The result was in doubt until the final minutes, but the Washington Mystics fended off a Phoenix Mercury comeback to win 99-93 Tuesday in their first game after the WNBA’s All-Star break.
It wasn’t ideal for Washington to give up 55 points in the second half as the game became a shot-for-shot affair. Nonetheless, the Mystics’ win was important for two reasons.
One, it kept them on pace with the Connecticut Sun and Las Vegas Aces. Both were also winners Tuesday and remained tied for first place in the WNBA.
Two, despite the wacky, high-offense nature of the second half, Elena Delle Donne said it was a game the Mystics will be able to draw from come playoff time.
“That’s a playoff type of game, especially when a team that talented has that head of steam coming back from being down, what was it, 23?” Delle Donne said. “It was big for us to step up and finish it off.”
Four games separate first place and eighth in the WNBA with about five weeks remaining in the regular season. The Mystics (13-6) are ready to make a push and challenge the Sun and Aces (both 14-6) for the No. 1 playoff seed.
In jockeying for position with Connecticut and Las Vegas, Washington does not want to be the third-place finisher. The top two seeds in the league get a double-bye into the semifinals. Last year, the Mystics ended up with the No. 3 seed and had to play a win-or-go-home game against Los Angeles in the second round, which they won.
The Mystics have a crucial game with the Aces coming up — technically, a half-game. The last time they met, Washington led Las Vegas 51-36 when a nearby earthquake affected the area, causing the game to be postponed at halftime. They will resume Aug. 5, with Washington having a chance to pick up a game on the Aces in the battle for first place.
Players around the league are aware of how tight the standings are.
“It’s been kind of weird,” Mercury star Brittney Griner said earlier this week. “There has been a lot of injuries. And it’s been hard for teams to break out of that bunched-up mosh pit. After All-Star, I think this is when teams start to break away or fall back. We definitely want to be one of the ones who breaks free.”
Griner was in elite form Tuesday, dropping 30 points on the Mystics on 14-for-18 shooting. But Delle Donne scored a season-high 33 and Kristi Toliver added 25. Toliver hit an off-balance layup followed by a deep 3-pointer in the game’s final 90 seconds to seal Washington’s win.
Natasha Cloud said a lot of the referees’ calls went Phoenix’s way — but that was good practice for her and her team.
“We didn’t get as many calls tonight, which is a playoff setting, so that was good for us — to come back from All-Star break and kind of get beat up a little bit and not expect calls,” Cloud said. “We’ve got to be able to play through.”
Based in part on wire reports.
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