Mercury Coach, Players Speak on Struggles Vs Atlanta

The Mercury have struggled with the Dream's physicality and have dealt with some slow starts in their three losses to Atlanta this season.

Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts directs his team against the Atlanta Dream during the first quarter at PHX Arena Aug 10, 2025. / Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

After Sunday night's game, a 74-66 loss, the Phoenix Mercury have finished their season series against the Atlanta Dream 0-3. The Dream have proven to be a particularly difficult matchup for the Mercury and two of the Atlanta victories have been by double digits.

In the first two games between the teams, the Mercury struggled on the defensive end, giving up 90 and 95 points, but their defense was considerably better in the final game. However, Phoenix has had persistent offensive issues against Atlanta, failing to crack the 80-point mark in any of the three games.

All-Star forward Alyssa Thomas said that a slow start on Sunday was partly to blame. "Today [it] was the first quarter," she said. "We didn't come out ready to play. They punched us in our mouth early and it felt like for a majority of the game, we were playing from behind." Phoenix had just six points with nearly half of the first quarter having passed, and were left playing catch-up early on.

Some of that can be attributed to slow ball and player movement. "We weren't getting to our spots as quick as we needed to and we just weren't making good reads today," said Thomas. "It's something we've got to continue improve in."

Dream Challenges Mercury

Phoenix Mercury forward Natasha Mack (4) defends against Atlanta Dream forward Brionna Jones (24) during the first quarter at PHX Arena Aug 10, 2025. / Michael Chow/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Head coach Nate Tibbetts noted that Atlanta's size and physicality make them a uniquely difficult matchup. "They're big and physical and obviously they have shooters around," he said, noting that different teams test the Phoenix roster in different ways.

Phoenix pulled close late in the game, but the execution wasn't quite there. "I thought we were in position to win the game even without being at the level that we needed to, but they made the plays down the stretch and we didn't," said Tibbetts. Phoenix was outscored by just five points over the last three quarters on Sunday but some missed layups hurt them as the game wound down. "We looked tired today...we stood quite a bit, especially in the first half. We didn't get many fast break points."

It was a tough outing for a team that loves to run in transition and spray the ball to open shooters, and scoring was more laborious for them than usual. Still, there were encouraging signs, like a 21-point outing from Thomas and 16 points off the bench from DeWanna Bonner.

Though Atlanta sits third in the standings right now, with Phoenix in fourth, there's a cluster of teams between second and sixth that could shift around a lot between now and the playoffs. The Dream won't be the playoff matchup on any Mercury fan's wishlist, but the improved defensive play on Sunday does suggest that Phoenix is trending in the right direction, and can give Atlanta a good fight.

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