Mercury’s Natasha Cloud makes history despite frustrating loss
A Monday night in Phoenix presented a plethora of historic accolades. Brittney Griner eclipsed 800 blocks, Diana Taurasi moved into fourth on the all-time assist list, and Natasha Cloud recorded the most assists in a single season for the Mercury. Still, the 84-70 loss to the New York Liberty left a lingering sour taste for the home team.
One of the biggest complaints: Fouls. Griner looked at her stat sheet over and over postgame. She had few words after looking at the free throw difference between Phoenix and New York.
“Sometimes, the game don’t want to do what you want it to do, honestly,” Griner said.
Cloud was quick to follow suit and gave a passionate explanation of what the league should do to fix the foul disparity.
“We’re not the first players to talk about it,” Cloud said. “At some point, the W needs to be serious about this… I have six technical (fouls). So we’re going to get back to the drawing board. There’s a lot of things that we can control as a team. We’re very aware of that, but we can’t keep going five against eight every single night.”
Natasha Cloud sounds off on why the Phoenix Mercury has the most technical fouls in the league.#WNBA #ValleyTogether pic.twitter.com/GwxilzsQk3— Hayden Cilley (@HaydenCilley) August 27, 2024
Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson sounded off during her game against the Chicago Sky and mentioned “Everyone has to do their job. It’s from the players, to the refs, to the coaches… If I get fined for this, I am terribly sorry, but it’s ridiculous.”
Still, history was made and the Mercury home crowd acknowledged it. When it was announced that Cloud eclipsed Taurasi for the most assists in a single season in Mercury history, she gave thanks to the crowd. Cloud reflected on the moment and realized that athletes don’t give themselves enough credit for what they achieve.
“I appreciate it, I’m so thankful for it,” Cloud said. “Beyond words that a name is dedicated to the folks here in Phoenix. But even that we don’t come out with the win, it’s like I celebrate those things as much as can be sometimes we don’t necessarily just give ourselves our flowers.”
Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts saw the hard work Cloud put in through the extended break. She has shot roughly 42% from three, going 11-for-26 since the season resumed. It stems back to Tibbetts’ comments pregame about the increase in threes for his team.
While she knocked down four treys in the loss, she was one three-pointer short of her season, which she accomplished against the Indiana Fever earlier in August. Nonetheless, Tibbetts sees the work that “agent zero” is putting in.
“All the credit to her the work that she did overall, it’s so great,” Tibbetts said. “But we need her to love to shoot. A lot of teams like to go under on her and dig a hole and she needs to shoot the basketball. So she was a definitely a bright spot on the offensive end.”
Natasha Cloud’s increased aggression and confidence
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Natasha Cloud’s teammates have given her the confidence to keep shooting and to keep being aggressive. After all, she did post 18 points, seven assists, six rebounds and shot 7-for-13 from the field. Even with her impressive performance with enhanced aggression, her temper flared. However, the dark cloud became lighter, as she remembered her teammates.
“It makes games like this a lot easier to deal with and a lot easier to move on from when you really love and care about each other off the court,” Cloud said. Like if we’re going for long periods of time, we miss them and we usually feel them for, but that really does translate on the court, you know? You care about each other all the time as we go into the building.
“So we’re able to talk to one another in whatever way and we don’t take offense to it, we understand them. We have a commonality in the goal of winning. and so when it comes down to those deposits that we make up on the court, they check in when we go forward… All we can do is keep going in and focus on Mercury basketball. Those are the things that we can’t control. So this controls the controls and the things that are out of our control. You just have to get better.”
Phoenix has another tough task ahead of them on Wednesday, taking on the best team in the Western Conference, the Minnesota Lynx. The camaraderie needs to be pristine, along with Cloud’s increased aggression for the Mercury to inch closer to securing a playoff spot.
The post Mercury’s Natasha Cloud makes history despite frustrating loss appeared first on ClutchPoints.
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