The Mercury are back in the desert and back to practice this week after a grueling three game road trip. Phoenix posted a 1-2 record during the recent journey which totaled over 5,000 miles in air travel. After losing a close game in San Antonio, the Mercury bounced back with a win against a solid Mystics team in the Nation’s Capital. The Mercury looked to finish the trip with a victory against Minnesota, but the Lynx came out firing and they cruised to an easy win.

“I think it’s hard for us to tell ourselves that we are tired because we are such a high energy team,” said shooting guard Kelly Mazzante. “A lot of things factored in to us going 1-2, but we can’t start buying into thinking that we are tired.”

One person who didn’t appear to be tired on the trip was Mercury guard Cappie Pondexter, who led the way in scoring in all three games averaging 23 points per contest, but even she knew something was missing.

“We have to go out fighting for 40 minutes,” the All-Star guard said. “We need the effort and the energy, and I think that is what we are lacking on the road.”

Playing an entire game of high energy basketball can be a tall order especially away from home. Against San Antonio, the Mercury played 38 minutes of solid basketball only to fall apart in the last two. While it seems that getting an early lead on the road could benefit the Mercury in these situations, Head Coach Corey Gaines knows his team is capable of playing from behind.

“Most of our games we’ve been down,” Gaines said. “I don’t have a problem with that because I know we’re going to catch them little by little. Sometimes other teams come out early and maybe we aren’t the fast pace starters, but I’m not worried about that.”

Moreover, the team is no longer worried about having to travel state to state or deciding which movie they are going to watch on the flight. Being home helps the Mercury players focus on the next task and even the little things make a difference.

“It feels good to be home; sleep in your own bed, practice on your own court,” said Pondexter. “I think it kind of gives us the energy that we need to come into this upcoming game against Seattle (on Wednesday).”

Mercury players are excited to get back out on the court, but they realize that little mistakes can be exploited by great teams.

“No one has really said it, but the small things are really killing us,” said Pondexter. “Teams are getting offensive rebounds, we are turning the ball over more than 10 times a game, we are not playing solid defense. It’s just the little things we worked on today in practice.”

When asked if the team was down after suffering some tough losses on the road, Coach Gaines acknowledged the challenge that awaits the team.

“Not really because we are a half game out of first and playing against the team that is in first. What more could you ask for?”