PHOENIX — Kahleah Copper walked into the press room Thursday night with her jaw tight and a box score crumpled in her hand. She had just dropped 22 points, her sixth straight game with 20 or more. It didn’t matter. The Mercury lost 92-89 to the Indiana Fever, and that losing feeling is getting old.
Phoenix is now 8-15. That’s 12th place in the WNBA standings. If the postseason started today, they’d be watching from home. That’s not what anyone expected from a team that played in the WNBA Finals last year.
When a reporter asked Copper if she’s been thinking about the playoff picture with the All-Star break closing in, she didn’t hesitate. “Of course I have,” she said. “Not getting too deep, trying to dig our way out.” Then she slapped the stat sheet against the podium. Hard. The sound cut through the room.
Same problems, different night
The Mercury have had moments where they look like the team that made that Finals run. The defensive intensity is there. The culture hasn’t cracked. But the results keep coming up short, and nobody can point to one single thing that’s broken. That might be the worst part.
They’re 3-7 at home. A fanbase that shows up every game deserves better, and head coach Nate Tibbetts knows it.
“We’ve had great energy in our building most of the year, to be quite honest,” Tibbetts said. “Obviously, Indiana travels with some people but for whatever reason, we just have not played very well at home and the X-factor continues to come out and support us.”
He paused. “It did feel like a playoff game tonight. We’re playing for our playoff lives here to finish the season.”
Copper has been through a rough stretch before. She won a title with Chicago and that team survived a seven-game losing streak. But she’s not leaning on that memory right now. This isn’t 2026, and the math is getting tight. Every loss now carries weight. There’s no margin left for moral victories or “almost” games.
The Fever hit clutch shots. The Mercury didn’t answer. The standings don’t care about fatigue or injury luck or shooting variance. They just show the record.
Phoenix has 17 games left. They need to start digging soon, because the hole is getting deeper by the night.
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