Brittney Sykes Just Dropped 38 AND 31, And Alyssa Thomas Just Dropped The Cold Hard Truth

Woof. Look, we gotta talk about what's going down out there, even if it's not our boys or gals from the Emerald City. The Phoenix Mercury and Los Angeles Sparks are in a rough spot early in the season, and it's not looking pretty. Both squads just got absolutely clobbered by the expansion Toronto Tempo, and the biggest takeaway is glaring: their defense is a mess. The Mercury are sitting at a shaky 2-3, and the Sparks are even worse at 1-3, with both teams dropping three of their last four. Yikes.

Defense Is a Disaster Zone

You want to know how bad it is? Brittney Sykes from Toronto literally just had a career-high 38 points against the Sparks on Sunday, leading her team to a 106-96 win. Then, just two days later on Tuesday, she poured in 31 more against the Mercury in a 98-90 victory. Think about that for a second. An expansion team is coming in and Sykes is just doing whatever she wants, whenever she wants. It's not just her either. Marina Mabrey was lights out from deep against Phoenix, drilling 6 of 14 three-pointers, with Sykes adding 4 of 8 herself. Toronto collectively hit a season-high 15 of 36 from beyond the arc. That's a problem, folks.

Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas didn't mince words after the game, and honestly, we love to see that raw honesty. She finished with 17 points and eight assists, so she's putting in work, but she straight-up said, "I think we're nowhere near where we need to be defensively." Then she dropped the hammer: "It's gonna be a long season if we don't get it together on the defensive end." You hear that? A long season. That's the kind of blunt truth that needs to hit home for these teams.

Shooting Woes and Foul Trouble

It's not just the defense, though. Phoenix has some serious shooting struggles right now. While Thomas and Natasha Mack were efficient, both going 6 of 7 from the field for 17 and 12 points respectively (Mack also snagged 10 boards, a double-double!), their teammates couldn't find the bucket, shooting a dismal 20 of 56, which is just 35.7%. And from three-point land? Forget about it. They were a brutal 4 of 22. You're not winning many games with numbers like that.

The Sparks, on the other hand, actually shot pretty well overall against Toronto on Sunday, hitting 33 of 64 shots for a solid 51.6%. But they also struggled from deep, going only 7 of 23. Their real Achilles' heel? Fouls. They racked up 32 fouls, sending Toronto to the free-throw line a whopping 42 times. The Tempo cashed in on 39 of those attempts. That's just giving away points, plain and simple. Veteran guard Kelsey Plum, who had a strong 28 points on 9-of-14 shooting (and 9 of 11 from the line herself), preached resilience: "You're going to miss shots. You're going to make mistakes. You've gotta keep playing and keep going back. That's a muscle you have to grow, in terms of your resilience. That's something that we're going to have to have moving forward because in this league when you get punched, you have to take it and punch back."

What's Next for These Struggling Squads?

Phoenix is in the middle of a four-game homestand and they're desperate to salvage a split. Los Angeles is finally hitting the road for their first away game. Both teams are looking for answers, especially on that defensive end. If Alyssa Thomas is right, and they don't figure it out, it's going to be a very, very long season for both the Mercury and the Sparks. Time to punch back, right?

This article was created with AI assistance and reviewed by Seattle On Tap editorial staff. Always verify information with official team sources.