The Phoenix Mercury and Portland Fire have little to play for as the WNBA season resumes Thursday with four games remaining for both clubs.
The Mercury and Fire have both been eliminated from the postseason and begin the final stretch of their seasons when they meet in Portland.
The Mercury (14-26) lost seven of nine games before the league paused for 17 days for the FIBA World Cup in Germany.
This season has been a disappointment for Phoenix after reaching the WNBA Finals last season, only to be swept in four games by the Las Vegas Aces. The Mercury are in 12th place in the 15-team league.
Meanwhile, the Fire (16-24) weren’t expected to be part of the playoff mix as an expansion franchise. But they stand ninth in a league where the top eight teams advanced to the postseason, albeit eight games out of the eighth spot.
Portland has dropped four of its last five games, and coach Alex Sarama said the focus over the final four games will be big-picture related.
“Definitely long term,” Sarama said. “I think we have been really strategic with the long-term plan since we started this season. A long-term plan is not something like ‘let’s make the playoffs.’ A long-term plan is looking at how we are using the players and how we are playing offense and defense.”
Carla Leite has had a stellar season for the Fire after being plucked from the Golden State Valkyries in the expansion draft. Leite leads Portland in scoring (15.9 points per game) and assists (6.3).
Bridget Carleton averages 14.3 points and is tied for fourth in the WNBA with 106 made 3-pointers. Megan DiLeo averages 13.2 points per game.
Phoenix star Kahleah Copper ranks fourth in the WNBA with 21.3 points per game. Alyssa Thomas is averaging 14.2 points, 8.4 assists and 7.7 rebounds. Thomas is tied with Indiana’s Caitlin Clark for the league lead in assists.
Copper scored 15 points for Team USA in Sunday’s 97-79 victory over France in the World Cup gold-medal game. The U.S. trailed by as many as 14 points in the first half.
Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts was an assistant coach on that squad and he said Copper’s defense was a crucial element to the victory. France’s Gabby Williams was unguardable in the first half until they switched assignments and put Copper on Williams.
“She has the ability to raise her level,” Tibbetts said of Copper. “Gabby was rolling in that first half, and we made an adjustment and put (Copper) on her and she really stepped up to the challenge and it carried over to the third (quarter). We needed that.”
Williams scored 16 points in the first half and four in the second.
The Mercury and Fire split two meetings earlier this season, with the road club winning each time.
–Field Level Media
