Turnovers once again hurt Mercury late against Valkyries

Mercury surrendered 20 turnovers in the loss, going back-to-back games with 20. While Mercury was able to string up some faster-paced offense in the first half, they began to slow down in the second. Phoenix led with 15 points at one point, but the turnovers prevented Mercury from getting the win.

Head coach Nate Tibbetts said the amount of turnovers is concerning, especially after two games. He believes it could be due to playing against different defenses and believes time will help the team adjust.

“We’ll watch some film tomorrow and make the corrections,” Tibbetts said.

Mercury’s Satou Sabally is optimistic about the team working through the miscues. Sabally mentioned how training camp has slowly shaped the team to prevent that compared to the first day.

“I’m not too stressed because it does come with the game,” Sabally said. “With team chemistry, you will know blindly where your teammates are and we just don’t have that yet.”

The Mercury will put behind the 0-2 and look to start 1-0 as the regular season starts on Saturday, May 17 as Phoenix takes on the Seattle Storm.