It took until the eighth game of the competition, but night three of Commissioner’s Cup play finally saw a game decided by a single-digit margin. That result also marked the end of the WNBA’s longest active losing streak entering the night, while Wednesday’s higher-profile game saw a win streak extended. Here’s what went down tonight:
New York Liberty 97, Toronto Tempo 82
The Liberty outscored the Tempo 80-62 after trailing by three points at the end of the first quarter, spoiling former Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello’s return to Brooklyn while winning a third straight game since a three-game skid. Jonquel Jones led six New York players in double figures with 22 points and 17 boards, her first 20/15 game in a Liberty uniform (last occurred in 2021). It was also JJ’s third double-double in the last four games after going without one in her first six outings this season. She’s averaging 15 points and 12.3 rebounds per game during this stretch. Marine Johannes added 15 points on 6-for-10 from the field while going 3-for-6 from deep — she, Jones (4-for-7), Leonie Fiebich (2-for-4), Pauline Astier (2-for-3) and Satou Sabally (2-for-4) combined to go 13-for-24 from beyond the arc. The rest of the team was 1-for-8, most of that coming from Breanna Stewart (1-for-5), although she still managed to finish with 19 points and 9 rebounds thanks mostly to an 8-for-8 effort at the line. Perhaps most importantly, New York finished with just 12 turnovers, one shy of its season-low, and committed them on just 13% of possessions according to Her Hoop Stats. That was good enough for the Liberty to improve to 11th in turnover rate for the season after sitting dead last in the WNBA through last night’s games.
Toronto was denied a third straight win, falling back to .500 at 5-5 and losing for only the second time when posting an offensive rating over 100 points per 100 possessions (Toronto’s rating of 105.1 paled in comparison to the 119.8 it allowed New York to post, however). The Tempo came into the game attempting both 3-pointers and free throws at rates among the highest in the league, but the Liberty did an admirable job of running Toronto off the 3-point line (Toronto’s 3-point rate of 24.1% was a season-low and the first time it’s been under 30% in a game) and keeping it off the foul line (6.7% free throw rate was almost 10 points lower than any other game so far). I wouldn’t say the Liberty locked Toronto down on defense, but they executed their gameplan well enough at both ends for me to feel pretty comfortable in saying it was the best game I’ve seen the team play this season, excluding the opening scrimmage with the Connecticut Sun.
Phoenix Mercury 72, Seattle Storm 68
The Mercury held off the scrappy but punchless Storm to snap a six-game skid, pulling away with a 9-2 spurt after the game was tied at 59 early in the fourth quarter. Kahleah Copper and Natasha Mack each scored 16 points to lead Phoenix, the latter adding 10 rebounds for a double-double, while DeWanna Bonner added 10 points off the bench despite going 3-for-12 from the field. I’m not going to insult your intelligence or my own by heaping praise on the Mercury for their performance tonight on defense after a putrid start to the season, given the Storm might well be the league’s worst offensive team without Dominique Malonga on the floor. It looked a lot like a game between two of the league’s worst teams, which is what they’ve been so far this season, but perhaps it’s the win the Mercury need to start turning their season around (I highly doubt it).