Aces’ title defense gets off to rocky start in loss to Mercury

However, the expectation was to turn the page immediately after the opening tipoff, with the need for resilience being demanded for the adversity that lay ahead After Saturday, it will not take long for the Aces to have to tap into that resilience, as the Phoenix Mercury took revenge against the defending champions in emphatic fashion with a 99-66 victory. “We’re averaging giving up 31 points in the first quarter over the course of our two exhibition games and this game, and that’s just not good enough,” said Aces head coach Becky Hammon after the game. “We’re digging out of a hole.

That puts pressure on your defense, your offense. Just a little bit of a snowball effect. ” Locked in the freezer For a team that emphasized defense during training camp and the preseason, it was the offense that would serve as the primary culprit for the blowout.

The Aces would stall out on far too many offensive sets, only scoring 24 points in the second and third quarters combined (for context, the Mercury scored 29 and 27 points in those quarters alone. ) A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young would do most of the heavy lifting on offense with 19 and 12 points, respectively. NaLyssa Smith (11 points) and Chennedy Carter (10 points) would also hit double digit points, but some of their contributions would come in the fourth quarter with the game already decided.

“I thought there were times when we just caught and held the ball,” said Hammon about her team’s offensive struggles. “We could’ve shot the ball, we could’ve drove the ball, but instead, we just analyzed. You get slow when you analyze too much.