Brittney Griner played in her first home game since returning from Russia Sunday afternoon at Footprint Center in Phoenix, moving into third place all-time in career WNBA blocks and scoring a game-high 27 points, including a rare 3-pointer that highlighted a day of gratitude for the Mercury’s X Factor fans.
The Mercury would lose 75-69 to the Chicago Sky, but Griner was the story. All the Mercury players were announced before the game in dramatic fashion, with Griner coming out last while “Coming Home” by Diddy and Skylar Grey was playing. After the third quarter, Griner admitted in an interview with ESPN’s Holly Rowe that she had been holding back tears during that ceremony.
Dana Evans made a straightaway bank-floater that gave Chicago (2-0) a 71-67 lead with 36 seconds left and teammate Elizabeth Williams stole a Diana Taurasi pass on the ensuing possession. There were 24 seconds remaining at that point so Phoenix (0-2) was forced to foul.
Chicago’s other Williams, Courtney, made key mid-range shots down the stretch to maintain the Sky lead. She hit from the left baseline to make it 66-61 with 3:44 to go and her bucket at 2:09 remaining made it 69-64.
A Taurasi three cut it to 66-64 and Griner’s third 3-point play of the contest cut it to 69-67 with 1:48…
