Final stretch begins as Phoenix Mercury chase home-court advantage

The Mercury have won five in a row and are tied with the Las Vegas Aces for the No. 3 seed in the standings, 26-14. Both teams are only one game behind the No. 2 seed, with the Atlanta Dream currently occupying second place.

The final four games will be critical, as all three teams hope to begin the playoffs at home.

“I think having a fan base like this is very important,” Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts said on Sept. 2, according to the team’s post-game notes. “… it’s not only great just to play in this building, it’s great for our players, but it’s also great for the city. And what the X-Factor brings each and every night, they need to be rewarded for that, because the playoffs are just different.”

Throughout the season, both Tibbetts and players have credited the home crowd for helping them through tough games and momentum shifts. Forward DeWanna Bonner believes the X-Factor helped carry the team to their victory against the Indiana Fever on Sept. 2.

“The fans are great – literally, they carried us through tonight,” Bonner said post-game, according to the team’s post-game notes. “And it was an energy game. Credit to Indiana since they gave us a run for our money, but just feeding off our crowd. I think we’re a team that does fit, and a lot of us have a lot of playoff experience, but right now we still have four games left and we got to use this to just focus on us and fine-tune.”

However, it won’t be so easy for Phoenix.

Although the Mystics are out of playoff contention, along with two other opponents the Mercury will face to end the season, they would love to play spoiler. Bonner acknowledges how tough it can be to face teams with nothing to lose.

“Those are the most dangerous teams when you know the teams are just playing, just to play,” Bonner said. “So, we use those games to prepare and great teams don’t change anything… We got to go in and lock in and focus just like we’re playing the number one team. So, I think we have that mentality right now and still building to try to play our best basketball and game by game.”

Phoenix enters the final stretch knowing every game counts, hoping to begin the playoffs with the X-Factor by its side.

The Phoenix Mercury and the Washington Mystics play on Thursday, Sept. 4, at 4:30 p.m.