With Taurasi rested up, Mercury look to regroup
With elite center Brittney Griner and star guard Diana Taurasi both absent from the team’s 81-66 loss to the Lynx on Sunday in Minnesota, the Mercury will look to regroup when they host the Indiana Fever on Wednesday at Talking Stick Resort Arena. The game tips off at 12:30 p.m. Griner, the WNBA’s leading scorer with 22.3 points per game, suffered a left knee bone bruise and a right ankle sprain in Friday’s loss to the Lynx in Phoenix. She is expected to miss 3-4 weeks.
Griner was named a reserve on the Western Conference All-Star team on Tuesday, but won’t play in Saturday’s AllStar Game in Seattle.
For Taurasi, who became the WNBA’s all-time leading scorer last month, she did not make the trip to Minnesota in order to get some rest. She and Griner had been averaging more than 40 points combined per game.
And the Lynx, the top-ranked team in the Western Conference, took advantage – riding an 18-0 third-quarter run to sweep the home-and-home set. Now, the Mercury will have to find a way to supplement Griner’s elite scoring ability.
“From the post plays, no one’s gonna fill BG’s shoes,” Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said. “But we need a little bit more from each and every one of them in the post. I want them to play to their strengths and not to do more than they need to, but being aggressive.”
Taurasi is expected to be back in action on Wednesday, and despite the backto-back losses the Mercury aren’t ready to hit the panic button yet.
“We won four in a row and then lost two to Minnesota, the best team, so we’re not panicking at all,” Brondello said. “I thought we had a real good three quarters in Minnesota up until those last few minutes. We’ve just got to be consistent and make sure other people are stepping up and filling the hole.”
Phoenix (11-8) will look to build off the contribution it got from rookie Yvonne Turner, who posted a career-high 18 points on Sunday in Minnesota. Turner, the league’s oldest rookie at 29 years old, prides herself on being a spark plug on both ends of the court.
“I like to start with defense,” Turner said. “I like to make havoc on the defensive end but on offense I like to contribute any way I can – whether that’s distributing or scoring.”
The Fever (7-12) currently occupy last place in the Eastern Conference and enter Wednesday’s contest losers of five straight games.
Indiana is led by former Mercury forward Candice Dupree, who is averaging 13.9 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.
The Mercury will look for options up and down the roster to replace the scoring output from Griner, who was present at team practice on Tuesday. She wore a walking cast on her right ankle, a knee brace on her left leg, and was walking on crutches – but it didn’t stop her from taking some free throws and practice was wrapping up.
Still, the Mercury realize she won’t be in playing shape for close to another month. Now, they’ll look for someone to step up.
“We’re not going to change our game plan,” Turner said of Griner’s absence. “We have a great group of girls, we just need to step up another level. Most importantly, we just have to come out and play as a team and win as a team.”