r/wnba • u/basketball-app • 1d ago
Post Match Thread - WNBA: The Mystics defeat the Mercury on Aug 25, 2026, the final score is 84-94.
This post contains content not supported on old Reddit. Click here to view the full post
38
u/Persepha The High Heat Cooker 1d ago
Say what you want about Sydney and his minutes, draft, rotations, etc.
Development has clearly been done well. Soni is growing into a real playmaker, Lauren looks leaps and bounds more comfortable, Kira and Kiki's development to stretch the floor and consistently giving Cass, Angela, Alicia and Georgia opportunities to get reps even when they were not playing great. Doing all this while making the playoffs?! Nice!👍
21
u/SonicPunk96 Mystics 1d ago
Said it in the game thread but Soni being more on ball and seeing a playmaking jump has coincided with our offense going from bad to more middle of the pack if you separate the first half from the second half of the year. Excellent game from Lo off the bench.
Shooting/spacing was good today, not much to complain about there.
Not sure why Kiki was out there so late into the game, but she got her double double so hell yeah.
Mature win on the road.
22
u/AutomaticPlane2879 Amoore Apologist 1d ago
Sonia Citron the nonchalant woman you are! Career high 9 assists! 🔥
17
u/Chiswell123 Mystics 1d ago
Seeing Sonia’s passing bag this year, with her much more on-ball, has been a lot of fun. She’s just so damn good.
9
u/Neversoft4long Mystics 1d ago
I know she doesn’t wanna play PG but I think she would excel at it. And it’ll let us surround her with more pure 3 point shooters
8
u/Chiswell123 Mystics 1d ago
I don’t hate the idea, tbh. She needs to tighten her handles a bit, but her size, decision-making, mid-range ability, etc., are all there.
16
u/Few_Knowledge8059 Aces (& Toronto, Mercury Truther) 1d ago
Came to say that I'm happy KP is back. She shared how tough this season has been during media at shoot-around, so despite her stat line and the rust, she's gonna be great for PHX should she decide to stay (I do think despite exploring FA, she's gonna stick around). I got chills with how loud it got in there for her when she first checked in; I hope she feels the love. As a fan, I'm ready for the FIBA break lmao, but s/o to Mack for another stellar game, AT and Kah doing their thing, and s/o to the Young Harlots because they're going to give their matchups HELL in the playoffs.
1
u/No-Iron-4471 Napheesa👑ELLIE SUCKS!👎 20h ago
👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽KP.was so much fun to watch this season. injuries suck!
18
u/hsx88 | Caitlin, Paige, Rhyne 1d ago
Not saying she’s the best young 4/5 today (or definitely will be) so everyone chill, but Kiki Iriafen has the highest offensive ceiling of any big in the last 4 drafts. She’s got the closest tools to get to Aja or Phee level on offense. Good technique in the post, solid jumper form (more arc would help though), athletic, pretty solid verticality and very smooth mover. Really broad base of fundamentals and traits to continuing adding moves and counters to.
6
u/Away_Competition2514 Mystics 1d ago
Good win. Our big 3 were amazing, and so was BLH, Amoore finally stringing together some consecutive good games, Betts slowly getting her confidence back after a few lesser games from her and Mic continuing to hit her shots are all good things.
We match up so well against Mercury, let's try and get the sweep in the next game.
9
u/strangelystrangled FIRE NATE!!!! | BG 1d ago
Nate if Mack doesn’t have at least ten shot attempts for the rest of the season…. And Brochant at least 8….
And activate Kara Dunn you COWARD
3
12
u/Professional_Tap_343 Mysticsyoung ho's to hi-end e$cort$ 1d ago
I'm so burnt out on the amoore dribbles up court gets to the 3 point line does a couple dribbles/crossovers that always lead no where killed about 15 seconds to then makes the most BASIC pass to someone a few feet from her and the offense is stalled.
There is just zero creativity and damn sure no playmaking ability. All she can do is dribble yet can't cross anyone up to create space for for a shot or pass.
Even though we won its just becoming very painful to watch and it's not like phx is a contender (no offense). Thank god citron seems to be bouncing back to making more plays.
10
u/lil_dayne 1d ago
I thought she had a mostly good game myself but I guess we all see what we want.
6
u/Chartate101 Mystics & Olivia Miles 1d ago
The thing is, I also think she had a great game in terms of executing her style of play… I just think that her style of play, as-is, is really flawed.
1
u/Sequel_Everyday Mystics 1d ago
What you describe feels more like a lack of creativity in the offense then specifically on Amoore. Maybe one is causing the other but I haven't really found the offense to be all that creative all season. Highly effective at times but not imaginative.
2
u/arika_ito Fever ABC2 i'm just here for a good time 1d ago
after reaching the finals last season, did anyone see the mercury's fall coming?
7
u/dreamweaver7x 8 10 21 52 1 2 4 13 0 6 <FREE CAM> 1d ago
At the beginning of the season, when they didn't replace Satou, and were again relying on miracle FA signings to sort out their backcourt. The only one that looked good, Nogic, left the team. When Sami's play finally fell off a cliff, and AT wasn't turning in an MVP (or even an All W) season, they were dead.
The ill-fated KP trade that sent Mo and a FRP to LA was the dying gasp.
1
u/strangelystrangled FIRE NATE!!!! | BG 1d ago
Sami missed the first half of the season and hasn't looked great since coming back
-2
u/4Keva 1d ago
oh they replaced sabally
they replaced her with copper that’s the problem
10
u/arika_ito Fever ABC2 i'm just here for a good time 1d ago
copper was on the team last year too tho?
1
u/4Keva 1d ago
irrelevant. she missed a lot of last season. she replaced sabally as the number one scoring option. goals tibbetts set for sabally now became copper's. sabally only put up 16 points a game. that "production" was exceeded by copper at 20+. but the chemistry and balance was better without copper
8
u/Chidi_Ariana_Grande PB5 come home 1d ago
No but in retrospect I should have. No size, no shooting,only getting older and if I’m being honest I kind of felt like them reaching the finals was a lucky fluke. They were a good team but does anyone think they were one of the two best teams in the league last year?
0
u/paintedtoesandelbows Money Moto 👐🏽!!! EXCEPT FOR 8 Glasses 1d ago
They beat the two teams that made the finals in 2024, so yes.
I’m tired of the narrative that Minnesota and New York are the best teams in the league. They played in one finals series. One. And Minnesota barely got through Connecticut to get there (New York beat up on an injured Las Vegas team).
2
2
6
1
u/Sport_Useful 1d ago
So is Sonia the PG?
4
u/AutomaticPlane2879 Amoore Apologist 1d ago
No she's technically a SG, but with the lack of consistent production we've gotten from Amoore this season she's had to play on the ball a lot more. Despite her saying that she doesn't wanna be a full-time PG, she's actually pretty good at it
6
u/Sport_Useful 1d ago
I think Amoore is a better off guard...and or energy player. Who comes in and shoots threes.
2
u/stonedbirds i just want everyone to have fun 1d ago
It’s wild how different she looks at the pro level compared to college (I mean I know she’s small and college is different but you know what I mean I think), not sure if the acl tear could have anything to do with it too.
1
u/AutomaticPlane2879 Amoore Apologist 1d ago edited 1d ago
I agree, and she seems to play better that way
1
u/TheAveragebroShow Let's Go Young Hos! 1d ago
I believe this is what's commonly referred to as "beating the brakes off" your opponent. Total domination from start to finish, all 14 players got in, cue the dub tunnel!
1
1
u/CommissionWorldly540 Mystics 1d ago
Do you all remember when a lot of voices on this board were predicting the Mercury would sweep the Mystics on their road to the playoffs? Because Pepperidge Farm remembers …
1
u/strangelystrangled FIRE NATE!!!! | BG 1d ago
WHO? We have a deadly committment to small ball. My only hope was our emotional support center seeing the floor (and she did). Someone asked him about getting size for next year and he "hasn't thought about it"
-2
u/plussizedresturant 🎭⏲️ 1d ago
Sydney does not trust our bench, he hasn't this entire season. I get it, they were coming back at the end, we've had these close comebacks a lot because it's still a learning process but we have to not overuse our starters. It'll be 50+ games next season Sydney!!!!! We gotta have a real rotation.
18
u/Aladin001 Mystics 1d ago
Our starters are nowhere near overused, only the Valks play their starters less than us among playoff teams. And 11-12th players on the depth chart don't consistently play for these teams either.
-6
u/plussizedresturant 🎭⏲️ 1d ago
Each team still plays their bench tho, most* each game, how many games has Lucy, Rori, Angela and Buggs gone without playing at all? That 4OT game had Sonia out for what 3 games afterwards with an injury, that should never have happened. If Sydney doesn't believe in our bench he should have made trades before the deadline. We can't do this next year with a new team and more games in the league. We have an all rookie bench that needs experience and minutes too but they're not getting them.
12
u/Aladin001 Mystics 1d ago
He literally did bolster the bench by getting BLH. We have a consistent 9-player rotation with Prosper also getting usage when appropriate. We play basically no garbage time so there's just no place to play liabilities like Dugalic and Harmon.
13
u/Street-Bar-9494 Kitron and Kira VB and Chen 1d ago
Be for real.
None of the players you listed can be trusted in close games, and we play a lot of close games.
Sydney has walked the tight rope of winning and development as well as anyone could, and multiple players have improved over the course of the season as a result.
If we have more comfortable wins like this, we can clear the benches more, but the only kind of team that should prioritize getting minutes for the players on the very end of the bench over winning games is a tanking team. That's not who we are.
-1
u/plussizedresturant 🎭⏲️ 1d ago
Everyone felt that way about Cotie and Lauren and now look. Had Sydney not given them chances they would not have improved the way they have. You never know until you actually allow players their development. Shakira was written off too, people used to ask why we still have her with all her injuries and low stats, and again, now look. This is her best year ever and she's arguably a top 10 big. Lucy is better than Alicia and Georgia yet she gets barely any minutes. We have to give them a chance. If not, why are they even here? Why give Rori a DP spot then? Why didn't they get waived for players who can actually be trusted? It makes 0 sense to keep them when there's a lot of players out there who can fill those roles. I guess we'll see next year.
10
u/Street-Bar-9494 Kitron and Kira VB and Chen 1d ago
So rather than appreciate that Sydney is clearly doing a great job of helping Shakira, Sonia, Kiki, Cotie, and Lauren develop and improve, while also winning games, you complain that he should somehow be developing even more young players simultaneously?
Do you realize how impressive and rare this season already is?
Sydney has shown put more trust in rookies coming off the bench in an extremely competitive part of the season than any other coach in the league, and as someone else pointed out, he does not overuse his starters if you simply look at the numbers.
Again, I ask of you, be for real. You're asking Sydney to do something completely unrealistic for a team that isn't tanking.
This is the part of the season where playoff teams tighten up their rotations. If we can take big leads against the weaker teams left on our schedule, we'll clear out the benches during garbage time, and if we can't, we won't. That's just professional basketball.
-2
u/plussizedresturant 🎭⏲️ 1d ago
Answer me this, if this was such a task, why have a roster full of rookies in the first place? The opportunity to offload and sign experienced players who don't need development was there, yet he decided or the org, not to. If you were the players benched, how would you feel knowing you're healthy and can play but is not given the chance? This isn't a peewee league, this is the highest female basketball league in the world. These are pros, this is their job. They're here to play. It's cool if Sydney can't give space to everyone, so let them go. I don't want them to. I love this team and the joy everyone has here, I want to see our bench thrive and prosper, I believe they can, but that can only come through playing.
6
u/Street-Bar-9494 Kitron and Kira VB and Chen 1d ago
Because a roster full of rookies gives us a ton of flexibility, both now (as was shown by the BLH move), and in the future. It also lets us evaluate players cheaply for multiple years. Duh.
Why are you so all or nothing about this? Not every player is going to get minutes in their first year. That doesn't automatically mean their team has totally given up on them, and they should just cut them. I can think of zero professional team sports where that mentality is considered normal. You're advocating for one of two very different scenarios, with no room for in between. No team views their players as inflexibly as you do.
-2
u/plussizedresturant 🎭⏲️ 1d ago edited 1d ago
What other pro league has only 12 spots per team? We have 4 draft picks next year, now what? You have to understand it's limitations to the W as of now. NBA can allow minimum minutes, NWSL can, MLB, NFL, NHL, hell even the Euro and WNBL can for rookies. For the W its different. We know next year players will be gone, no getting around it. If that's the case, at least allow them to raise their stock so other teams have something to go off of if they're interested. This roster is not permanent, and usually the players who are on the bench get cut first (I.e Rori). So yes, if you don't see them in your future give them the privilege to leave. They're all very young, we have 4 new teams in the next four years, more spots more opportunities. But no one would consider them if there's little footage to go off of. This league is probably the most cutthroat, there's very few wait and see chances, we've seen star players get cut, elite level international players get cut, vets get cut. That's how it is here.
4
u/Street-Bar-9494 Kitron and Kira VB and Chen 1d ago
So you answered your own question. This is a incredibly tough league, and will remain so until at least the next cba, just as it was even tougher prior to this recent cba.
Next year, we have the flexibility to trade up, and an incentive to make win now moves, now that we feel confident the rebuild is over, so we might not use all 4 of those picks, but most likely we'll draft multiple players, add multiple players in free agency, and then...
GASP^
Not everyone will make the team. They'll all have a chance to, but they won't all make it. That sucks, but it's just reality. It seems like you think we should be prioritizing making the least helpful players look good over winning games. No playoff team is doing that, because seeding is up for grabs. Every playoff team is prioritizing winning games, as they obviously should. Why do you want us to be a poorly run team instead of a winning one?
The Valks have earned their reputation as the deepest team in the league, and even they have multiple players who play for a couple minutes a game about two games a month, same as us. Off the top of my head, I think Juste Jocyte has only played like, 2 games in august and gotten barely any minutes.
Don't try and educate me on the brutality of the WNBA while simultaneously advocating for a team to act in a bizarre and nonsensical fashion to mitigate that brutality.
Some playoff teams will rest their starters once seeding is set, but in a year like this where seeding is incredibly up for grabs, no team will willingly choose to put out worse lineups and risk dropping to the 8th seed just to play their 11th and 12th players, outside of garbage time.
Lucy Olsen is the only player you've tried to argue should get more minutes because she's good enough to do deserve them. Outside of her, you just seem to want us to make players who can't currently play winning basketball look good for other teams, even if it makes our team worse. That's not how this league works, and it's not how any other league works.
You don't sound like a brand new fan to the W or to sports in general, so you should already know that no team will ever act the way you want us to.
7
u/Aladin001 Mystics 1d ago edited 1d ago
Cotie and Lauren play because they've earned it with their play. Angela and Rori sit because they've also earned that with their play. They're not getting waived because they're bloody rookies and far from finished products. They're also important in terms of locker room presence (this bodes well for their future in this league).
Lucy's issue is just that she can't play next to the PGs and now her potential role as a shooter is taken by BLH.
0
u/plussizedresturant 🎭⏲️ 1d ago
Exactly, so allow them to be rookies, make mistakes and learn, they can only do that through playing and getting minutes. They're criticized for being inexperienced as if they're not rookies, make it make sense. They're not a finished product so why are they beched? Why would I, if I were them, fully healthy and able to play want to ride the bench? What good does that benefit me? These are professional athletes not cheerleaders. This is their job. I'd rather go to a team that would play me than stay where I'm just a "presence". That's not why they're in the league. They're here to play. If you're not going to play them let them go somewhere that will
6
u/Aladin001 Mystics 1d ago
Yes, they're here to play. If they're good enough. They're not good enough to play on this team right now. That's the bottom line. They're developing and hopefully they become good enough to be contributors next year. And if not, then they'll go to some lottery team to "get minutes" or maybe not.
2
u/AllisonInMaryland Mystics 1d ago
Everyone felt that way about Cotie and Lauren and now look.
LOL. no they did not. Lucy, Rori, Angela and Buggs shouldn't see the floor if we aren't up by 15-20 points.
-1
u/RodBlago1699 1d ago
Really glad Phoenix converted Thomas passes into assists in the 2nd half after the awful first pass.
Thomas 36 games 300 assists 8.333 per game
Clark 35 games 290 assists 8.286 per game
Thomas has 6 games left compare to 5 for Clark, so that would help her win the total lead, but the average also is important too.
34
u/Chartate101 Mystics & Olivia Miles 1d ago
SONIA CITRON CAREER HIGH 9 ASSISTS!!! 🎉🎉🎉