Coming off her triple-double in a win at Atlanta, Phoenix's Brittney Griner leads the Mercury into Dallas to take on the Wings on Tuesday in a battle of the two highest-scoring teams in the WNBA at College Park Arena.
Griner poured 27 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked 10 shots against Atlanta, leading the Mercury to their third win in their last four games. It was only the sixth triple-double in WNBA history and first since the 2014 season. Phoenix (8-10) outscored Atlanta 23-6 in the final seven minutes of Sunday's win.
Led by Griner and Diana Taurasi, the Mercury are averaging 88.2 points, tops in the league. Taurasi is fourth in the league in scoring at 19.0 per game. Griner is averaging 14.3 points and leads the league in blocks at 2.7 per game.
But while the Mercury are putting up big offensive numbers, they're struggling on the defensive end of the floor. Phoenix is last in points allowed, surrendering 88.6 points per game, and is 10th in rebounding at 31.8 per game.
The Wings (8-10) hung 117 points on the Mercury, albeit in a triple-overtime road win June 18. Dallas followed that win up two days later with a 100-90 home victory over the Mercury.
The Wings are averaging 86.2 points per game, but, like Phoenix, have struggled defensively. They're allowing 87.6 points per game, the second most in the league, behind the Mercury.
Odyssey Sims paces six Dallas players averaging in double figures. Sims is averaging 15.1 points per game, followed by Karima Christmas (14.1), Skylar Diggins (13.3), Glory Johnson (12.1) and Plenette Pierson (10.4) and Aerial Powers (10.0).
The Mercury and Stars are in a group of Western Conference teams trying to narrow the gap on league powers Minnesota and Los Angeles. The top eight teams, regardless of conference, make the playoffs this season. Phoenix and Dallas are in a tie for seventh in the overall league standings.
The two teams met seven times last season, including in the Western Conference playoffs, with the Mercury winning five of seven meetings.
