The definitive slam dunk for this Phoenix Mercury season was unloaded by ... Diana Taurasi.
“When it’s an emphasis,” the superstar guard said, “you have to do it.”
OK, so it was a verbal 360 with rim-bending undertones that sounded louder than any Brittney Griner throwdown. That’s what makes it so relatively profound.
By the way, Taurasi made this statement while weaving through questions that followed last Sunday’s victory over the Tulsa Shock. The “it” she was referring to is defense.
And defense -- relative to professional basketball in Phoenix -- often has seemed as philosophically deflating as a curfew on New Year’s Eve.
But defense is the big-picture explanation of why Taurasi and the Mercury are 3-0 since Russ Pennell replaced the best-defense-is-a-good-offense believer Corey Gaines as coach last week.
While Gaines studies his craft and works hard at figuring out ways to take advantage of and improve “the system,” it slim attention to defensive details can’t overcome an offense that’s not great enough to survive certain variables.
That’s what the new guy -- whose work at Arizona State, the University of Arizona and Grand Canyon University hardly make him new in these parts -- viewed as an automatic adjustment.
“I have played on high-caliber teams where, if that is the emphasis,” Taurasi said, “that is what you have to do.”
During this homestand honeymoon, Pennell has coaxed his new team to create a stingy basket-area environment that has allowed opponents to average a measly 62.8 points in those three games. Before he showed up with this emphasis alteration, teams were scoring an averge in the upper 80s.
In Pennell’s second game on the Mercury sideline, Phoenix limited Tulsa to four points (and five shot-clock violations) in the second quarter.
“All we have done is come in and say, 'These areas we can get better in,' and they said, 'Sign us up,'” Pennell said following Wednesday’s 75-58 triumph over the Indiana Fever.
And with the Mercury checking in as the WNBA’s most hospitable team for per-game points allowed, that defensive buy-in referred to by Taurasi was essential.
It should be noted this three-game streak has included two wins over the Shock (taking a bow as the worst team in the West) and an Indy squad that registered at .500 before visiting Arizona.
It also should be pointed out that there are different ways to arrive at the same goal … at least in this league.
In 2009, Gaines -- a disciple of fast-break maven Paul Westhead -- pushed the Mercury to a fast-tempo WNBA championship. With Gaines at his side, Westhead coached Phoenix to the title in 2007.
After injuries slaughtered the 2012 season and enabled the Mercury to draft a potentially unprecedented force in Griner, subsequent expectation -- mixed with more injury issues and a top-heavy first-half schedule -- teamed up to make an 10-11 record unacceptable. By adapting past zone principles to the WNBA’s addition of the defensive-three-second rule, Gaines had attempted to supplement his strong offensive output by upgrading the defensive resistance.
Points-per-game comparisons can be silly if pace (points allowed per 100 possessions is how it’s measured in the NBA) isn’t considered. With that on the table, we see the Mercury and their first three foes are squeezing off about the same number of field-goal attempts launched in the last three pre-Pennell dates.
An early cue to explain at least some of the tactical focus is 3-point shooting.
Before Pennell stepped into an interim job he seems interested in an extremely capable of turning into a full-time gig, Phoenix was squeezing off about 18 shots per game beyond the arc.
In the last three games -- all at US Airways Center, mind you -- they’re firing up 11.
So, even though the emphasis has been a defensive accountability up and down the roster, Pennell hasn’t exactly told his players to play at a crawl. The Mercury just seem to be a bit more selective in what shots they’re taking, and that leads to floor balance and fewer transition opportunities for the opposition.
The opposition generally shots better with that dandy numerical advantage, right?
“He’s come right in here very positive,” Taurasi said. “He knows sthe things he wants to accomplish.”
For now, that’s winning at San Antonio on Saturday. Then it’s a trip to Tulsa and back home for another three-game set.
