The Minnesota Lynx and Phoenix Mercury are both showing signs of getting on track as they meet Saturday night in Phoenix.
The Lynx (6-9), who started the season 0-6, have gone 6-3 since their rough start — winning five of their last seven.
The last-place Mercury (3-11) ended a six-game losing streak by routing the visiting Indiana Fever 85-63 on Thursday in interim head coach Nikki Blue’s second game as the replacement to Vanessa Nygaard, who was fired Sunday.
“Coach Blue has been with us for two seasons now, we’ve been through it together,” said guard Diana Taurasi, who made four 3-pointers while scoring 17 points. “It’s been refreshing these last couple of days trying to reset and coach has been the main factor in that.”
Brittney Griner led Phoenix with 22 points and helped limit Indiana rookie Aliyah Boston to six points. Boston, who entered the game averaging 16 points per game, had just four points in the first meeting with the Mercury on June 11.
“That was (Griner’s) matchup,” Blue said. “It was a defensive scheme we felt didn’t need a double team.”
Minnesota’s latest victory came when Napheesa Collier made a fadeaway jumper with 1.8 seconds left in overtime to produce a 99-97 victory at Seattle on Thursday.
“It’s always fun to win overtime games,” said Collier, who added that she had never made a game-winning shot before. “The experience of (overtime) is really important because it shows it shows you how hard it is to grind it out.”
The victory was the Lynx’s third in their last four games after two wins in three days in Seattle.
“We’ve found a little bit of a groove right now,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reese said. “We’ve found this belief in ourselves. We’re a different team with real confidence and trust in one another.”
The Mercury defeated the Lynx 90-81 on May 25 in Phoenix, which was Minnesota’s third loss in the season-opening losing streak.
–Field Level Media
