PHOENIX — The Las Vegas Aces defended home court to take an early lead in the WNBA Finals. To remain viable, the Mercury must do the same as the series shifts to Phoenix.
Four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson and the Aces bring a 2-0 series edge to Arizona for Game 3 Wednesday. Game 4 of the league’s first best-of-seven series is Friday.
“We love an underdog story,” Mercury star Alyssa Thomas said. “We love when people count us out. Of course, we put a tall task in front of us being down two (to) nothing, but there’s still a lot of basketball left to play.
“(It’s just been) two of a seven-game series. Still a lot of confidence here. We just know we have a lot of room to improve.”
Wilson had 28 points and 14 rebounds in the Aces’ 91-78 Game 2 victory on Sunday, her 25th career playoff double-double.
Jackie Young scored 32 points for the second time in three games, and the Aces — often playing four smalls around Wilson — used a 19-4 spurt in the second quarter and a 10-4 run in the third to open a 14-point lead that was not threatened. The Aces led by as many as 22 in the fourth.
“Obviously, Game 3 is a big game,” Young said, “and then just playing at their place for their first home game. It’s important that we come in with the right mind, the right focus, knowing that even though we won two games, we got to take it one game at a time.
“It’s going to be a different environment playing at their place, but we have to stick together, stay within ourselves, and just continue playing Aces basketball.”
Kahleah Copper scored 23 points and Satou Sabally had 22 for the Mercury, who shot only 40.8 percent from the floor in Game 2. They were 5 of 28 from 3-point range.
Thomas, bothered by foul trouble, had 10 points, six rebounds and five assists. She had three fouls in the first half and picked up her fourth less than three minutes into the third, which altered the Mercury’s defensive scheme on Wilson.
“We’d like to keep her on A’ja as much as we can,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said.
Thomas has a league-record 29 postseason double-doubles.
Las Vegas is 23-3 in its last 26 games. The Aces ended the regular season on a 16-game winning streak, and they’ve secured win-or-go-home victories over Seattle and Indiana in the final games of the first round and semifinals.
The Mercury have been resilient in their run to the Finals, winning on the road in New York and Minnesota.
“What gives me confidence is we’ve been down before,” Tibbetts said. “We’ve been overlooked. Obviously people are going to start taking about how good Las Vegas has been, and they should. We’ve kind of always bounced back.”
Copper won an WNBA title with the Chicago Sky in 2021, when she was crowned WNBA Finals MVP.
“Our playoff journey,” Copper said as the reason she remains optimistic. “Being able to fight back, and knowing that is a part of our identity. We really have to lock in defensively because that’s what we are hanging our hats on. We have to be more connected defensively and trust that the next person has your back.”
–Jack Magruder, Field Level Media
