The return of the WNBA finals to the Valley has been four years in the making as tonight the Phoenix Mercury open up the W’s championship series versus the Las Vegas Aces.
Phoenix’s journey to this point has been a climb not seen previously in league history. From a championship appearance to a total tear down back to the Finals.
Since the Mercury’s loss to the Chicago Sky in the 2021 finals, leadership on the bench has been a revolving door as Phoenix has gone through Sandy Brondello who immediately left following the finals, Vanessa Nygaard and Nikki Blue before landing on current head coach Nate Tibbetts.
The roster has seen a complete overhaul as well, Phoenix enters the finals becoming the first team to reach the series twice in a five year span with an entirely new roster from the first appearance.
Leading the new look era is Alyssa Thomas who has been one of the best stars of the modern era but has been looking for the elusive championship.
This season has seen Thomas excel following her trade from Connecticut as she set a new single season league record for assists with 357.
Thomas excelled in her all around game as well as she also set the league record for triple doubles in a season with 8.
Her partner in crime was also acquired in the same trade, Satou Sabally who in her first year in Phoenix has become both a fan favorite and the ultimate X-factor.
For Phoenix, the Mercury are 5-0 in the playoffs so far when Sabally has scored at least 15 points. In the final three games of the Mercury’s series versus Minnesota, Sabally scored 24, 23, and 21 points.
But the heartbeat of the franchise in its current form is the player that forced the Mercury into a reset, 2021 finals MVP Kahleah Copper.
In the semifinals against Minnesota, Copper faced off against defensive player of the year Courtney Williams and showcased why she’s one the league’s best two-way players.
Copper averaged 16 points and her off-ball play was crucial in setting up the Mercury’s free flowing offense that has improved as the season has gone on.
But it’s the defense that has led Phoenix to this point and alongside Copper is rookie guard Monique Akoa Makani.
Akoa Makani is one of the best defenders already and her physicality fighting through screens and disrupting the pick and roll game is a key reason why Phoenix leads the league in both defensive rating and points allowed in the postseason so far.
Las Vegas however is built similarly to the Mercury.
The Aces are led by a three headed monster of league MVP A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young with questions about the depth beyond the top of the roster.
The lack of depth reared its head in the first two series as the Seattle Storm took the Aces to a game three and the Indiana Fever’s offense pushed Las Vegas to the brink of elimination.
Depth has been a concern for Phoenix all season but through the first two rounds, the Mercury’s trio of Kathryn Westbeld, Sami Whitcomb, and DeWanna Bonner have been crucial to the team’s success.
Whitcomb brings a championship pedigree with two championships to her name already and one of the best shooters in the league, and reached double digit points in the first three games against Minnesota.
DeWanna Bonner the once Mercury legend returned home after signing with the franchise midseason, and showcased her skills pulling in 8 or more rebounds four times against Minnesota and her bench scoring was crucial throughout the season.
The defensive ace for off the bench for Phoenix has been Westbeld who steps out on both the perimeter and in the post and is a disrupter. Her best performance of the postseason so far was a game three overtime victory over Minnesota which she had 4 steals and a block.
For Phoenix, the journey from 9-31 to 27-17 and a Finals appearance has been a tenuous one. Yet, the new look Mercury have rallied behind their defense and their effort and have battled to this point together as one.
The Mercury enter tonight playing with house money and as the Finals tip off in Vegas, one thing is certain, the odds are about to be flipped.
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