4 Things We Learned From #MercVsShock

Wed, Aug 5, 2015, 5:49 AM

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It wasn’t exactly how Sandy Brondello drew it up, but the Mercury will absolutely take the end result.

“That was great defense—she was actually right there in my face,” Bonner said after the game. “Like I said, I just wanted to get a shot up. Thank goodness it went in so we didn’t have to go into double overtime because I was tired. But it was a great game.”

As time expired in overtime Tuesday night, DeWanna Bonner came up with a buzzer-beating three-pointer to give the Mercury a huge win over the visiting Tulsa Shock.

The Mercury are now 3-1 in overtime games this season and 21-13 in overtime games in franchise history. Additionally, Phoenix has extended their current winning streak to four games and with losses by Minnesota and Indiana tonight, it is the longest active winning streak in the WNBA.

Here’s everything we learned from #MercVsShock:

DeWanna Bonner is Officially an MVP Candidate

After not recording a field goal last game, DeWanna Bonner went 6-of-16 Tuesday night against the Shock, scoring a game-high 25 points. It was her ninth game of 20 or more points this season.

She also finished the game perfect from the free throw line (10-of-10) extending her consecutive streak to 52 dating back to July 10. That streak is good enough to be the longest streak in franchise history and the fourth-longest consecutive free throws made streak in WNBA history.

Oh, AND SHE HIT THE GAME-WINNING SHOT!

Home Cookin’   

The Mercury are now 24-3 (.889) at home over the past two seasons, which is the best home-winning percentage in the WNBA during that time.

Phoenix is currently 8-2 at home this season and joins Minnesota, New York and Chicago as the only teams in the league with just two losses at home.

The Mercury now sits just 2.0 games behind Minnesota for the Western Conference league before Friday’s matchup with the Lynx at US Airways Center.

The Comeback Kids    

Amazingly, the Mercury has recorded comebacks of 10 or more points in four games this season.

Phoenix trailed by 12 points to Tulsa on July 30 and came back to win 78-66, by 13 points against Atlanta on July 14 and won 80-71, and by 19 points to Chicago in the second quarter of July 28 and rallied back to win 89-87 in overtime (tying the largest comeback in team history (June 22, 1999 vs. Washington)).

They trailed by 13 with 5:15 left in the third quarter (55-42) Tuesday night against the Shock and won.

CanDu and BG did CanDu and BG Things

Three Mercury players finished in double-figures in scoring: DeWanna Bonner (a game-high 25), Candice Dupree (24) and Brittney Griner (18).

Dupree also had eight rebounds, while Griner pulled down 13 rebounds to go along with five blocks.

BG now has 268 career blocks and is only four away from passing Diana Taurasi’s 271 career blocks to become the leading shot blocker in Phoenix Mercury history. Griner was able to record those 268 blocks in 75 career games. Taurasi has 334 career games with the Mercury.

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