Mercury vs. Tempo: Kahleah Copper Scores 27 as Phoenix Beats Toronto 89-80 Without Alyssa Thomas

DeWanna Bonner pulled up from 28 feet with 2:28 left and the Phoenix Mercury clinging to a three-point lead, because at some point in a game like this, somebody has to be unreasonable. It went in. So did the 25-foot step-back she'd hit a little earlier. And on a Saturday afternoon in Toronto where both teams were missing a headliner, those were the shots that sent most of the crowd of 15,687 home unhappy.

The Mercury beat the Toronto Tempo 89-80 at Scotiabank Arena behind 27 points from Kahleah Copper and a career-high 20 off the bench from Valeriane Ayayi. Phoenix played without Alyssa Thomas, who was serving a one-game league suspension for contact with Indiana's Caitlin Clark in Wednesday's 111-109 win over the Fever. Toronto lost Marina Mabrey to neck spasms as a late scratch, one game after she tied the league record with 53 points.

Forty Minutes of Nobody Blinking

This was an honest, irritating, back-and-forth game for three quarters. There were 11 lead changes, and neither team ever got comfortable. Toronto went on an 8-0 run in barely half a minute of the first quarter to go up 16-9. Phoenix came right back with nine straight to take a 20-19 lead inside the final minute, and the Tempo still led 22-20 after one.

It was 44-42 Toronto at the half and 66-65 Toronto after three. Three quarters, three different one- or two-point scores, and nothing resembling a separation. Julie Allemand kept finding people, Toronto kept hitting 3s, and Phoenix kept getting to the line. The Tempo finished 12-of-30 from deep, with Allemand, Nurse and Pouye hitting three apiece, and they held the lead for 46 percent of the game to 37 for the Mercury. Then the fourth quarter showed up and only one of those three things kept happening.

The Mercury took the lead for good in the final five minutes. Copper's two free throws at 4:48 made it 75-73, and Bonner's step-back from 25 feet off an Ayayi pass made it 78-73. Nyara Sabally answered with a step-back 3 of her own to make it a two-point game, and Copper went back to the line. Bonner then hit the 28-footer, off a Noemie Brochant pass, for an 83-77 lead.

Toronto still had some life. Isabelle Harrison's turnaround and a Sabally free throw got it to 83-80 with 1:42 left. The Tempo never scored again. Bonner missed another long one, but Copper chased it down and scored, and with 51 seconds to go it was 85-80. Moments later, Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts challenged a foul called on the Mercury and won it. Ayayi and Bonner closed it out at the line.

Copper Did the Hard Part

Copper made 10 of her 15 shots and only one of those came from 3, which tells you where she was working. She went 6-of-8 at the line, grabbed five rebounds and scored six of her points in the final five minutes, when Phoenix needed someone to get a bucket or a whistle. With Thomas out, somebody needed to be the one who could get a bucket when the offense stalled. She was.

Ayayi was the surprise. Her 20 points came on 7-of-14 shooting with two 3s and a perfect 4-of-4 at the line, plus six rebounds, in 27 minutes as a reserve. Lexi Held added 16 and hit three 3s. Bonner shot just 4-of-13 and still may have been the most important player on the floor, finishing with 13 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals on top of those two huge 3s. Brochant scored only three, but she also had three steals and the pass on Bonner's biggest shot. Phoenix's bench won its matchup 26-21, nearly all of it Ayayi.

Toronto spread it around, with six players in double figures. Sabally led them with 14, rookie Tima Pouye scored a season-high 13 off the bench, Harrison and Kia Nurse each scored 12, and Temi Fagbenle chipped in eight on 4-of-6 shooting. Allemand had 11 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds in 39 minutes, and was the best thing the Tempo had going. Maria Conde scored 10 but shot 4-of-14 and 1-of-8 from 3, and without Mabrey, there wasn't a go-to option to bail out those empty stretches.

A Quarter of Separation

Toronto scored 14 in the fourth. Phoenix scored 24. There's your game. Through three quarters the Tempo had scored 66 on efficient, unselfish offense, and then the well ran dry.

The line made the rest of the difference. Phoenix went 21-of-29 and Toronto went 6-of-12, a 15-point gap in a nine-point game. Toronto made more field goals, more 3s and had 10 more assists. It didn't help. When you only get to the line 12 times at home, you're asking a lot of your jump shot, and in the fourth quarter that jump shot was tired.

Exhibit A Through E

• 21-of-29 vs. 6-of-12: Free throws, and the clearest reason Phoenix won.
• 24-14: The fourth quarter.
• 10-4: Mercury steals, part of 13 points they scored off Toronto's 12 turnovers.
• 17-10: Fast-break points, Phoenix.
• 26-16: Assists, favoring Toronto, which still lost by nine.

Where This Leaves Them

Phoenix is 7-13 and 5-7 on the road, with two straight wins and three in its last four. That's a real improvement for a team that spent much of the spring in a hole. The Mercury host Seattle on Thursday.

Toronto slips to 9-10 and 5-4 at home, one game after beating Los Angeles 125-97. The Tempo now get a long break before hosting Dallas on July 5, which should give Mabrey's neck some time to calm down.

Were You Rushing or Were You Dragging?

Fourteen points in the fourth quarter. Six made free throws all afternoon. J.K. Simmons has a line for exactly this situation in Whiplash, and it's the one sentence a team called the Tempo never wants to hear: not quite my tempo.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press on WNBA.com.