The Phoenix Mercury and Las Vegas Aces will meet for the first time in the regular season Sunday when they battle in a Commissioner’s Cup game in Las Vegas.
The Mercury (7-4) are 3-2 in Commissioner’s Cup play, while the Aces (5-4) are 2-2 as both teams enter off victories.
Las Vegas rallied for an 88-84 win over the Dallas Wings on Friday despite not having reigning WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson, who is in concussion protocol.
But Jackie Young and Jewell Loyd made up for her absence, scoring 28 and 21 points, respectively, as the Aces won the middle game of a three-game homestand.
Wilson exited Thursday’s game against Los Angeles with a head injury and return remains undetermined. She has averaging 20.9 points, 9.6 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game.
In her postgame interview Friday night, Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon talked about being proud of the way her team battled despite the adversity it faced.
“I liked our fight,” Hammon said. “It hasn’t been perfect. There are times where we look like five gummy bears out there. Just real flimsy with the ball. Real flimsy defensively. And then all of a sudden we turn into really resilient soldiers.
“The split personality thing, I’m trying to deal with. But give me the soldiers please,” Hammon added.
Phoenix could get its best player back on Sunday, with a chance Kahleah Copper returns to the lineup.
Head coach Nate Tibbetts told reporters Copper is “trending toward playing on Sunday.”
Copper underwent a left knee arthroscopy and was expected to miss four to six weeks. Returning earlier than expected would be a huge boost for the Mercury as the veteran guard led the team in scoring last year at 21.1 points per game in her first season in Phoenix.
If Copper does return, she’ll join a lineup that just welcomed back Natasha Mack and Alyssa Thomas in Wednesday’s 93-80 win over Dallas.
Those two helped fuel a stronger defensive effort against the Wings, something the Mercury hope to lean on moving forward.
“I thought our energy was better defensively because people were playing less minutes,” Tibbetts said. “That’s what we’re going to need as we continue to add Kahleah. We’ve got a deep team, and we play hard. And I think we can play harder when the minutes go down.”
Thomas is averaging 14.5 points per game while Satou Sabally leads the Mercury in scoring and rebounding (20.5 points and 7.8 rebounds).
Young is one of four averaging in double figures for the Aces, putting up 19.4 points. Chelsea Gray (14.6) and Loyd (10.4) also sport double-digit scoring averages for Las Vegas.
–Field Level Media
