{"id":385741,"date":"2026-01-03T16:25:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T16:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/385741\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T16:25:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T16:25:08","slug":"looking-at-phoenixs-season-series-in-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/385741\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking At Phoenix&#8217;s Season Series In 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_7nsmf8hsz\">The Phoenix Mercury&#8217;s 2023 season was not one of the team&#8217;s best moments. They had one of their worst seasons, as they finished with <a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_k0tslj\" href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/wnba\/team\/schedule\/_\/name\/phx\/season\/2023\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">a record of 9-31<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_4m4asf9y9\"><a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_k0tslj\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/wnba\/mercury\/phoenix-stars-getting-ready-unrivaled-second-season\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Phoenix made the playoffs<\/a> the year before, but the team took a step in the wrong direction. The Mercury missed the playoffs for the first time since 2012, but after that season, they got back on track. <\/p>\n<p><img class=\"base_1emrqjj-o_O-initial_fzbddc-o_O-style_1a1csmw\" alt=\"Brittney Grine\" title=\"Brittney Grine\"\/><\/p>\n<p>May 21, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner (42) watches from the bench against the Chicago Sky in the first half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images \/ Rick Scuteri-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_i3zd174kl\">That was a challenging time for the Mercury, and their record impacted how they performed in season series. For example, they lost their series to the Atlanta Dream, as the Dream beat them 2-1. That series started with Atlanta beating Phoenix 78-65 in a game where Megan Gustafson was the Mercury&#8217;s leading scorer. She had 19 points, and she did it off the bench. The center also had eight rebounds, three blocks, an assist and a steal. <\/p>\n<p><img class=\"base_1emrqjj-o_O-initial_fzbddc-o_O-style_1a1csmw\" alt=\"Diana Tauras\" title=\"Diana Tauras\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Aug 3, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Mercury guard Diana Taurasi (3) celebrates her 10,000 career point milestone with teammates after the game against the Atlanta Dream at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images \/ Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_6lamjjos4\">Phoenix picked up a win in the next game, as <a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_k0tslj\" href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/wnba\/mercury\/phoenix-taurasi-shows-off-her-defense-against-west-rival\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Diana Taurasi <\/a>had a historic performance. She had 42 points, and she reached 10,000 points. The star guard retired this year, and in her career, she scored a total of 10,646. She is the WNBA all-time leading scorer, and she will hold onto that spot for a while. <\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_rjvjorq9g\">After that win over Atlanta, Phoenix lost the final meeting. The Dream beat them 94-76, and Sug Sutton was the leading scorer with 20 points. <\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_3we07bfeu\">The Mercury also lost their series against the Chicago Sky, as the Sky beat them 2-1. Chicago beat Phoenix 75-69 in that game, and the Mercury responded with a win in the second meeting. Then, the Sky closed the series with a victory. <\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_e4zu1ajw3\">It was a difficult period for the Mercury, and they continued to lost their season series. However, not all hope was lost, as they beat the Connecticut Sun 2-1. Phoenix won the first two games, and Connecticut won the last one. In that first game, Sophie Cunningham was the leading scorer with 17 points. <\/p>\n<p><img class=\"base_1emrqjj-o_O-initial_fzbddc-o_O-style_1a1csmw\" alt=\"Sophie Cunningha\" title=\"Sophie Cunningha\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Aug 5, 2023; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Mercury guard Sophie Cunningham (9) puts up a layup against the Seattle Storm during the first half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images \/ Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_82ana9q2u\">Overall, the Mercury lost most of their series, as they finished with a record 1-9-1. The series against the Indiana Fever ended in a tie. The Mercury could not get going, and while the win over the Sun was a bright spot, there were a lot of disappointments. <\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_f7y8badpb\">Phoenix was struggling, but those challenges did not last. The Mercury made the playoffs the following year, and as this year showed, things are continuing to get better. <\/p>\n<p class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_mxvz7o-o_O-style_12bse5w-o_O-style_6s3kpz\" data-mm-id=\"_ugmvhs9bn\">Please follow us on X to read more about Phoenix&#8217;s 2023 season and how they played during the Mercury played during that time when you click right <a class=\"tagStyle_16dbupz-o_O-style_k0tslj\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/MercuryOnSI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">here<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Phoenix Mercury&#8217;s 2023 season was not one of the team&#8217;s best moments. They had one of their&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":385742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":{"0":"post-385741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=385741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/385741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/385742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=385741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=385741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=385741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}