MERCURY

Phoenix Mercury still fighting to secure home-court advantage in playoffs

Tyler Killian
azcentral sports
The Mercury's Brittney Griner comes out to high-five teammate DeWanna Bonner during a game at US Airways Center on August 23, 2015.

Back on Aug. 13, the Mercury had a 5 1/2-game lead over the Tulsa Shock and, it appeared, a relatively clear path to locking up a top-two seed in the Western Conference, which would guarantee them home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

Since then the Mercury have lost five of seven and the Shock, continuing a profoundly streaky season in which they’d already had strings of eight wins and 10 losses in a row, have won five straight to cut the Mercury’s advantage to 1 1/2 games, with four remaining for Phoenix and five for Tulsa.

Now the Mercury must turn around their current slide, in order to prevent home-court advantage from skidding right out of US Airways Center.

“These last four, we need to buckle down,” center Brittney Griner said. “We always pack out the house, especially in the playoffs, so of course that would be big. Nobody wants to go on the road in the playoffs.”

If the Mercury can win three of their final four, starting Wednesday against the Washington Mystics, they’ll guarantee themselves the second seed. Otherwise, they’ll need help from the Shock, who they face Sept. 13 in the regular-season finale.

“We still control our own destiny, and that’s what I’ve been telling the team,” Mercury coach Sandy Brondello said. “We’ve been up and down, but on any given night we can beat anybody.

“We’re trying to keep that second spot, and we’re in a good position where we are. We just need to make sure we’re playing our best basketball here at the end of the season.”

Mitchell bounces back

The Mercury would’ve come home from their road trip empty-handed if it weren’t for a clutch moment from point guard Leilani Mitchell, who launched the game-winning 3-pointer that helped Phoenix secure its lone victory over the Connecticut Sun on Thursday.

The buzzer-beater was the cap to a rejuvenated performance from Mitchell, who had recently been moved to the bench in favor of Marta Xargay after struggling with her shot.

Mitchell duplicated her strong effort Friday against the Mystics, matching her numbers from the previous night with 16 points and four 3s – the first time she had made more than two from behind the arc since July 10.

MORE:Phoenix Mercury coverage

“She’s back,” Brondello said of Mitchell. “Sometimes players like that, they play all year round, they get a little fatigued and they lose a little confidence. But Lei’s a great shooter and we’ve been encouraging her to keep shooting. It was great to see her win the game for us against Connecticut and then continue it against Washington. She’s right where we need her to be.”

Despite shooting just 1-for-7 Sunday against the Lynx, Mitchell feels she is past the woes that affected her earlier in the year.

“I struggled with my shot a bit, but teammates and coaches did a great job encouraging me and letting me know they’ve got confidence in me,” she said. “That happens with shooters – it’s up and down. You can’t make every shot you take. But thankfully, it’s coming back around.”

Bonner, Dupree sick

The Mercury were without two key players at practice Tuesday, as guard/forward DeWanna Bonner and Candice Dupree sat out with illnesses. Brondello said both should be available for Wednesday’s game.

Wednesday's game

Washington Mystics (16-12) at Mercury (17-13)

When: 12:30 p.m.

Where: US Airways Center.

TV: FSAZ, NBA TV.

Mercury update: Phoenix went 1-2 on its recent three-game road trip. It led by two points after the third quarter Sunday but ended up losing 71-61 to the Minnesota Lynx. That reduced the Lynx’s magic number to clinch the top seed in the Western Conference to 2, with four games to play. … C Brittney Griner had nine blocks against the Lynx, the most in the WNBA this season. … G/F DeWanna Bonner and Griner are one of two sets of teammates to each rank in the top 10 in scoring, along with the Chicago Sky’s Elena Delle Donne and Cappie Pondexter. Bonner (16.7 points per game) is sixth and Griner (14.7) comes in ninth. … The Mercury will hold “School Day” on Wednesday, hosting thousands of children from Valley schools at the afternoon game.

Mystics update: Washington started a four-game road trip with a loss Sunday, falling 69-59 to the Seattle Storm. The Mystics took a nine-point lead into halftime but managed just 20 points over the final two quarters. … G Ivory Latta tied her season high with 24 points in a 71-63 win over the Mercury on Friday, the teams’ only other meeting of the season. … Latta leads the Mystics with 13 points per game and also averages 2.5 assists. … Mercury G Monique Currie spent eight seasons with Washington, averaging a career-high 14.1 points in 2010.

Reach Killian at tyler.killian@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8174. Follow him at twitter.com/azc_killian.