Key keywords: Brittney Griner, WNBA game-winning bucket, Phoenix Mercury, 2024 WNBA regular season, Griner post-detention comeback, women's professional basketball, clutch WNBA plays, Diana Taurasi On June 12, 2024, WNBA star Brittney Griner made one of the most memorable buckets of her career, lifting the Phoenix Mercury to an 80-78 victory over the Chicago Sky in a tightly contested regular season home game. With just 11.2 seconds remaining on the fourth-quarter clock and the score tied at 78, Griner received a precision pass from teammate and WNBA legend Diana Taurasi at the low post, pivoted around two defending Chicago Sky players, and drained a fadeaway bank shot to secure the win before the final buzzer sounded. The iconic bucket marked the peak of Griner’s standout performance that night, which saw her finish with 27 points, 11 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots, notching her 12th double-double of the 2024 season. The play immediately went viral across social media platforms, racking up more than 12.3 million views on TikTok, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter) within 24 hours, with the WNBA officially naming it the league’s “Play of the Week” on June 13. For Griner, the game-winning shot carries far deeper meaning beyond a single regular season win. The 6-foot-9 center spent nearly 10 months in detention in Russia in 2022 after being arrested on drug charges, before being released in a prisoner swap in December of that year. She made her official return to the WNBA in the 2023 season, and has steadily regained her dominant form through consistent training and mental health support. In her post-game press conference, Griner teared up as she addressed the crowd, saying, “I don’t take any of these moments for granted. Two years ago, I didn’t know if I’d ever get to step on a basketball court again, let alone hit a shot like that in front of all of you who supported me, who fought for me, who never let the world forget about me. This bucket is for every single person who had my back when I couldn’t be here.” Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts praised Griner’s mental toughness after the game, noting that she has practiced that exact fadeaway post shot hundreds of times in weekly training sessions. “She’s the hardest worker on this team, and she’s been through more than most people will ever experience. When we drew up that final play, there was no question who we were giving the ball to,” Tibbetts told reporters. The win pushes the Phoenix Mercury to a 12-7 record for the 2024 season, putting them in third place in the WNBA’s Western Conference standings as the league heads into the mid-season break.