PHOENIX — Oftentimes in basketball, it’s hard for win-or-go-home stakes for both sides to meet the hype, but Friday’s 79-73 thriller for the Phoenix Mercury over the New York Liberty did just that. And then some.
Phoenix won its first playoff series since 2021 in the way you would expect, being led by MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas.
Thomas produced the first triple-double in Mercury postseason history with 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists. There have now been seven in WNBA history and Thomas has five of them, per Stathead.
A series with immense star power required Thomas to take her game to that level. Five days after spraining her MCL, Liberty forward Breanna Stewart had a heroic 30 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.
The Mercury mostly controlled the affair, at one point leading by 12 before a New York response in the second quarter kept things tight the rest of the way.
Both of them traded blows throughout, elevating their games in crunch time.
Thomas, though, had the signature stretch of it.
Across a second half almost entirely absent of a tipping point that was begging to swing momentum in one direction or the other, Thomas in the mid-fourth quarter scored right through Stewart with some bully ball, stopped Stewart one-on-one defensively and then set up a Sami Whitcomb 3 to put Phoenix ahead by eight with 5:26 remaining.
The stop resulted in Thomas’ 10th rebound and the Whitcomb triple was Thomas’ 10th assist. Add on the bucket and that’s the points, rebounds and assists all covered over three possessions that were ultimately the deciding moments.
“This is just what she does,” Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts said of Thomas. “She impacts the game in so many different ways.”
“She has kind of perfected her game to be a nightmare all over the court,” Stewart added.
Stewart valiantly scored all 14 of the Liberty’s points in the fourth quarter, a fact that elicited a “what the [expletive]?!” amount of shock from her afterward when she was told that by a media member postgame.
She at one point got the deficit back down to three at 2:17 to go. Mercury forward DeWanna Bonner then had a midrange jumper bounce up off the front of the rim and then in, Stewart got two free throws and then a tough driving finish for Kahleah Copper at 33 ticks left on the clock just about sealed it.
Phoenix’s Satou Sabally had a massive 23 points, 12 rebounds, three assists and two steals, while New York’s Sabrina Ionescu contributed scored 20 of her 22 points in the middle quarters to keep the Liberty within striking distance.
It was an incredibly impressive result for the Mercury considering the roster having just about no continuity coming into the season and not being through any real wars yet. Despite that and facing a Liberty squad that have chunks of their core together from the title win last year and as the runner-up two years ago, the Mercury remained poised in an intense and physical environment.
“I would say our focus and communication throughout the season,” Sabally said of what allowed for that to happen. “We knew we might be at a disadvantage just coming in not having that team chemistry battling with the top teams, because that’s really what we measured ourselves with.
“We knew that we had to handle conflict really quick. It happens throughout the season, it brings you together, it brings you closer, you mold, you have these tough losses, you have these great wins but everything goes into a bucket. And I feel like right now, it’s just that we’re complete and it feels great to feel that way and it feels great to really go onto the next round with full focus and a lot of confidence in what we’ve done this season.”
Next up is a semifinals matchup that seems insurmountable.
The Minnesota Lynx are led by likely MVP winner Napheesa Collier, and since she entered the league in 2019 and won Rookie of the Year, Collier is 18-4 against the Mercury. That includes a 3-0 mark in the postseason and a two-game sweep in the first round last year that Collier posted 42 and 38 points in.
Minnesota went 34-10 this season as by far the best team in the league, leading it in both offensive and defensive rating. Collier is joined by co-Defensive Player of the Year Alanna Smith and All-Stars Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams.
One of those four losses for Collier, however, was this year and that was when Phoenix was without both Copper and Sabally, and it shot 1-of-16 (6.3%) from 3 in that win. And the Mercury have the individual talent to match anyone, all with incredible connectivity that has been shining all season. Wednesday’s Game 2 win didn’t feature too much of Thomas until the game was already in hand, thanks to Copper and Sabally getting rolling early, while all three were ever-present in Friday’s decider.
That is the great equalizer they offer any opponent and why this figures to be a much closer and very entertaining rematch.
