GAME HIGHLIGHTS
— Despite a 37-28 advantage on the glass, Seattle couldn’t overcome a
sub-par shooting performance (37.9 percent) and 14-point second half
hole, as Brittney Griner notched a double-double with 29 points and 10
rebounds en route to helping Phoenix earn its first road-opening win
(1-4) in Seattle in franchise history.
KEY STATS OF THE GAME
— Phoenix held Seattle scoreless in the opening 3:32 of the third quarter,
helping the Mercury build a 50-36 lead.
— The Mercury outshot the Storm, 46.7 percent to a 37.9 clip.
STORM HIGHLIGHTS
— Seattle fell to 3-1 all-time in home openers against Phoenix. Prior to
tonight, the Storm defeated the Mercury on 6/2/13 (75-72), 6/4/11
(78-71) and 5/31/01 (83-70).
— With her first basket of the game, a three-pointer at the 7:45 mark of
the first quarter, Sue Bird moved past Becky Hammon to No. 8 all-time on
the WNBA’s scoring list. She finished the game with 10 points and now
has 5,850 for her career. She has a chance to pass former Storm great
Lauren Jackson, who has 6,007 career points.
— Natasha Howard hit career field goal No. 100 with 1.2 seconds left to
play in the third quarter. She totaled 14 points on 4-for-8 shooting.
— 2017 All-Star Breanna Stewart debuted the season with 22 points and a
game-high 15 rebounds for her 22nd-career double-double.
— Jewell Loyd dished out four assists, including career dime No. 300 at
the 7:36 mark of the fourth quarter. She also had 10 points and six
rebounds.
— Alysha Clark chipped in 10 points on 3-for-6 shooting.
— In her Storm debut, Courtney Parisregistered three points and six
rebounds in 17 minutes of play.
— Rookie guard and No. 5 overall draft pick Jordin Canada posted nine
points and four steals on 4-for-7 shooting. Her four steals matches last
season’s high for any Storm player.
— With the loss, the Storm fell to 9-10 all-time in season openers and
11-8 in home openers.
— The Storm owned a 37-28 edge on the glass. Fifteen of those boards came
from Stewart, two shy of tying her career high of 17 achieve on June 5,
2016 vs. New York. Last season, Seattle finished second to last in
rebound average.
— Seattle had 28 points from its bench. Last season, the Storm amassed
over 25 bench points just four times.
— All nine Storm players who saw action scored, including five in double
figures (Stewart, Howard, Clark, Loyd, Bird)
— Tonight’s meeting was a rematch of last season’s first-round playoff
game, which Phoenix won, 79-69, on 9/6/17 in Tempe, Ariz.
MERCURY HIGHLIGHTS
— With tonight’s win, the Mercury begin the season 2-0 for the fifth time
in franchise history (1998, 2000, 2009, 2014, 2018). The previous two
seasons Phoenix started 2-0 the team went on to win the WNBA
Championship (2009, 2014).
— 2017 WNBA scoring champion Brittney Griner scored a game-high 29 points
in tonight’s win, shooting 10-of-17 from the field and 9-of-10 from the
free throw line…Griner’s 29 points tonight and Diana Taurasi’s 26
points in the Mercury’s season opener on Friday, May 18 are the two
highest scoring performances of the young 2018 WNBA season.
— Brittney Griner recorded her 28th-career double-double tonight (29
points, 10 rebounds), moving into sole possession of second place on the
Mercury’s all-time double-doubles list (teammate DeWanna Bonner had
moved into a tie with Griner in Friday’s season opener, after posting
her 27th career double-double).
— After recording a double-double in the Mercury’s season opener Friday
evening, DeWanna Bonner scored 12 points and matched her career high in
assists (7), which she has now done four times in her career.
— Playing in just her second game as a member of the Mercury, Briann
January stuffed the box score with 15 points, six assists, four rebounds
and a steal.
— With tonight’s win, the Mercury has won 13 of the last 16 meetings
against the Storm, including a 7-1 record at Seattle during that
stretch.
VISITOR QUOTES
MERCURY HEAD COACH SANDY BRONDELLO
………………………………………………………………………
… (On the game) “In the first half, I thought we were flowing pretty good
there. Our transition defense was pretty average and they only way they could
score was by making a lot of threes. In the second half, I thought their
pressure took us out of it a little bit, but there are things, two games in (the
season) that we’re going to learn. We’ll continue to get better with more
chemistry (as we go on). Any time you win on the road, especially in Seattle
because they have such a homecourt advantage here, is a good win. We showed some
(positive) signs and some signs of where we need to get better as well.”
(On how they were able to hold on in the fourth quarter) “We have a veteran team
and that certainly helps. I thought Brittney (Griner) had a really big game for
us as well. Diana (Taurasi) made a big three that helped too. When we get locked
in and focused, we can be pretty solid, but it helps when you have experienced
players.”
(On playing Seattle again on Wednesday in Phoenix) “It is what it is. That’s
just the season, but we have to take one game at a time. It’ll be fresh in our
minds since we just played them so we’ll know what we need to do to get better.
Hopefully we can have a good showing and get a win on Wednesday.”
MERCURY CENTER BRITTNEY GRINER
………………………………………………………………………
………………… (On the game) “It was a good, hard-fought win. We did a
lot of good things in the beginning and then Seattle, in their home opener, made
a run. We didn’t take care of the ball for a stretch and they hurt us, but we
responded. It came down to the wire at the end – making stops, getting rebounds
– and we were able to get the win. This was a good win. These are the types of
games that we’re going to have to pull off late in the season and in the
playoffs so it’s a good learning step for all of us.”
(On what she saw from her team in the fourth quarter) “Resilience. We fought and
we did what we needed to do. We made stops and got rebounds.”
MERCURY GUARD DIANA TAURASI
………………………………………………………………………
………………….. (On the game) “It was one of those games where we got
off to a good start, but it’s always tough playing here. Seattle played with a
lot of energy. In the second half, they really turned up the pressure and it got
us out of our offense a little bit, but we had a lot of people make big plays.
That’s what it takes. It’s a long season and this year, we’re pretty deep and
have a lot of talent, but can we figure out a way to put it together and make it
go the right direction? I think everyone is willing to do that right now so
that’s really important.”
(On Briann January’s game) “Bri was huge and she’s fearless. She plays every
minute like it’s her last minute and that’s contagious for the rest of the team.
That’s why we went after her hard (in the offseason) to bring her back home to
Phoenix. It’s like she’s been here 10 years, which is nice to be able to
incorporate someone like her. It’s just seamless.”
(On the final defensive possession of the game) “We wanted to obviously switch
everything. We were up three and with the weapons they have on the court,
sometimes it’s a little daunting to try and stop Sue (Bird), try to stop Jewell
(Loyd), try to stop (Breanna Stewart), try to stop Jordin (Canada). It was more
of a mental focus to make sure we didn’t give up anything easy and luckily we
got a stop.”
HOME QUOTES
STORM HEAD COACH DAN HUGHES
………………………………………………………… (Overall
thoughts on the game) “As I watched the game unfold, I didn’t feel like we got
out of the gate well. That’s my responsibility, especially playing a team that’s
played a game. They came in and I thought they were sharp, executed – played
like a team that had a real game with real timing. I will give us credit – I
thought as the game progressed, we got closer and closer to what we are.
Certainly in the second half, I recognized some of the things that I think this
team can be about. I was worried they had a game under their belts and they’d
come in with some timing and we didn’t match that early. As you look at the
game, we were up and down in the second [quarter] and in the third and the
fourth we were playing more the way we would like to play. But give Griner
credit. If you’re looking at the difference maker in the game from their
standpoint, it was that. Some of the other points we were trying to defend, we
were in the game with but Griner created some separation and had a big impact on
the game.”
(On specific things the team could have done differently) “I thought we got to
the foul line kind of regularly. We shot the three somewhat effectively. I
didn’t think we did a great job from an offensive standpoint of complementing
those two things – usually if those two things are in place, all kinds of things
that I envision with the team. I felt like we needed to evolve into it, I didn’t
feel like we started with it. And defensively we just got to take a look. There
were some times where I felt we were in rotation a lot of the game. It’d be nice
if we could have a soundness to us and there was an execution defensively that
allowed us not to have to be rotating or in movement all the time. Those were
some of the things. Basically it’s a tale of two halves for me and their
separation in the first half was the difference.”
STORM GUARD SUE BIRD
………………………………………………………………………
….. (On the team’s resiliency and comeback) “I would’ve been surprised if we
didn’t. I don’t feel like it necessarily shows something about ourselves other
than if we went the other way it would have been a problem. It’s the WNBA, it’s
a very difficult league. We could’ve easily been up 10 and we know Phoenix
probably could have come back on us. 10 points is nothing in this league –
really 20 in this league is nothing because there’s so many swings and ebbs and
flows and we all know that. You have to play a 40 minute game. We’re still
getting comfortable and developing our identity as a team – the thing we’re
going to hang our hat on is still in the works. For us to battle back and make
it a game where we had a chance, that does say a lot about our resilience but I
would have been surprised if we didn’t.”
STORM FORWARD BREANNA STEWART
……………………………………………………….. (On the team’s
resiliency and comeback) “I think, especially if you look at the group that’s
been here for the past few years, we’ve been in situations where we’ve had to
claw our way back and especially when we’re at home knowing that we have the
fans behind us to give us that extra burst of energy. We were down 10 at
halftime but I don’t think anyone felt like we were out of the game… We had an
opportunity to win the game, to tie the game. Especially your season opener at
home, you want to win it.”
