The slumping Phoenix Mercury look to pull out of a three-game tailspin and begin a push to the WNBA playoffs when they host the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday.
Phoenix (16-17) fell below .500 and into seventh place, bypassed by the surging Indiana Fever, after a 97-79 loss to the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday. The defeat dropped the Mercury to 0-3 in a stretch against leading title contenders.
The loss to the reigning-champion Aces followed losses of 84-70 to WNBA-leading New York and 89-76 to second-place Minnesota. Worse yet for Phoenix is that all three games were at home, kicking off a five-game stretch that culminates with the Mercury hosting Atlanta and Washington, teams that are out of the playoff picture.
“It’s going to take a lot of determination by us to do the things it takes to be really good in this league,” veteran guard Diana Taurasi said after the loss Sunday. “The last (three) games, we haven’t done those little things that make offense work.”
The Mercury’s current run of three consecutive games scoring fewer than 80 points equals their worst spell of the season, last doing so in May. Phoenix has sputtered out of the gate in its losing streak, with first quarters of 10 points against Las Vegas, nine vs. New York and 15 vs. Minnesota.
Adding to the Mercury’s concerns on that side of the ball is the absence of Natasha Cloud, who averages 11.6 points per game and 6.8 assists per game. Cloud is suspended after an altercation with Las Vegas’ Kelsey Plum on Sunday.
Atlanta (11-21) comes into the matchup Tuesday with its own offensive woes. The Dream are the WNBA’s lowest-scoring team at 76.1 points per game, but it was defensive struggles that underscored their recent four-game losing skid.
Atlanta gave up 82 or more points in each of those four games from Aug. 23 to Aug. 30, beginning with an 82-80 loss to Phoenix. The Dream halted the losing streak with an 80-62 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday.
“When you get in this part of the season, everybody knows what everybody is doing, so it just becomes (about) will, who wants it more,” Dream coach Tanisha Wright said about the team’s defensive effort.
Rhyne Howard, Atlanta’s leading scorer at 16 points per game, made two blocks at Los Angeles. She also had a recent stretch of five consecutive games with at least one steal.
–Field Level Media