Best defense faces best offense as Lynx visit Mercury

The best defensive team in the league will meet one of the hottest offenses when the Minnesota Lynx visit the Phoenix Mercury on Wednesday.

The Lynx (17-2) have held opponents to 40.2 percent shooting from the field and 74.1 points per game, four points less than anyone else in the league.

The Mercury (13-6) scored at least 100 points in three of their last five and enter after highlight-reel games from Sami Whitcomb and Alyssa Thomas in a 102-72 victory over Dallas on Monday.

Whitcomb had a career-high 36 points with seven 3-pointers, and Thomas had her 16th career triple-double and first with Phoenix -- 15 points, 15 assists, 10 rebounds. The Mercury averages 10.5 threes per game, the league high.

"Our team is really bought into our spacing," Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. "We want to give each other room to be aggressive and play downhill. We want to shoot at the rim, and we want to shoot threes. People run hard because they know ‘AT' is going to reward them. She has completely bought into being that playmaker for us."

The Lynx have won three in a row, and they beat the Mercury twice in five days early in the season, starting with a 74-71 victory in Phoenix on May 30, when leading scorer Napheesa Collier (24.3 points per game) was out with an injury. The Mercury shot under 40 percent from the field in both.

"It is the key ingredient to our success," Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said after an 80-75 victory over Chicago on Sunday, when the Sky shot 37.2 percent.

"We are the best defensive team in the league. Our goal is to have the best combination of offense and defense. That gives you your best chance to compete for a title. In the beginning of the season, defensively we were a little slower starting. And, man, have we gotten to a great place."

Lynx guard Courtney Williams, named to her second All-Star team, is averaging 13.5 points and has made 28 3-pointers, a pace that would break her career high of 45.7 percent three-point shooting set in 2023.

"It's all about mental toughness," Williams said as the Lynx open a four-game, six-day road trip and will have played six games in 10 days when it concludes July 14.

"Your body is going to do what your mind tells you to do. We don't make any excuses."

Phoenix formally signed veteran forward DeWanna Bonner on Tuesday. The six-time All-Star began her career with the Mercury in 2009 and played 10 seasons with the club.

--Field Level Media