Mystics at Mercury preview: Washington continues road trip in Phoenix Wednesday evening

The Washington Mystics (10-6) roll into Phoenix to try and get their 11 win of the season against the Mercury (7-6) on their second of a five game road trip.

It looks like some of the players and their pets had fun on the fourth of July.

Where and When Talking Stick Resort Arena, Phoenix, AZ. 10 p.m. ET.

Streaming WNBA League Pass, Monumental Network.

The Mystics are currently third in the association, and win or lose, this game won’t change that. The Mercury occupy the fourth seed. This is the first time they are meeting this season, and the next two games are in August at the Verizon Center.

What to look out for

As with all things Mercury, Diana Taurasi and Brittney Griner are leading the team in multiple categories.

Griner happens to be leading all other scorers just about half way through the year, with 21.8 per game. Elena Delle Donne has shored up the Mystics with 19.6 points per game.

Even the casual fan knows Diana Taurasi is a tough opponent. But an interesting wrinkle to me is that DT and BG have a special fondness for Emma Meesseman, because they are teammates on UMMC, in Ekaterinburg.

Here’s a perfect example of the three of them clicking, below.

But we also know that will not exempt her from any type of jawing, physical and otherwise. As Meesseman herself put it, ‘you always want Diana ON your team’.

And likewise, DT and BG won a Gold medal with Elena Delle Donne at the 2016 Olympics.

She just recently received the ring they all earned for their win.

Notable Stats

Washington is leading the association in two defensive categories per Lynx Data, holding down fast break points on turnovers, and points in the paint. Those are two great team stats.

I also appreciate that the bench is third. It has definitely showed up in their record. The Mystics also have the edge in rebound percentage, fourth to eighth.

It’s also worth pointing out that Taurasi and Griner play year round together once you include their time on UMMC Ekaterinburg. Elena Delle Donne and Emma Meesseman haven’t had 12 practices and games just yet.

So this is more practice in real time for the Mystics. But I would like to see several players get out of their shooting funks, because the Mystics will need all of the offense they can muster.

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I’m not sure I saw this last year, but it is great!