Mercury 82, Sun 66: Is it time to see less of Mabrey and Charles?

The Sun’s transition defense was pretty dreadful in the first quarter against Phoenix Monday night, and they never really recovered from the early deficit in an 82-66 loss.

But - as has been the pattern in the last month, at least - it’s not a defeat that can really be pinned on the defense. Phoenix did take its foot off the gas a bit in the fourth quarter, but with the contest finishing on 82 possessions, the Sun were right at the 1 point per possession mark again, continuing to drop its efficiency, which has been steadily going downward.


The offense, however? Not great. The big focus will be the first quarter that saw Connecticut score six points and shoot 2-for-16 from the field, but it’s a larger question of what they want their future to be. Tina Charles and Marina Mabrey are the team’s two leading scorers, but also take way more shots than anyone else (13.8 and 14.4 field goal attempts per game, respectively, with Bria Hartley next highest at 8.1).


We know the Sun don’t have a true point guard on the roster (except possibly Lindsay Allen, who has been ineffective), so Mabrey seems to have taken over the role to start the offense, and I’m kind of torn on the matter. Even though it’s not pretty, she is sometimes effective, scoring 18 points Tuesday. But it took her 18 shots to get there, she’s shooting just 35.5% from the field, and leads the team in turnovers at 3.1 per game.


Charles has also been effective at times and is a much-needed veteran presence on the team, but she’s only shooting 41.8% from the field at high volume, and 71.7% of her shots are two-pointers that aren’t layups, and she’s shooting just 38% on those attempts. 


Meanwhile, Saniya Rivers played just 13 minutes (one more than Haley Peters), while Aneesah Morrow got just 16, Olivia Nelson-Ododa and Leila Lacan 22 each. In a game that wasn’t close, Mabrey and Charles played 30 minutes each.


You’re probably going to see me belabor this point the rest of the season, so if I do it too much, please let me know, but I want to see the young players out there more, especially in games like Tuesday.


What else did we learn Tuesday as Lacan posted six more steals?:



 

  1. First quarter blues  - This was not the first time the Sun have looked awful in the first quarter on the road and it will be a big test Thursday not to repeat the pattern. As was pointed out before, a lot of it is just poor shooting, I think this was one case where the Meziane timeout wasn’t necessary, it would have been interesting to see how the Sun could have played through their early troubles, maybe make some subs (put Rivers and Sheldon in, for instance). A lineup with Mabrey, Charles, and Hartley is going to be susceptible to transition and Phoenix is one of the best in the league.

  2. Little worried about Rivers and Morrow - Both Rivers and Morrow didn’t look like their usual energetic selves on Tuesday, which has been a bit of an issue with Morrow before this season, letting her frustration get to her and not sprinting back on defense, for instance. But we’ve seen that with Rivers the last couple of games as well, a couple of times Kahleah Copper just blew by her for baskets, and we didn’t see that at the beginning of the season. It’s a long season for rookies, remember Morrow and Rivers are coming off a full college season as well, so hopefully they can find a way to get re-energized for the rest of the way. 

  3. Turnovers keep coming -  Satou Sabally’s return obviously makes the Mercury that much better, she’s a legitimate All-Star and the 11th leading scorer in the league. Still, after forcing just two turnovers in that rough first quarter, the Mercury ended up with 18 (22.0%), pushing the Sun up to fourth in the WNBA (15.8%) in that category. They would like to be as effective as Phoenix, who leads the league (16.9%), causing 17 of their own.


Player of the game:  Leila Lacan - According to Across the Timeline, Lacan became the first WNBA rookie since Angel McCoughtry in 2009 to record 10 points, 5 rebounds, and 6 steals in a game and the youngest player to ever do so.


Inside the numbers : 2.3 -  Number of steals per game for Lacan, second in the WNBA to Gabby Williams (2.6). Last season, Arike Ogunbowale (2.1) was the only player in the league to average 2 or more. 


Under the radar: DeWanna Bonner (we know her) hit 3 three-pointers in the first quarter (and four overall), but did not have a three in her previous four games.


We also know this, but Alyssa Thomas (who got another triple-double, what else is new?) is so difficult to defend, both in transition and the half-court because of her passing ability. There were times where Nelson-Ododa or Charles chased her beyond the three-point line and she made the right pass, but when they played off her, it just gave her more room to see her teammates. As I said in the preview, they probably should have dropped even further, but it’s still a no-win situation.


Quotable:  “We played as a disconnected team. We didn’t start the game like we were supposed to, at least to compete against a good team like Phoenix. We can appreciate how well we played in the second and fourth quarters, but the game was basically over after the first 10 minutes.” - Rachid Meziane


Next up: Thursday at Los Angeles, 10 p.m. EDT

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