Phoenix Changed the Terms of the Rematch

Connecticut beat Phoenix 96-83 on Friday by shooting efficiently and moving the ball for 24 assists. Two days later, the Mercury made the rematch about possessions instead.

Phoenix forced 21 turnovers and recorded 11 steals. Connecticut never scored more than 21 points in a quarter and managed 63 for the game. The Sun’s hard-hat offense kept arriving at the job site without all of its tools.

That defensive shift mattered because the Mercury did not shoot their way out of trouble. They went 2-for-15 from 3-point range.

Bonner and Copper Supplied Enough Scoring

DeWanna Bonner scored 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting and added six rebounds. Kahleah Copper finished with 18 points, four rebounds, four assists and five steals.

Monique Akoa Makani added 11 points, while Alyssa Thomas produced seven points, 11 assists and six rebounds. Phoenix shot 41 percent overall, but its best players kept creating enough pressure inside the arc and at the free-throw line.

The Mercury made 18 free throws. That was a far more dependable source of offense than waiting for a 3-pointer to stop treating the rim like a restricted area.

Connecticut Could Not Protect the Ball

Brittney Griner led the Sun with 19 points. Olivia Nelson-Ododa added 12 points and 12 rebounds, but Connecticut shot 38 percent and committed seven more turnovers than Phoenix.

Leila Lacan, the center of Friday’s win, had seven points, four assists and nine turnovers. Phoenix turned a player who had controlled the first meeting into the main pressure point of the second.

The Sun cut the margin to four in the third quarter, but the Mercury won the fourth 18-14. Connecticut went scoreless over the final 2:37 and never found the late sequence needed to reopen the game.

The Desk Metric: An A in Protection

Phoenix’s verified Lead Protection Grade was A, with a score of 96. The formula uses the Mercury’s 10-point largest lead, nine-point final margin and plus-four fourth-quarter differential.

That is the clean version of control. Phoenix led for 81 percent of the game, absorbed the third-quarter push and finished with nearly all of its largest advantage intact.

The Desk Has Ruled

Desk ruling: the Mercury did not need a pretty shooting night to split the two-game set. They changed the possession count, protected the ball better than Connecticut and made a 13-percent night from deep survivable through defense and free throws.