to basketball for the phoenix mercury. the american player spent 10 months in russian custody for possessing cannabis oil, before the us government struck a deal with russia. before the game, griner, the two time olympic champion, was cheered by the crowd as she warmed up, despite being on the away team. us vice president kamala harris attended the match and met the phoenix mercury players. griner scored 18 points but her side were beaten 9a 7i by the los angeles sparks in their season opener. it was nice to be back on court, real game and everything. the love from the fans was amazing when i came out. the players, you know, i definitely felt it. i felt it when i was over there still, every single coach in this league that reached out, did anything. it was nice, but performance wise, just wasn t good enough, couldn t help the team.