The Phoenix Mercury are locked into the No. 4 seed in the WNBA playoffs with one game left in the regular season, and they will face the No. 5 seed and defending champion New York Liberty in the first round.

Game 1 is Sunday at PHX Arena, and the first round is a best-of-three series. The second round is a best-of-five, while the WNBA Finals is a best-of-seven series.

Phoenix entered Tuesday with an outside chance of climbing up to the No. 3 seed, needing a win over the Los Angeles Sparks and a Las Vegas Aces loss to the Chicago Sky.

The Aces blew out the Sky, and with their seeding obvious, the Mercury did not play their starters in the fourth quarter against L.A. The Mercury fell 88-83 after Alyssa Thomas recorded her eighth triple-double of the season.

Mercury vs. Liberty

Phoenix defeated New York three times in four games this season, earning an 80-63 victory in the most recent matchup on Aug. 30 at PHX Arena. The Liberty did not have All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu in that game, and both teams are entering the playoffs with healthy rosters.

The Mercury are looking for their first playoff series win since their WNBA Finals run in 2021, which was Sandy Brondello’s last season as their head coach. Brondello has coached the Liberty since 2022.

The Liberty are coming off back-to-back WNBA Finals appearances and won their first championship in 2024. Ionescu is New York’s leader in scoring (18.8 PPG), followed by Breanna Stewart (18.2 PPG) and Jonquel Jones (13.9 PPG). The Liberty have not lost this season when that trio has been healthy to start and finish a game at 13-0.

Natasha Cloud, who spent last season in Phoenix, leads New York in games started. Additionally, one of New York’s reserves is Nyara Sabally, the younger sister of Mercury All-Star Satou Sabally.

Phoenix, meanwhile, entered Tuesday having won six of its last seven games, reaching 27 wins for the second time in franchise history after a 29-5 campaign in 2014.

Mercury-Liberty previous scores

June 19: Mercury 89, Liberty 81

June 27: Mercury 106, Liberty  91

July 25: Liberty 89, Mercury 76

Aug. 30: Mercury 80, Liberty 63