The Phoenix Mercury clashed with the Seattle Storm on Sunday and emerged victorious 87-78 in an entertaining game. This win not only marked Phoenix’s seventh win this season but also came as an accomplishment for their star Diana Taurasi. The 3x WNBA champion reached the 300-win milestone which had every fan applauding the 42-year-old for her exceptional achievement. And her head coach Nate Tibbetts was no different.

Tibbetts was present during the post-match press conference on Sunday when he was asked a flurry of questions regarding their offensive play and their defensive strategies. One such question that caught the attention of every fan was when Tibbetts was asked about Taurasi reaching a personal milestone. Tibbetts congratulated Taurasi for reaching the landmark and wished her all the luck for more achievements to come.

“Yeah! When I think of DT… I think… uh winner. I mean, that’s… that’s who she is. She prides herself on that, you know. You can talk about a lot of different things as a basketball player but the thing I hear DT talk about most is winning and that’s the most important thing and you know hopefully before it’s all done she becomes the most… number one in that list,” Tibbetts stated.

With the win against the Storm, Diana Taurasi became the third WNBA player to reach 300 career wins. The two players ahead of her are Sue Bird and Lindsey Whalen. While Bird ended her career with 333 wins, Whalen emerged victorious 323 times. With 26 games remaining this season, Taurasi can pass Whalen. However, that will require a lot of things to go Phoenix’s way. Apart from this, Taurasi is already the all-time leading scorer in the WNBA with 10342 points.

She has played 543 games and is almost 3000 points ahead of the next-best scorer – Tina Thompson. Therefore, it remains to be seen if any player will be able to break her record in the near future. She also recently surpassed Michael Jordan with a stunning record comprising of both the NBA and WNBA players. Furthermore, Tibbetts also reflected on what this win against Seattle meant for the team.

Nate Tibbetts ponders on Phoenix Mercury’s latest win

The Mercury is having an average time since they have won 7 and lost an equal number of games. However, this game was special since the Mercury led from start to finish. They dominated in the first three quarters and only let the Storm come close to them in the fourth. Nonetheless, the Storm could not match the winning efforts by Mercury and hence were defeated.

“Yeah, I mean, thanks for pointing that out. The first games have been pretty stressed with the first 13 back and forth, and not playing very well. So yeah, that was… that was the first one we’ve LED start to finish and I think we have that potential. It’s us deciding that… that we can be that team each and every night and so I thought up until the last five minutes of… of the fourth… that’s when things got a little bit close but we stepped up and made the plays at the end,” Tibbetts stated.

Perhaps it is players like Taurasi that make a team and help them consistently win. Tibbetts will be looking for more such players who can make winning a habit. And hopefully, for her fans, Diana Taurasi becomes the winningest player in the WNBA soon.

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