Before I begin, keep in mind a few things as you read this post:

• It’s only 6 games into the season
• Players are still learning each other (both on the Mercury and opposing teams)
• Lots of teams are plagued with injuries

Now, having said that, it should in no way diminish how important and vital the start of the 2009 season has been for the Mercury; not by a long shot. Winning 5 of their first 6 games is great, no doubt about it.  However, it’s the way they’ve won these games that should have Mercury fans smiling and opposing teams scared to death.

Still Haven’t Put Together A Complete Game

For starters, they still haven’t put together a complete game and played to their full potential.  Ask anyone in the organization (including players) and they’ll tell you the same thing.  Right now, I’d say they’re probably at about 60-70% of their full potential which, if you think about it, is unbelievable. Their most complete game came against the Lynx (104-80) and they still struggled on defense a bit, gave up a lot of offensive rebounds, and as a team didn’t shoot well…and they still scored 104 points!

The Mercury have reason to celebrate thus far (photo by Barry Gossage)

Finishing Close Games

If you look at each of the Mercury’s wins in depth, you’ll notice that 4 of the 5 victories were much closer than the box score would indicate. In fact, it wasn’t abundantly clear who the winner would be until the last few minutes of each of those games. Now, part of being a championship team is being able to win those close games, and they’ve inspired confidence in that ability by going on big scoring runs typically in the last 2-4 minutes to seal the win.  Whether that’s a conscious thing or not by the Mercury, or it’s due to other team’s simply running out of gas, it’s certainly a fantastic sign this early in the season.

You Want To Run With Us? That’s Fine.

“It’s a lot of running,” Coach Gaines said after the Sparks game regarding the tempo. “They were running stride for stride, great, let’s run stride for stride. They can’t do it the whole game.”  One of Gaines’ best qualities as a coach is to have faith in his system and keep his players confident.  Corey knows that other teams might think they can run with the Mercury, and they might succeed for 2-3 quarters, but eventually they’re going to wear themselves out.  That’s the time when the Mercury completely take over the game and run other teams into the ground. Case in point - the Los Angeles game.

Rebounding and 2nd Chance Points

Much like the Phoenix Suns, the Mercury’s ultimate struggles in a game come from not being able to rebound the ball and giving up too many 2nd chance points.  Tangela Smith, Le’coe Willingham, and DeWanna Bonner have each done a fantastic job thus far crashing the boards as much as possible and working hard in the paint.  But, keep in mind, they are undersized and outmatched at those positions almost every game.  That’s why Nicole Ohlde’s return will be so vital for the Mercury.  Right now, they are playing about 8 players a night and Tangela is averaging over 30 minutes a game.  Luckily she is in great shape and uses that to her advantage when her defenders start to get tired.  However, the Mercury will need to shore up their inside presence to feel more comfortable about going up against more physical teams.

Building Confidence

After a season full of questions and doubt in 2008, the Mercury’s start has already given the team a confident mindset and attitude that they really didn’t have all last year.  Temeka Johnson is fitting in seamlessly with their system, DeWanna Bonner is making her case for Rookie of the Year, Diana and Cappie are a threat every night, and their role players (Tangela, Le’coe, Ketia, Brooke) are all giving the team productive minutes.  Not to mention, we haven’t seen what this team can do with another big in the lineup when Ohlde returns.

Things are already looking bright for the Mercury in 2009.  Though, they won’t be happy with anything less than bringing home another championship to the Valley in September.

June 20th, 2009 1:33 PM