Phoenix Mercury 59-77 Dallas
We kept saying that Dallas deserved better than this indigent ranking at the bottom of the table. Now, the Wings’ results are much more in line with what they offer on the pitch. And as what they are offering on the pitch is more and more impressive collectively, it’s a bit of a state of grace right now in Vickie Johnson’s squad. Dallas completely shut down Phoenix last night, to prove that recent fine form was anything but fluke.
Brittney Griner (19 pts) was calling for more support and less criticism from Mercury fans. Scoring 59 points at home by being rolled over from start to finish is not going to help the Arizonans to be more lenient. We obviously do not endorse the fact that an audience takes his team to task, but seeing Dallas dominate the rebound game (40-29) against a team that has in its ranks Griner and Brianna Turner, to name a few, it necessarily stings a bit.
The Wings don’t have a control tower to speak of, but it’s clear that Vickie Johnson’s emphasis on defense during training camp is paying off. To quote friend Ghislain Clément, as taken aback by the difficulties of the Mercury as excited by Dallas: “The Wings are fighting, they box all over the place and even the placement is good. When you see that they systematically go the opposite of the shoot, it’s super well analyzed and it’s no coincidence. In addition, they played relatively small to impact the outside sector of Phoenix, which is the weak point in defense. A very good job from Vickie Johnson ”.
In this Dallas collective where no less than 9 players scored points, we can note that the two best triggers of the team last night, Arike Ogunbowale (20 pts) et satou sabally (17 pts) were efficient and fair (14/24 cumulative), without needing Marina Mabrey (7 pts in 16 min) is as explosive as usual. In the radius of satisfactions, Beautiful Alarie continues to gain the confidence of her coach with good passages, she that we thought was out of the rotation at the start of the season. The 9 rebounds (including 5 offensives!), 6 points, 1 assist and 1 interception from the former Princeton player were invaluable.
Sunday, Dallas will have to do with a team of another caliber, since the Texans travel to the Las Vegas Aces. A very good way to prove that this positive dynamic can continue. The Mercury, for its part, will try to make people forget this embarrassing match at the reception of New York.
