KEY STAT

• The Mercury was unable to find the bottom of the net thru the first three periods of play this evening, shooting only 35.7 percent (15-of-42) from the field (21.4 percent from three point range). The team found its groove in the fourth quarter, converting on 50 percent (9-of-18) of its shot attempts (3-of-7 from deep).

HIGHLIGHTS

• The Trio of Brittney Griner (18),Diana Taurasi (23) and DeWanna Bonner (8) failed to score 12-plus points for the first time since May 30^th in a loss to the Washington Mystics when Diana Taurasi only scored nine points. The feat also coincided with the team’s last loss before going on an eight game win streak, the longest streak in the league this season.
• The Mercury tied a season-high 13 fast break points in the contest. The Mercury also put up 13 fast break points in the team’s May 18th season-opening win over the Dallas Wings.
• Phoenix, who entered the game first in the league in field goal percentage at 86.3 percent on the season, tied a season low from the charity stripe shooting 75.0 percent (18-for-24) on the night.
• The Mercury, who entered today’s game ranked first in the league in assists with a 21.0 assist per game average, dished out a season-low 12 assists on the night. The team’s previous low was 16 posted in the team’s season opener against the Dallas Wings.
• Diana Taurasi scored a team-high 23 points on 9-for-17 shooting and 2-of-7 from deep. Her nine field goals give her 2,603 for her career, making her just the second player in WNBA history to reach 2,600 career field goals. She now trails Tina Thompson (2,630) by 27 field goals for the top spot in WNBA history
• Taurasi’s 2-for-7 outing from deep extends her streak of made three-pointers to 25 games, 25 of which are multi-make performances.
• Brittney Griner recorded her third double-double of the season, and her 30th of her career, putting up 18 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. She is now three double-doubles short of passing Candice Dupree (32) for the top spot in franchise history.
• Minnesota’s Maya Moore, who entered tonight’s game ranked ninth in the WNBA in scoring at 18.5 points per game, put up 23 points, six rebounds and five assists on the night. She posted a season-high 25 points in the first matchup between the two teams on the season.

MERCURY HEAD COACH SANDY BRONDELLO

(On the game …)

“We were not ready to play, that’s on me. It is the Minnesota Lynx. I thought we had good preparation on what we wanted to do, we just did not execute. They just came with more urgency and physicality. They took us out of everything we wanted to do, we were missing shots, and we did not execute the scout. We are just going to put it away, learn from it, and move forward. We know we are a much better team, we got back to playing with more energy, and that’s what it came down to.”

(On lack of ball movement…)

“They took us out of what we wanted to run. We just looked flat more than anything, and that’s not how we play. We were not sharp in our execution, cutting and screening. I though Diana was good for the whole game, but it took the others a while to get into it. BG got going the second half, but they took us out of what we wanted to do. I think sometimes we took ourselves out of it because we let their physicality take us out of it and that should not happen.”

(On Maya Moore…)

“She never stops moving. She plays at the three and the four. We were not very locked in on what we wanted to do, we did not execute it as well as we should have. That was disappointing. Credit to her, she uses a lot of energy just by moving nonstop, that’s what gets her open. She’s a great player. She can shoot, play off the dribble, she moves, she cuts, and she can post.”

MERCURY guard Diana Taurasi 23 points | 6 assists

(On first half…)

“It was a tough game. They came out strong from the jump. I don’t think we matched that until late in the third and that is sometimes just too late. In this league, there is just too many good players. That’s the one thing we have been doing so well is good starts. We have been priding ourselves on making sure we play really well at the beginning. Today a couple of shots did not go down and they turned us over a couple of times. A lot of it was on us, and a lot of it was them playing really well.”

(On second half push…)

“I thought we started playing well in the third, but we just did not get enough stops. They got too many second half points in the first half, and they sustained that throughout the game. When a team gets going and they’re playing well, it’s hard to plug them up. In the second half we got going, but it is just little things that add up. Today we just did not have enough good play from enough people.”

Lynx HEAD COACH Cheryl Reeve.

(On the game…)

“From our perspective, we did a lot of things we wanted to do. I thought we had pretty good focus on our game plan both offensive and defensively, had some success early, built a lead, and were able to hang on.”

(On adjustments from last Mercury matchup…)

“A lot. We gave up 95 points last time. We’re a much better team since last time we played these guys. I think we’re getting back to what our identity is. Last time we played these guys we just weren’t there. They played great for sure, not to take anything away from them, but I just think we had a greater understanding of again, both sides of the ball, both defensively and offensively. There were a number of adjustments that we had to make.”

(On making game plan for Diana Taurasi…)

“There is none. What we told our players is that we have a game plan, but it’s only going to last three minutes because she’s so smart that she (Taurasi) is going to go “Aha! This is what they’re doing” and then she’s going to beat you at it. You’ve got to kind of move your game plan around to try to keep her guessing which one we’re in. She’s so smart, I don’t know that we had a game plan to stop her, obviously, she had 23. I hope that it was a hard 23.”

Lynx forward Maya Moore 23 points |6 REBOUNDS

(On stopping Mercury offense…)

“We just wanted to try to make it difficult. They have great scorers and we had to have an understanding of what they were trying to do, because they do it so well. I thought our focus and our intensity came together pretty well for the most part on defense.”

(On January’s defense…)

“She’s a scrappy defender. She’s strong and very explosive. She has the ability to catch up and close out that space whenever you get a little separation. She takes a lot of pride in being a scrappy defender.”

Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen 15 points | 5 steals

(On adjustments from last Mercury matchup…)

“I thought we were a little more locked in defensively from the start. Obviously they are a great team and they have a lot of great players. I thought they really exploited that against us in Target Center. Tonight our focus was to come out and really stick to the defensive game plan right from the beginning and do our best.”

(On game plan to stop Brittney Griner…)

“They have players that you’re not really necessarily going to stop, so you just try to limit them and make it tough on them. So just being aggressive and trying to make it difficult for her.”