Mercury's Defense Takes Massive Step Backward

Late on Thursday evening, July 3 2025, Kahleah Copper and the Phoenix Mercury took a road trip to play the Dallas wings who had one of the lower records in the WNBA at 5-13. With the second best record at 12-5, the Mercury were expected to win, but imploded on defense, losing 89-98.

Jul 3, 2025; Arlington, Texas, USA; Phoenix Mercury guard Kahleah Copper (2) drives to the basket as Dallas Wings guard JJ Quinerly (11) defends during the second half at College Park Center. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

Arlington, TX.-- Coming off of a narrow loss at home, the Phoenix Mercury searched for an easy win against the low-ranked Dallas Wings. What came from their match-up was anything but easy, the Wings offense relentlessly pounded against the Mercury, leading to a final score of 89-98.

Defense had already been a concern coming into the game, but Head Coach Nate Tibbets had expressed no serious concern on the matter. After letting up 32 points in the first ten minutes, it became clear that defense was becoming a problem.

As the game progressed, it appeared that Tibbets had gotten his team to rein in the Wings offense after the first half, allowing 37 total points scored against them, a nearly 50% decrease from the 61 in the first half.

All momentum was on the Mercury's side going into the final ten minutes, scoring progressively more points every quarter: starting off at 20 in the first, then 23 in the second, and 28 in the third. A massive portion of their offensive success came from Guard Kahleah Copper, who scored 32 points against the Wings, more than a third of her team's point total.

Unfortunately for Copper, she stalled out when she was needed most in the fourth. The Mercury scored 18 points, and only 10 points in the clutch. They fell 10 points short of a victory, officially falling into a two-game losing streak after their stunning seven-game win streak.

Even with the issues on defense, the biggest problem for the Mercury was the lack of fire on the bench. The total points scored off the bench was a measly eight, and Sami Whitcomb lacked the swag that she had had in previous games. The bench missed an abysmal 14/16 shots across the game, making a real difference on the outcome of the game.

The Mercury play the Wings again on Monday, and Tibbets' confidence in his team did not falter, saying, "You know, we'll take a look at the film, and we'll realize things we did well and things we need to improve on, but these are kind of fun games, fun series when you get a team back to back, especially the way that they came after us. We'll have to be ready to respond and I believe in our group."

Heading into the rest of the season the Mercury have a lot to be proud of but a lot to tighten up and improve on as well.

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