WNBA Finals 2025: How the Aces take a 3-0 lead over the Mercury
PHOENIX — The Mercury rallied to overcome a 17-point deficit in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, tying the score with one minute to play. But for the third time in as many games, Phoenix came away with a loss.
A’ja Wilson’s last-second shot secured a 90-88 win for the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday, leaving the Mercury on the brink of collapse.
However, the look on Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts’ face afterward was one of recognition, not resignation.
“It’s not a team just trying to figure it out,” Tibbetts said. “They are a well-oiled machine.”
The No. 2-seeded Aces will try to wrap up a best-of-seven series on Friday in Game 4 (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) to win their third WNBA championship.
The third-seeded Mercury appeared to have momentum entering the finals, going 5-2 in the playoffs and knocking off top-seeded Minnesota in the semifinals. Meanwhile, the Aces were fielded in each of the first two postseason series. Even in Game 1 of the Finals a week ago, Las Vegas was trailing Phoenix by seven at the start of the fourth quarter.
So, how did the Aces have a chance to pull off their first sweep of the WNBA Finals since 2020? They remained one step ahead of the Mercury, benefiting from a combination of coach Becky Hammon’s strategic defensive schemes, timely performances from the reserves, and a reliable starting trio — four-time MVP Wilson, superstar Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray, one of the most intelligent point guards in league history — in its third Finals appearance in the last four years.
“I’m so proud of them,” Hammon said of her team after Wednesday’s win. “They put in a lot of work off the field, and I think it really shows on the field.”
The road here had its bumps. For the first two and a half months of this season, the Aces hovered around .500 before an epic 16-game winning streak led them to the playoffs. On July 3, Las Vegas lost 81-54 to Indiana, a performance Hammon called “one of the worst games I’ve ever seen” and “a complete lack of professionalism.”
“I don’t really have any answers for you,” Hammon said then. “If I knew what buttons to push to make sure our effort was right every night, I would push those buttons. We would have won five or six more games if we had played harder. That’s a way to spend an entire season.”
Hamon spoke so frankly and harshly because she knew that a strong tie binds the Aces together, even in difficult times. Wilson and Young played together for seven seasons, a relative eternity in today’s world of professional sports. Gray has been with them for the past five years.
In the offseason, the Aces traded Kelsey Bloom and added another No. 1 pick at guard, Jewell Lloyd. Lloyd has been a starter for most of her WNBA career, and willingly moved to the bench in late July.
Now, at the time, that meant a lot, as not only were the Aces’ stars producing, but the team’s long-term cohesion and crucial depth off the bench, coupled with enough versatility in their defensive schemes, also kept the Mercury on their heels. Here’s a look at how Las Vegas does it.
Game 1: Las Vegas 89, Phoenix 86
Lloyd and fellow reserve Dana Evans scored a combined 39 points. That made up for the Mercury doing the best job they’ve done all series in limiting the damage from Wilson and Young. This duo still has 31 points combined, but it wouldn’t be enough if not for Evans and Lloyd.
Hammon also switched to zone defense for 18 plays, as the Mercury shot 4-of-15 with three turnovers, according to ESPN Insights. ESPN’s Kevin Pelton noted, according to GeniusIQ tracking, that the Aces had not previously played more than seven possessions from the zone in any game since July 6, long before their turnaround this season. The Mercury couldn’t have expected to see much of it in Game 1, and it changed the momentum.
“We practice it enough and we have conversations about it enough that we can go to it when needed,” Gray told ESPN on Thursday.
“When Becky gets to the finals, you don’t know what she might pull out of it, and you have to be ready,” Wilson said of switching to district in the first game.
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Aces down Mercury for a 2-0 WNBA Finals lead
Jackie Young and Aja Wilson combine for 60 points to power the Aces to a Game 2 victory over the Mercury.
Game 2: Las Vegas 91, Phoenix 78
Las Vegas played no zone defense, instead running all the ball screens and holding the Mercury to their second-lowest point total in the playoffs.
“I’m really confident in our defense,” Gray told ESPN. “This may not be the normal deliberations you might see, but because we know the individuals and our team’s tendencies, we’re able to take advantage of that. I’m happy with our efforts, whether we go big or small.
“Communication is more than half the battle, especially early in the game. But now at this point in the season, there’s also a lot of things that can be communicated nonverbally because we know that.”
Young (32 points, 8 rebounds) and Wilson (28, 14) were also the best versions of their dynamic duo. Young’s 21 points in the third quarter were the most in any quarter of a WNBA playoff game since the league moved to four quarters from two halves in 2006.
Game 3: Las Vegas 90, Phoenix 88
Hammon mixed up the defenses early – using some zones, some ‘junk’ – to quickly disrupt what the Mercury had started in the first two games.
“I didn’t like our beginnings,” Hammon said. “Defensively, they jumped on us. [Wednesday] I just wanted to do something else where I didn’t have to call the first deadline. Make them do it.”
Tibbetts did just that at 5:10 of the first quarter after Lloyd’s 3-pointer put Las Vegas up 15-8. The Aces built their lead to 17 points in the fourth quarter. Although Phoenix managed to tie the score at 88-88 with 1:01 left in the game, the Aces still held the best card – Wilson.
After Megan Gustafson defended Alyssa Thomas and got a rebound off her missed shot with 17.3 seconds to play — another Las Vegas reserve who made a clutch play — the Aces had the final possession. Hammon called a timeout with 5 seconds remaining, and her instructions were simple: Let Wilson do her thing.
Now, Las Vegas is one win away from a championship in the first season of the best-of-seven WNBA Finals. But the difference between a 3-0 lead and a 2-1 lead, to use a regional example, is the size of the Grand Canyon.
“Those are the little things I work on in the offseason or just during the season,” Wilson said of how prepared she is right now. “Just to put myself in situations where I can get to my spot and make it a little easier for our offense.”