Tempo vs. Mercury: Brittney Sykes, Marina Mabrey Combine for 61 as Toronto Rains 15 Threes in 98-90 Win

There is a version of Tuesday night where Phoenix wins this game. It lives in the paint, where the Mercury piled up 52 points to Toronto's 26, and at the foul line, where they made seven more free throws than the visitors. Sadly for the home crowd, basketball still pays extra for shots taken from far away, and the Tempo treated that rule like a family inheritance.

The Toronto Tempo walked out of Mortgage Matchup Center with a 98-90 win over the Phoenix Mercury, and two players did nearly all the damage: Brittney Sykes with 31 and Marina Mabrey with 30, six threes included. Toronto hit a season-high 15 threes. Phoenix hit four. Do the math and you get 45 points to 12 from deep, a 33-point gap in a game decided by eight.

Twenty-Four Lead Changes, Then Ten Straight

For most of three quarters, this game refused to commit. The lead changed hands 24 times, which is less a basketball game than a group chat where nobody will pick a restaurant. Toronto erased a 21-15 deficit with eight straight points late in the first, Phoenix tied it at 23 by the end of the period, and Mabrey's third three of the half dropped with 20.8 seconds left in the second to send the Tempo to the break up 45-44.

That half was a two-woman operation. Mabrey had 15, Sykes had 14, and everyone else in a Toronto uniform combined to shoot 5-of-16. Phoenix came out and tried to make the Tempo pay for the thin support, scoring 30 in the third on 61% shooting with Kahleah Copper leading the charge. The Mercury carried a 74-73 lead into the fourth and looked like the team with the better plan.

Then the floor tilted. Phoenix led 78-75 with 7:50 to play. By the 6:24 mark, Toronto led 85-78. That is 10 unanswered points in 86 seconds, the bulk of a 12-4 start to the quarter, and it gave the visitors the first real breathing room anybody had enjoyed all night.

The Corner Three That Closed the Tab

Phoenix did not go quietly. Alyssa Thomas scored twice around a DeWanna Bonner layup, and a seven-point hole became 89-86 with 3:35 left. Maria Conde and Kiki Rice answered with buckets inside for a 93-86 cushion, then Noemie Brochant's three and a Thomas free throw made it 93-90 with 1:43 to go. One more stop and one more make, and the building was going to get its finish.

Instead, Rice found Mabrey in the corner with 1:25 remaining, and her sixth three made it 96-90. That was the game. Phoenix never scored again, and free throws from Rice and Sykes handled the paperwork.

Two Scorers, One Very Long Night for Closeouts

Sykes was coming off a career-high 38 against Los Angeles two days earlier, and this was somehow the tidier performance. She went 10-of-19 with four threes, 7-of-8 at the line, seven rebounds, six assists and zero turnovers in 35 minutes. Carrying that much of an offense without giving it away once is the quiet flex in this box score.

Mabrey's line was the loud one: 11-of-23 overall and 6-of-14 from deep. Together they supplied 62% of Toronto's points, and Rice covered a lot of what was left, with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting, 2-of-2 from three, seven rebounds and a team-best plus-13 while playing through five fouls. Laura Juskaite chipped in 10, also with five fouls. Conde went just 1-of-9, and her lone make was that layup in the final minutes, which tells you how this offense is built right now: the starters scored 88 of the 98, and Toronto's top two did most of the heavy lifting.

On the other side, Thomas was terrific: 17 points on 6-of-7 shooting, eight assists and three steals. Natasha Mack had 12 points and 10 rebounds, her third career double-double, all in 18 minutes before she left late in the third after a hard fall. But Copper needed 18 shots for her 18 points, she and Bonner went a combined 0-for-8 from three, and Jovana Nogic scored 13 on 4-of-15 while finishing minus-19, the worst mark in the game. Kiana Williams gave Phoenix seven off the bench and went plus-13 in 12 minutes, the best number of any Mercury player, which raises its own questions. Among the Phoenix starters, only Mack finished in the positive.

The Numbers That Mattered

• 45-12: Toronto's edge from three, on 15-of-36 against 4-of-22.
• 52-26: Phoenix's edge in the paint, which kept this close and still was not enough.
• 24: Lead changes, in a game where nobody led by more than eight.
• 14-11: Toronto's margin in points off turnovers, even though Phoenix gave it away only nine times.
• 26-17: Fouls, against Toronto, which is why the Mercury took 28 free throws to the Tempo's 18. It did not save them.
• 0: Sykes turnovers.

Over .500 in Toronto, Homework in Phoenix

The Tempo are 3-2 with back-to-back wins, including 2-1 on the road, and they wrap up a four-game trip in Minnesota on Thursday. Phoenix falls to 2-3 overall and 1-2 at home, with one more game on this homestand, Thursday against Los Angeles.

The Mercury's coach did not hide from where this one went wrong. "For a team that takes pride in the defense, we didn't do what we needed to do tonight," Nate Tibbetts said. "There was five to seven 'dare' shots where we didn't get matched up. A lack of focus."

Truth or Dare

Dare is exactly the right word, because the Tempo are not a team you want to play that game with right now. They let it fly 36 times from behind the arc and cashed 15. The truth option, for Phoenix, is less fun: you can win the paint by 26 and the free-throw line by seven, and you will still lose by eight if the other team turns the three-point line into the only part of the court that counts. Somebody in that group chat finally picked a restaurant, and it was Toronto.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press and the Phoenix Mercury. Postgame quotes from the Phoenix Mercury.