Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts highlights how team will adapt without Brittney Griner

The Phoenix Mercury fell 89-80 to the Las Vegas Aces on Tuesday night despite showing a valiant effort, but that wasn’t the only adversity that has been dealt their way this week.

Mercury Face Huge Challenge

After being out for Phoenix’s final preseason game last Friday against the Los Angeles Sparks while wearing a foot brace, there was no news on center Brittney Griner and her supposed injury.

While speculation was swirling as to what happened, it wasn’t until it came out Monday evening that she would be out for the foreseeable future as she sustained a toe fracture on her left foot.

In the first media availability after the Mercury found out her status, head coach Nate Tibbetts believed Griner’s injury was a major setback knowing how hard she had worked in the offseason.

“First off, I feel terrible for BG,” Tibbetts said at the Mercury’s pregame availability Tuesday. “It was an unfortunate situation. She had an unbelievable offseason. I think she played extremely well in Seattle.”

Trying to soak it all in while understanding there is still basketball to be played can be a daunting challenge to tackle.

Keeping this in mind, Tibbetts recognizes there can be two different thought processes when looking at the situation in terms of how it can impact the team’s performance going forward.

“There are two ways we can think about it, we can hang our heads and think about it and be disappointed or this is an opportunity for others to step up,” Tibbetts said. “We haven’t had a lot of time to take it all in.”

Tackling Adversity Head-on

In Griner’s place on Tuesday, the Mercury relied on Natasha Mack and Liz Dixon to hold the fort and defend against one of the best players in the entire WNBA, Aces center A’ja Wilson. Wilson scored 30 points in Vegas’ win – 17 of which came in only the first quarter – and Las Vegas outscored Phoenix 36-24 in the paint.

While Wilson’s superstar impact ultimately powered the Aces to the victory, Phoenix tied Las Vegas in rebounds at 37 apiece, had more blocks (6-5) and just one less steal (7-6). Mack played 20 minutes, collecting six rebounds, five assists and three blocks while Dixon stashed three rebounds in six minutes of action.

Without one of their best players when facing the back-to-back WNBA champions, the Mercury fought to the end and showed how resilient they are as a group no matter the circumstances they’ll deal with.

“We’re gonna have to evolve over the however long BG is out,” Tibbetts said. “We’re gonna have to try new things. It’s gonna force our hand a little bit and I think our team is excited about that challenge. There’s gonna be times where it looks good and there’s gonna be times where it’s an area that we’re gonna have to improve on. We’re gonna play a big at times and we’re gonna play five smalls at times. It’s just kind of where we’re at.”

There is currently no timetable or estimate as to how long Griner will be out and a possible return date.

This past Saturday, it was reported that Dixon would sign a training camp deal with the Mercury and while Griner’s situation was unexpected, Dixon and others will be able to showcase what they can do and provide to the team in more predominant roles.

“Liz just got here a day or two ago, so she doesn’t know a lot of stuff that we’ve been working on the last two weeks,” Tibbetts said after Tuesday’s loss. “She is going to get more comfortable. We are going to play Sophie [Cunningham] at some five, Kiki [Herbert Harrigan] at some five and we are going to rotate them in. Try to give different looks to the other team, and tonight is a preview of what’s to come.”

The Mercury will return home to Phoenix for their home opener against the Atlanta Dream on May 18 at 7 p.m. PT.

Alec Cipollini covers Phoenix Sports News for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @AlecCipollini