Phoenix Mercury blitzed by the Connecticut Sun: What to know about the playoffs

With the Indiana Fever losing earlier in the night to the Las Vegas Aces, the seventh-seeded Phoenix Mercury had an opportunity to gain ground in the playoff seedings. But instead, the Mercury fell flat in a loss to the Connecticut Sun Friday night in Phoenix.

The Mercury fell flat in the third quarter and were outscored 24-6 by the Sun.

The Mercury (17-20) squandered a competitive first half, falling flat in the third quarter, outscored 24-6, and losing 88-69 to remain 1.5 games behind the Fever.

The Sun went on a 20-0 run in the decisive third quarter. Former Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner had seven points in that stretch. The Mercury couldn’t get anything going from 3-point range, going 0-for-10 and shooting 15% overall (3-for-20) in the third.

Brionna Jones led the Sun with 20 points, but Marina Mabrey‘s 19 points sparked the bench and showcased a balanced Sun attack.

Brittney Griner led the Mercury with 26 points, but the starting five struggled without leading scorer Kahleah Copper. Copper was ruled out with a back injury and was replaced by Celeste Taylor in the lineup.

Where are the Mercury in playoff standings?

The Mercury are the seventh seed in the WNBA playoffs behind the Fever (19-19). The Fever’s 78-74 loss to the Aces and the Mercury’s loss kept the Fever 1.5 games ahead of the Mercury.

The Connecticut Sun (27-10) are one game behind the Minnesota Lynx (28-9) for the second spot and hold the tiebreaker after going 2-0 against them.

The Mercury have three games to play, while the Fever have two games. Both games for the Fever are against teams in the draft lottery.

The Mercury play twice on the road, the Chicago Sky on Sunday, Sept. 15 and the Los Angeles Sparks on Tuesday, Sept. 17.

Phoenix wraps the regular season by hosting Seattle next Thursday, Sept. 19.

Chicago’s star rookie Angel Reese will not play against the Mercury, having suffered a season-ending wrist injury. Reese had 26 double-doubles, the second most in a season, and earlier this summer set a WNBA record with 15 consecutive double-doubles.

The Washington Mystics (13-24) overtook the Sky on Friday for the final playoff spot.

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Kahleah Copper out, Brittney Griner steps up as Mercury trail Connecticut at the half

The Phoenix Mercury had to search for other answers on offense Friday night without leading scorer Kahleah Copper in the starting lineup, and Brittney Griner provided that answer.

Griner scored 12 points, including her ninth 3-pointer of the season and helped the Mercury keep it close against the Connecticut Sun, who lead Phoenix at halftime, 46-38.

Copper, who leads the team with 21.6 points per game, was out with a back injury and was replaced by guard Celeste Taylor.

With Copper out, the Mercury didn’t see much scoring in the first quarter outside of Diana Taurasi, Natasha Cloud and Griner. The trio scored all the Mercury’s 17 points in the first quarter.

But the rest of the team helped fight back from a 6-1 Sun run to start the second quarter to keep it interesting.

Sophie Cunningham and Monique Billings added four points each for the Mercury, while Sun guard Marina Mabrey had a big impact from the bench, leading all scorers with 13 points.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mercury fall vs. the Sun after 6-point quarter to start second half