Brittney Griner honored in Phoenix return, leads Dream to win

PHOENIX — Brittney Griner had 17 points and eight rebounds against her former team, leading the Atlanta Dream past the Phoenix Mercury 90-79 on Wednesday night.

Griner made her return to Phoenix, where she played 11 seasons with the Mercury, helping lead them to the 2014 WNBA title and an appearance in the 2021 finals. The Mercury honored Griner with a tribute video before the game, with former teammates Diana Taurasi and Penny Taylor sitting courtside.

Griner acknowledged getting choked up during the game, despite her best efforts to “hold my tears until the end.”

“When I looked over and saw D and Penny over there, it kind of ignited me a little bit,” Griner said. “Just being back on the court where I basically started my career on, played the majority of it, it just felt good. The crowd, seeing familiar faces, hearing old stories, signing jerseys that I’ve signed like a thousand times, it was good. It was a really good feeling.”

Allisha Gray scored a game-high 28 points, including a layup that gave the Dream an 84-71 lead with 3:03 left. Sami Whitcomb made 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions to get Phoenix to within seven points, but Griner answered with a basket in the lane to extend Atlanta’s lead to 86-77.

Jordin Canada scored 14 points and Shatori Walker-Kimbrough had 11 for Atlanta (14-10), which won for the second time in five games. Rhyne Howard, Atlanta’s second-leading scorer at 16.5 points, did not play. Gray made 10 of 16 shots for her 10th 20-point game this season.

Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper returned to the starting lineup for Phoenix (15-8) after being out since July 3 because of injuries.

Sabally finished with 13 points, Copper had 10 and DeWanna Bonner scored 18. Alyssa Thomas had 7 points, 11 rebounds and 9 assists.

Gray scored 13 points in the first half to help Atlanta take a 39-34 lead. Phoenix shot just 29.7% from the field, including 3 of 15 from 3-point range, but stayed close by making all nine of its free-throw attempts.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.