Brittney Griner exits early with injury as Mercury lose to Fever

Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner was ruled out of Friday night’s 95-86 loss at Indiana after suffering what the team announced as a right hip injury in the second quarter.

“What I’ve been told is a strained groin, so we will see,” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said after the game. “The medical staff decided to hold her out.”

Griner, also a member of the U.S. 5-on-5 Olympic team, was injured with 6:38 remaining in the quarter during a collision with teammate Kahleah Copper. She was down on the court for a few seconds before limping to the sideline.

Griner had four points and one assist in 11 minutes. She sat on the bench for the second half of the game.

The Mercury were already short-handed prior to Griner’s injury, as fellow Olympian Diana Taurasi (lower left leg), Natasha Cloud (left knee), Sug Sutton (right hamstring) and Charisma Osborne (lower left leg) were ruled out before the contest. Phoenix’s Bec Allen was on a time restriction due to injury, although she did play 25 minutes.

Guard Celeste Taylor, whom the Mercury signed to a seven-day contract Friday, played 24 minutes against the Fever team that drafted and then waived her earlier this season.

Having started with seven available players, Phoenix had just five by game’s end, Tibbetts said, because of Griner’s injury and Allen being limited.

“I’m thankful for my time in the D League, to be honest,” Tibbetts said. “Our roster size [there] was small, and there were some nights we had to play with eight. But not a lot of nights where you saw seven being rolled out there like we did tonight.

“My hope is the [WNBA] in the new collective bargaining agreement will expand the roster sizes. I’ve heard coaches talk about it. I’m new to this league, but it can be better than what it is. It shouldn’t get to this point.”

Still, Tibbetts was pleased with how hard the Mercury players continued to battle. They cut the Fever’s 31-point lead to four late in the fourth quarter. Copper had 36 point and Sophie Cunningham 21 to lead the Mercury, who fell to 12-11. The Mercury outscored the Fever 28-13 in the fourth quarter.

Indiana (10-14) was led by Kelsey Mitchell with 28 points. Aliyah Boston had 21 points, 13 rebounds and 5 assists. Caitlin Clark had 20 points, 13 assists and 6 rebounds, and NaLyssa Smith 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Indiana nearly rallied from a 21-point fourth-quarter deficit on Wednesday against Washington, but fell short. Then on Friday, the Mercury almost did the same thing to the Fever. But Indiana, which hasn’t made the playoffs since 2016, survived and is now in seventh place with two games to go before the All-Star/Olympic break. The top eight teams make the playoffs.

“They went zone and we didn’t take wide-open shots [or] didn’t finish them,” Fever coach Christie Sides said of how the game almost slipped away from Indiana. “And then we didn’t get back guarding. We just couldn’t get matched up with who we were supposed to. Kahleah Copper is an unbelievable player.”

Copper is also on the U.S. Olympic team, which has some injury concerns with the Paris Games set to start July 26.

Griner’s and Taurasi’s injuries aren’t the only worries. Minnesota forward Napheesa Collier (left foot) is on the U.S. 5-on-5 team and Atlanta guard Rhyne Howard (left ankle) is on the U.S. 3×3 team; both remained out for their respective teams Friday.