Why Mercury starters Diana Taurasi and Natasha Cloud won’t be playing in Tuesday’s game

The Phoenix Mercury will be shorthanded in Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Dream after starting shooting guard Diana Taurasi and point guard Natasha Cloud earned a one-game, unpaid suspensions after receiving their seventh technical fouls of the season.

In Sunday’s 97-79 loss to the Las Vegas Aces at Footprint Center, Cloud earned hers at 4:24 in the second quarter, while Taurasi earned hers at 7:39 in the third.

“The technicals have been an issue. We’re missing a player or two after the technicals today,” coach Nate Tibbetts said. “It’s frustrating. The technicals are frustrating, the way we’ve been playing is frustrating.”

In the WNBA, a player is suspended for one game after they pick up seven technical fouls in one season. After that initial suspension, they’re suspended again for every other technical they get (9th, 11th, 13th, etc.). Players also have mounting fines for each technical—$200 each for techs 1-3, $400 each for techs 4-6, and $800 each for seven and more.

Taurasi, however, doesn’t think she’ll be missing the next game and said so during Sunday’s postgame press conference.

“Well, mine is definitely getting rescinded,” Taurasi said. “We’re good. I’ll be playing the next game.”

Kahleah Copper is also in danger of suspension after she earned her sixth technical foul at 5:40 in the third. The Mercury lead the WNBA with 33 technical fouls, a single-season record for the league.

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“Those refs are eyeing people like no other,” Sophie Cunningham said. “Pay attention to the game, don’t be so sensitive. On our thing, we got to own it. Sometimes we need to focus on ourselves and what we can do. We’re not going to get every call. The refs are humans and they’re not going to get every call right either. Sometimes you got to suck it up and keep playing. There’s been a lot of eyes on us this year and we have a lot of fiery people. We’ve set the record for most techs so we got to look ourselves in the mirror and see how we can do better.”

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Why Mercury’s Diana Taurasi, Natasha Cloud won’t be in Tuesday’s game