Mercury vs. Fever: Kahleah Copper Goes 15-of-16 at the Line as Phoenix Wins After Caitlin Clark Exits

Two nights after a game with more technical fouls than goodwill, the Phoenix Mercury came back to Gainbridge Fieldhouse and ran their offense out of the least glamorous office in basketball: the free-throw line. Kahleah Copper clocked in 16 times. She missed once, and that one waited until there were 5.5 seconds left.

Copper's 28 points carried Phoenix to a 111-109 win over the Indiana Fever on Wednesday night, in a game where both teams shot exactly 59 percent and the home crowd spent the last 15-plus minutes without Caitlin Clark. A game-time decision because of a lingering back issue, Clark exited with 5:15 to go in the third quarter and never came back.

Nobody Came Here to Play Defense

For one quarter, Clark looked fine and the Fever looked unguardable. Indiana hit 13 of its 18 shots in the opening period, went 5-of-7 from deep and took a 35-29 lead with Clark already at 13 points and three assists. An 8-0 burst flipped a 14-13 deficit into a 21-14 cushion along the way. Per the team, those 35 points tied for the fifth-most the Fever have scored in any quarter in franchise history.

Phoenix took its turn in the second. DeWanna Bonner had 11 of her 13 in the period, and an 8-0 Mercury run turned a 44-38 hole into a 46-44 lead. Indiana still went to the break up 55-53, but nobody in the building was confusing this with a rock fight.

Then the third quarter delivered the night's real plot twist. Clark left at the 5:15 mark with 19 points and eight assists in only 20 minutes, one point shy of the 20-and-5 line she had cleared in six straight games. Kelsey Mitchell tried to carry the whole script herself, scoring 11 in the quarter to hand Indiana an 85-82 lead going into the fourth.

The fourth was basketball as ping-pong. Alyssa Thomas put Phoenix up 95-93 on a 16-footer with 4:51 left, Mitchell answered from 29 feet, and rookie Noemie Brochant answered her from 26. That Brochant 3 was the 13th and last lead change of the night. Thomas then scored inside to make it 100-96, and Indiana spent the rest of the evening chasing.

The Free-Throw Merchant and Her Crew

Copper took just 10 shots from the field and made six. Those numbers usually get you 13 points and a polite handshake. She got 28 because she kept attacking and let the whistle do the rest. Her biggest sequence came after Aliyah Boston's layup made it 106-105 with 56.9 seconds left: a free throw at the same stoppage, then a driving layup six seconds later for 109-105. Three points in a blink, right when Indiana finally had the crowd believing.

Thomas was the engine, with 24 points on 12-of-17 shooting and eight assists. Valeriane Ayayi gave Phoenix a career-high 19 off the bench, going 8-of-9 at the line. Brochant filled out the rest of the spreadsheet: 12 points, nine assists and three steals, that last number a season high.

Indiana's stars can look at this box score and feel robbed. Mitchell was absurd: 30 points, six assists and 7-of-9 from 3-point range before finishing with six fouls. Those seven 3s tied for the second-most in a game in Fever history, and the team says it was her 13th career 30-point game, tying Lisa Leslie and Seimone Augustus for 15th-most in WNBA history. Boston posted 23 points, nine rebounds and five assists, and she passed Erlana Larkins for second on the franchise's career rebounding list. Rookie Raven Johnson set a career high with seven assists, and Myisha Hines-Allen's 13 points were a season best.

Seven Seconds That Swung It

Boston's flagrant foul with 2:12 to go is the play Fever fans will be replaying this week. Indiana had just pulled within 100-98 on a Johnson jumper and had real momentum. Copper calmly sank both flagrant shots, and seven seconds later Ayayi made two more at the line. A two-point game had become a six-point game while the clock barely moved.

Indiana didn't go quietly. Lexie Hull scored on a drive, Mitchell drilled a 27-footer, and Boston kept going to work inside, making it 109-107 with two free throws at the 36.1 mark. Ayayi split a pair, Sophie Cunningham's short basket with 6.2 seconds left made it 110-109, and Copper's lone miss of the night came right after her make at the 5.5 mark. It didn't matter. Indiana never scored again.

Stats That Matter

• 39-of-66, twice: Both teams posted the exact same field-goal line. Everything that separated them happened somewhere else.
• 26-of-33 vs. 18-of-19: Phoenix made eight more free throws on 14 more attempts, helped along by Indiana's 29 fouls to its 19.
• 23-10: Phoenix's edge in points off turnovers, with Indiana giving it away 16 times.
• 17-4: Phoenix's edge in fast-break points, which is a lot of easy offense in a two-point game.
• 13-of-27: Indiana's 3-point line, good for an 18-point advantage over Phoenix's 7-of-20. It still wasn't enough.

What It Means

Phoenix moves to 6-13 overall and 4-7 on the road, with wins in two of its last three. The Mercury also split this two-game stay in Indianapolis after Monday's 86-77 loss, and they did it with Natasha Mack sitting out because of a foot injury. They go to Toronto on Saturday.

Indiana falls to 10-8 and 7-4 at home, with three losses in its last four games. The bigger question is Clark, who arrived with a back issue and left because of one. The Fever host Los Angeles on Saturday with that hanging over them, and nothing in the postgame record tells us more than that, so we won't pretend otherwise.

The Accountant Gets the Last Word

Indiana outshot Phoenix from deep, piled up 30 assists to 21 and led for 70 percent of the game. The Fever had the fireworks, the 16,128 fans and the best shooting performance in the building. Phoenix had a woman at the foul line doing long division. In a 111-109 game, the accountant goes home happy.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press and the Indiana Fever's postgame notes.