Down 2-0 in WNBA Finals, Mercury need a jolt with series moving to Phoenix

Phoenix Mercury coach Nate Tibbets was critical of his team’s defense after allowing the Las Vegas Aces to average 90 points through the first two games of the WNBA Finals.

Defense isn't the Mercury's only problem as they head home.

Down 2-0 after a 91-78 loss on Sunday, Phoenix needs to rediscover its bench and its 3-point touch in Games 3 and 4 at home next week.

Kahleah Copper finished with 23 points on 50% shooting Sunday, while Satou Sabally had 22 points and Alyssa Thomas scored 10.

But the rest of the team totaled just 23 points, with only eight coming from the Phoenix reserves.

“I’m super confident in that group, they’ve helped carry us all season long,” Tibbets said. “Our big three has probably got going the most during the playoffs, but I know this is a group that we trust. We believe in each other.

“But again, we’re here because of our defense. And to give up 89 points in Game 1 and 91 in Game 2, I know they’re a really good offensive team ... but we have to be better at the defensive end.”

That part is true, as the Mercury have allowed the Aces to shoot 47.7% (52 of 109) from the floor, including 13 of 37 (35.1%) from 3-point range.

The Mercury have shot just 40.7% (42 of 103) from the floor since halftime of the series opener, including a bleak 23.4% (11 of 47) from 3-point range.

“I think we weren’t good on both sides of the ball today,” said Thomas, who is averaging 12.5 points in the finals. “They definitely had our number today. Fortunately for us, it’s best to seven. If it’s best to five, we could be facing elimination. We got to watch the video. We’re going home, we have two home-court advantage games, and we have to be better.”

The Aces bench outscored Phoenix’s reserves for the second straight game, this time 16-8. Through the first two games, Las Vegas’s reserves have had the dominant scoring differential of plus-33.

Coming into the WNBA Finals, the Mercury bench ranked second in the postseason with 20 points per game. That’s plummeted to a mere 12 per game in the finals.

Thomas added she’s confident that someone will provide a spark when the team takes the court for Game 3 on Wednesday.

“We’ve seen it all playoffs long, all season long,” she said. “Yeah, we’re not. We’re not worried about that.”