (12) combined to score 43 points in an average of just 23 minutes. Griner also finished with four blocked shots.