How comebacks have played a key role in Phoenix Mercury start

It helped that the Mercury were in the midst of a 6-0 run, which had cut the deficit down from eight points at the 4:04 mark.

Valkyries guard Julie Vanloo turned the ball over on Golden State’s fifth traveling violation of the night, giving Phoenix an opportunity to capitalize.

From the left wing, Kitija Laksa passed the ball to Satou Sabally in the paint. Sabally took a dribble that carried her all the way across the paint, where she found a passing lane to kick the ball out to Lexi Held on the right wing. Held dribbled left once, stepped back pushing off her right foot and released a high-arcing shot that hit nothing but net.

“I don’t really remember [the emotions],” Held told the media postgame. “Just kind of in the moment, [Satou] had a great pass to me. She draws a lot of attention on offense, so she found me, and I had the hot hand, and once it went in, it was really fun. The crowd was crazy. Our bench was crazy. Everyone was always cheering for each other, so it was insane.”

Held’s three put the Mercury in front for the first time since the 1:23 mark of the third quarter. From that point, the Mercury never trailed again, although they did find themselves tied with the Valkyries after the following possession.

But again, the Mercury’s heroics, this time an and-one put back in the paint by Sabally, gave Phoenix the lead right back, and the Mercury held onto it the rest of the way.

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Overall, in the final 3:13 of play, the Mercury closed the game on an 18-1 scoring run to beat the Valkyries 86-77 and move to 6-3 on the year and 5-1 at PHX Arena.

“It was impressive,” Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts said postgame. “Started the fourth, it was 70-70, and we had two poor possessions. Lexi fouled the jump shooter, and then we messed up a coverage and gave up a three, and it was 76-70, and then, I think they got up eight. … We’ve been resilient. We continue to fight. It’s been different people every night. Just really happy for our group.”

Thursday’s game wasn’t the only time this season in which the Mercury had to use late-game magic to pull off an unlikely win.

Less than a week before, Phoenix came back from being down 18 to beat the Los Angeles Sparks at Crypto.com Arena, tying the second-largest comeback in franchise history. Before that, on May 27, it took a 16-point comeback for the Mercury to knock off the Chicago Sky.

“I think it shows our character,” Laksa told reporters after the Chicago game. “It shows that we’re ready to fight and come back. Obviously, it’s not ideal to get ourselves in trouble in the first place, but at the end, it shows that we’re capable of coming back, and we’re just fighters. We’re not going to just back down and let it go and move on to the next one. That’s not going to happen. So I think we should be proud of ourselves.”

Only two of the Mercury’s first nine games have been decided by more than nine points. And of those close games, many went down to the wire, requiring clutch fourth-quarter play for either team, usually the Mercury, to secure the win.

Across the Mercury’s close wins, there’s no uniting factor. There’s no clear evidence of consistent better play in the first half versus the second half, or that they play significantly better on offense or defense in any specific quarter. 

Against the Sparks the first time, Phoenix held Los Angeles to just seven points in the third quarter and had to fight for the win after letting them score 33 in the fourth. The Washington Mystics also had a single-digit scoring quarter, only having seven in the second, on top of 29 turnovers throughout the game. The Sky managed to put up 21-plus points against Phoenix in the first three quarters, before the Mercury held them to just 18 in the fourth. The second time around against Los Angeles, Phoenix again held them below 10 points (9) in the third. 

Additionally, these close wins are built on sporadic momentum and runs. Phoenix has put together runs of 21-4, 16-4, 22-9 and 18-4 in addition to Thursday’s 18-1 run in these last-second victories.

Rather than there being a coincidental spark in the same 10-minute span of each of these games, the Mercury have gritted their way to tough victories with different players coming up big on any given night on either side of the floor.

“We don’t give up,” Tibbetts said postgame against Chicago. “We believe in each other. We’re going to keep fighting. Even when it’s not going great, the belief, the trust, is fun to watch, especially for a new group. We’re all figuring it out together, and to have some of the wins that we’ve had already, it’s pretty special.”

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What’s most notable about the Mercury’s ability to win by any means necessary is the fact that they’ve done it with three starters sidelined. Forward Natasha Mack and wing Kahleah Copper have missed he first nine games due to a back and left knee injury, respectively. Forward Alyssa Thomas played a role in the Mercury’s first couple of comebacks, but hasn’t played since May 27.

Phoenix’s ability to overcome adversity this frequently this early in the season, with several key players absent from the lineup, has been impressive. It creates excitement about what this team could look like upon the return of those players. Until then, the Mercury are looking to continue to find ways to win, something they’ve done more than expected, given the circumstances.

“We haven’t given up this year once,” Tibbetts said pregame in Minnesota. “I was a little bit nervous [after] the Minnesota game, playing without AT, and you lose a close game. Are they looking around like, ‘Can we do this?’ And I felt like we had some of that in LA, like, ‘Are we talented enough to go win this game,’ and very resilient that we just raised up our level and we started getting stops and give ourselves a chance. I think there is a belief.”