Why the Phoenix Mercury have plenty to be optimistic about

Wilson scored 31 points while adding three blocks and two steals on defense, following up her game-winning shot in Game 3 to earn her second Finals MVP and third championship ring — the Aces’ third in the past four seasons, all led by coach Becky Hammon.

“I love being their coach, I love being their friend,” Hammon said to reporters postgame, while wiping away tears. “I love being a phone call for them. Pushing them — probably sometimes to their disliking a little bit, but I’m invested in their greatness, getting that out of them every day. I know I’ve shared tears with all of them along this journey, especially this year. And so it hits different because it was different.”

Despite not winning a game in the series, the Mercury fought hard at every turn, including in last night’s contest. Trailing by as much as 20, playing without an injured Satou Sabally and later battling through both a shoulder injury to star Alyssa Thomas and the ejection of coach Nate Tibbetts, Phoenix again rallied in the fourth quarter to make things interesting.

The IX Basketball, a 24/7/365 women’s basketball newsroom powered by The Next

The IX Basketball: A basketball newsroom brought to you by The IX Sports. 24/7/365 women’s basketball coverage, written, edited and photographed by our young, diverse staff and dedicated to breaking news, analysis, historical deep dives and projections about the game we love.

Phoenix’s final punch

Down by 14 going into what would become the last quarter of the WNBA season, the Mercury found themselves only down by single digits just three possessions into the fourth. It was deja vu of Wednesday night’s Game 3, as Mercury guard Kahleah Copper once again came alive to give her team a chance, finishing the game with 30 points.

The Las Vegas lead got as low as six with seven minutes left in the game, with Phoenix’s defense being as scrappy as it could be despite never reaching the form in this series that it had previously shown in the first two rounds of the playoffs.

Thomas did everything she could, basically playing with one arm, as she took a hit just before halftime that sent her to the floor writhing in pain and heading into the locker room. She finished with another triple-double — 17 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists — her 10th of the season and second of the playoffs.

“You see that she went down, and I’m like, ‘You good?’ Copper said. “She wasn’t back [from the locker room yet, but] I said, ‘Don’t worry, y’all, she’s coming back. She’s going to be fine.’ And that’s what I want. That’s what I’m looking for in a teammate, in a competitor, in a winner. That’s who I want to be around me in these times.”

Thomas’ triumphant return lit a fire in the Mercury, as they outscored the Aces 48-43 in the second half. But like in Game 3, it was too little, too late. Copper fouled out of the game with 1:30 remaining, sending Wilson to the line to seal the deal with free throws that pushed Las Vegas’ lead back to 11.

“We competed again tonight after getting down,” Tibbetts said. “We just keep playing for 40 minutes, and I think when you do that, you always give yourself a chance, and that’s why we’re one of the last two teams here.”

He continued, “You look at that team out there and all the experiences that they’ve been through together — that stuff matters. We had great playoff series in the first two rounds, but this is another level, and they’ve been there, and that’s something we’re building towards.”

Want even more women’s sports in your inbox?

Subscribe now to The IX Sports and receive our daily women’s sports newsletter covering soccer, tennis, basketball, golf, hockey and gymnastics from our incredible team of writers. That includes Basketball Wednesday from founder and editor Howard Megdal.

Readers of The IX Basketball now save 50% on their subscription to The IX.

Turnovers and technicals 

For all the grit the Mercury showed, self-inflicted mistakes put them in the hole that proved to be too deep to overcome. The Mercury committed 18 turnovers, leading to 26 Las Vegas points, and picked up four technical fouls — including the back-to-back technicals that led to Tibbetts’ ejection in the third quarter.

Tibbetts was incensed at a reach-in foul called on Monique Akoa Makani late in the third quarter, confronting official Gina Cross first at a moderate distance and then again in the face of Cross.

The game’s crew chief, Roy Gulbeyan, told a pool reporter that the sequence of events constituted two distinct technical fouls. That decision by Cross — to call two distinct technicals — gave Tibbetts the boot that effectively ended his second season as Phoenix’s head coach.

“To me, it’s embarrassing,” Tibbetts said. “I think it’s one of the weakest double technicals ever. I didn’t even know that I got the second one, to be completely honest. … Most coaches, when they get tossed, you’re doing it on purpose, and that was not my intention at all. But you know, there’s been issues with the officiating all year.”

Like Thomas’ fight through her injury, Tibbetts’ ejection also served as extra fuel for the Mercury.

“When he was gone, it was just another form of adversity on the year,” Copper said. “Let’s just add on to it, and let’s just play harder. And I think that’s what we’re about. I think when you talk about Mercury basketball, when you talk about the Phoenix Mercury period, we’re never going to quit. We [are] going to get after it, and we can handle whatever you throw at us.”

The call that caused the ejection was the tipping point of the frustrations Tibbetts had with the officiating all game. Phoenix was in foul trouble all night, with both of its centers — Natasha Mack and Kalani Brown — picking up two personal fouls within the first six minutes of the game.

By the end of the game, the Aces shot 35 free throws to the Mercury’s 19, with five of Phoenix’s players dealing with three fouls or more.

“A’ja [Wilson] is a great player. She’s going to score points, but you know, when someone shoots 19 free throws, it’s just tough,” Tibbetts said. “She shot as many free throws as our whole team. That’s tough to overcome.”

Copper, who fouled out, was asked about the officiating multiple times during her postgame presser, but opted to place the blame on herself and the rest of the team instead.

“There you go, right there,” Copper said when a reporter asked about the 18 turnovers that led to 26 Las Vegas points. “That’s why I [didn’t] speak [about] the officiating … that’s not what the wins and the losses are about. One thing about us is we’re going to hold ourselves accountable.”

Las Vegas only had seven turnovers, conceding just six points off of them, one of many margins that the Aces dominated all series long.

“Becoming Caitlin Clark” is out now!

Howard Megdal’s newest book is here! “Becoming Caitlin Clark: The Unknown Origin Story of a Modern Basketball Superstar” captures both the historic nature of Clark’s rise and the critical context over the previous century that helped make it possible, including interviews with Clark, Lisa Bluder (who also wrote the foreword), C. Vivian Stringer, Jan Jensen, Molly Kazmer and many others.

Buy it now!

Setting a new Mercury standard

Despite the Finals loss in sweeping fashion, the Mercury have plenty to be proud of. Just reaching this point is a major accomplishment for a team that retained all but two players from a season ago.

For a team that many counted out before the season even began, the Mercury’s run to the Finals has become one of the WNBA’s most surprising stories, and a building block for the franchise’s future.

“This was a special year. It’s one of the [most fun] years I’ve ever had in basketball,” Tibbetts said. “For a new group to come together the way that we did and compete, it just says a lot about who’s in our locker room, everyone involved, everyone bought into the vision.”

That buy-in began with the team’s stars. Thomas, Copper and Sabally all ended up in Phoenix with other options on the table, committing to a team that won just nine games in 2023 and a coach who had no experience coaching in women’s basketball before 2024.

Now, that trio, plus Tibbetts, forms a core that is built to compete as the WNBA transitions into an uncertain future ahead of upcoming CBA negotiations. Copper, one of the remaining players from last season, was the heartbeat of this season’s Mercury team. She even gathered the team together immediately after the loss, urging her teammates to use the moment as motivation for the future.

“Just take a couple seconds — feel it, hear it,” Copper said she told her team in that moment. “You hate this feeling; you hear the other team celebrating. Just remember what this feeling feels like. Remember the hurt. Just remember everything that you feel in this moment, and then let that fuel you for the future.”

Tibbetts commended Copper’s leadership, “She’s definitely a big part of why we’re here. She loves the bright lights. She came out tonight and did an amazing job. Just her leadership and growth as a player has been fun to watch, and I just love coaching her every day.”

Meanwhile, Thomas’ toughness was the team’s anchor throughout the season. Her all-around game defined Phoenix’s identity, and she arguably had the best season of her illustrious career this season. At 33 years old, Thomas led the WNBA in assists while setting all kinds of records en route to first-team All-WNBA and All-Defensive selections.

“She’s one of the toughest players I’ve ever been around, if not the toughest,” Tibbetts said of Thomas. “Her competitive spirit and will to win. Listen, I wanted to win for our organization, our city, but more than that, I wanted to win for [Thomas] because I know how much she wears it on her sleeve and how much she just wants to win at the highest level.”

Thomas was candid in her assessment of the Finals, recognizing both the challenges and lessons that came with Phoenix’s deep postseason run.

“I think we were relaxed when we got to the Finals,” Thomas said. “I think what made the run so special in the first and second round was how we played together. We moved the ball, and we didn’t complain or let anything bother us.

“The Finals [are] hard for a reason. I’ve been saying every stage gets harder, and the Finals is the hardest stage that you can be on. So [it’s] definitely a learning experience for a lot of players in the locker room that have never been on this level, but still super proud of how our team fought and competed and never gave up.”

That perspective echoed throughout the locker room, where disappointment mixed with optimism. Tibbetts said the foundation laid this season will serve as the standard moving forward.

“I’m proud of our group, and I think there was some projection that we had like a 1.7% chance to win it coming into the playoffs,” he said. “We had maybe the toughest road to get here, and played the two teams that were in the championship a year ago. So yeah, I wish we could have some things back, but I’m so damn proud of this group and where we ended up.”