Kahleah Copper and Natasha Cloud bring Philly flair to the Phoenix Mercury: ‘They’re our spark’

NEW YORK — Guards from Philadelphia are just different.

The style is not always easy to describe, but you know a Philly guard when you see one.

On Wednesday night at the Barclays Center, Kahleah Copper and Natasha Cloud of the shorthanded, sick, and road-weary Phoenix Mercury, left an unmistakably Philly imprint, despite an 81-78 loss against the New York Liberty.

For example, Cloud, a 5-foot-10 do-it-all who starred at Cardinal O’Hara before leading St. Joseph’s, often guarded 6-4 Liberty forward Breanna Stewart, widely regarded as one of the best players of all time.

Curiously, though, Stewart caught the ball on the block with Cloud on her back and immediately passed the ball out to a guard several times.

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There could be several reasons a post player would play hot potato with the ball despite acquiring prime real estate with a smaller player behind.

Stewart appeared, however, to lack enthusiasm for a tussle with Cloud, who, sometimes on the same possession, also would guard 5-8 point guard Courtney Vandersloot.

“Every single night when you go up against a Philly guard, you’ve got to go [expletive] through us,” Cloud said. “You’re gonna meet a dog on both ends of the floor. We don’t play just offense. We play defense. We love kind of getting into it, kind of dirty and gritty. It’s a testament, I say it all the time, to our roots in Philly. The guard that I am, able to guard one through five, the IQ that I have, that’s a testament to all my Philly basketball. We love representing where we come from. ... And we’re putting our city back on the map and we’re hoping eventually that brings a team back to our city and that would be great. But, yeah, when you go up against a Philly guard, you know it’s gonna be a hell of night.”

Sabrina Ionescu (22 points) and Jonquel Jones (20) paced the Liberty, while Stewart added 13, about five points below her season average.

Cloud, a Broomall native, finished with a team-high 21 points. Copper, who is from North Philly and was a McDonald’s All- American at Prep Charter before starring at Rutgers, added 20 points, nine rebounds, and two steals.

Copper, the reigning Western Conference player of the week, is averaging 24.7 points while shooting 45.8% from the field, including 38.3% from three. Last week, the 6-1 guard/forward powered a win over the previously undefeated WNBA champion Las Vegas Aces.

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After Phoenix fell behind, 19-6, in Wednesday’s first quarter — perhaps the result of battling Brooklyn traffic that delayed its buses 15 to 20 minutes beyond typical arrival time — the Mercury turned to Copper and Cloud.

The duo, who also spent a season together after Copper was drafted by the Washington Mystics in 2016, scored 12 of 15 points during a second-quarter stretch that got Phoenix within 47-44 by intermission.

“That’s who they are,” first-year coach Nate Tibbetts said of his Philly guards postgame. “They’re our spark. They’re our energy. They got us going ...”

The Philly Mercury also were needed because Phoenix has been plagued by injury and illness during a stretch when it will play five games in eight nights.

Star center Brittney Griner has been sidelined with a left foot injury, while Rebecca Allen missed Wednesday in concussion protocol. Mikiah Herbert Harrigan also played sparingly against the Liberty while nursing an ankle injury.

Phoenix, which has lost three straight, was fresh off Tuesday night’s 70-47 flattening at Connecticut, where it shot just 1-for-27 from the three-point line.

“We just needed more pop,” Tibbetts said after praising general manager Nick U’Ren’s offseason acquisitions of Copper and Cloud. “We needed more of that other gear, and they’ve both brought that. They bring a little something different. They’re each their own [players]. They’re super competitive. If you were to ask them, that’s just being from Philly and the love for the game and that competitive spirit.”

Cloud and Copper have spirit in spades, which, in addition to sparking the team, also seems to help motivate each other.

“I think we feed off each other because Tash is just such a great leader, and we have such big personalities, but we mesh together so well,” said Copper, who had 50 to 60 family members in attendance.

“Tasha’s great and she’s a dog, too,” Copper added, “so I just know if I’m out there and I look to my left and it’s Tash there, we’re going to war.”