Phoenix Mercury teeters on elimination in WNBA Finals

The Phoenix Mercury staged a dramatic comeback in the fourth quarter, but they were unable to stop A’ja Wilson from making a game-winning shot in the final 0.3 seconds. This crucial play secured a 90-88 victory for the Aces in Game 3. With this win, the Mercury now find themselves just one loss away from being swept in the WNBA Finals by the Aces.

The Aces remained relatively quiet in the fourth quarter, allowing the Mercury to score 29 points compared to the Aces' 14. The momentum of the game shifted dramatically as the Mercury fought back against the odds.

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Things appeared bleak for the Mercury with 4:26 remaining in the fourth quarter when Satou Sabally suffered a serious injury. During the quarter, Sabally took a hard fall after Jackie Young’s arm hooked into her arm while she was jumping for a loose ball. Sabally's face hit Kierstan Bell’s knee, and she stayed on the floor for a considerable amount of time before being assisted to the locker room by a team staff member and center Kalani Brown.

However, something ignited within Kahleah Copper during this critical moment. Copper stepped up to take Sabally’s free throws and then became unstoppable on the court. Her 11-point performance was matched by the Mercury’s strong defensive efforts, as they outscored the Aces 11-2. Copper capped off her impressive run with a three-pointer at the 3:05 mark that sent shockwaves through the arena, cutting a 10-point deficit down to just one point.

“We’ve been in that situation before in the playoffs and we fought back," coach Nate Tibbetts said. "Being down 2-0, I feel like there’s a lot of teams that might’ve not continued to compete at the level that we did. But DB had an awesome stretch at that time and Kahleah obviously. We need players to step up.”

When the Aces locked in on Copper, DeWanna Bonner made some tough shots, including free throws that tied the game with 1:01 left and remained tied until Wilson's game-winning shot. Bonner scored nine of her 25 points in the fourth quarter.

Both teams traded baskets, but the Aces wouldn’t let the Mercury get too far ahead. Alyssa Thomas and Bonner had a legit shot at tying the game in the final 0.1 second, but Bonner’s midrange shot nearly missed.

The Mercury aren't new to late comebacks in the postseason, but this one felt too little too late.

“It’s how we should be playing from the start,” Thomas said. “It took us too long to wake up and play defense. The second half is our basketball and how we play. Shame on us for not coming out the way that we needed to come out.”

The Mercury outscored the Aces, 45-35, and outscored them by 15 points in the fourth quarter. Wilson, Young and Chelsea Gray dominated for the Aces in the second half as the rest of the team failed to get more than one shot attempt.

Aces benefit from the free-throw line in third quarter

The Phoenix Mercury had a hard time stopping the Las Vegas Aces from getting to the free-throw line in the third quarter, with 11 of the Aces’ 19 points coming from free throws.

The Mercury trail 76-59 after the third quarter and couldn’t get stops against the Aces. In the opening part of the quarter, the Mercury surrendered five points off four turnovers.

Only A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young shot more than one look in the quarter, but the Aces still did damage as Wilson led all scorers with 11 points in the quarter. DeWanna Bonner scored six points for the Mercury.

Aces lead at halftime

The Las Vegas Aces used a late surge to hold a 12-point lead over the Phoenix Mercury, 55-43, at halftime.

The Mercury were outscored 11-2 in the final stretch of the second quarter as the Aces got to the line and dominated in the paint. A’ja Wilson leads all scorers with 17 points.

Satou Sabally had a quiet second quarter with just two points, but leads all scorers with 15 points.

Satou Sabally, Jewell Loyd spark teams in first quarter

Satou Sabally and the Phoenix Mercury nearly closed the gap against the Las Vegas Aces in the first quarter, but a late basket from Chelsea Gray put the Aces ahead 26-23.

The Aces led by as many as 13 points before Sabally ended the onslaught and scored seven points in the Mercury’s 12-0 run. Sabally finished with 13 points on 5-for-7 shooting and moved well, despite her ankle injury in Game 2.

Jewell Loyd sparked the Aces from the bench with four 3s in three minutes. Loyd finished with 12 points.

Mercury down, but not out

“There’s no panic, no pressure. That’s the beauty of a seven-game series. If we’re sitting at five games, it’s basically elimination," Alyssa Thomas said. "If you’re familiar (with) watching NBA games, (comebacks) happen a lot when teams go down like this. For us, it’s coming home with our home crowd, being comfortable, being in (our own) beds, which are a big deal. First and foremost, we gotta play better defense.”

Mercury forward Satou Sabally injured her ankle at the end of Game 2, but participated in practice on Tuesday, Oct. 7, and said her ankle was good. The Mercury didn't have any injuries to report.

The Mercury's defense has their work cut out for them after Aces stars A'ja Wilson and Jackie Young combined for 60 points in the previous game. Young, who was quiet in Game 1, dropped 32 points and tied her playoff career high. Young scored 21 points in the third quarter, the most scored in a single quarter in WNBA Finals history.

The Aces didn't have any injuries to report.

Game 3 is at Mortgage Matchup Center and is showing on ESPN.

Mercury star named to WNBA All-Defensive Team

Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas was named to the 2025 WNBA All-Defensive First Team.

Thomas' selection marks the third time in her career that she's made the first team and her seventh time overall on the All-Defensive team. Thomas led the Mercury to their best defensive rating (100.4) since 2019 in the regular season. She ranked fifth in steals per game (1.6) and second in games with two or more steals (23). Thomas joins Brittney Griner (2014, 2015, 2018) and Brianna Turner (2020, 2021) as the only players in Mercury history to be named to an All-Defensive First Team.

The first team also included Minnesota Lynx's Napheesa Collier and Alanna Smith, Seattle Storm's Gabby Williams and Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson.

The second team included Indiana Fever's Aliyah Boston, Golden State Valkyries' Veronica Burton, Atlanta Dream's Rhyne Howard, Seattle Storm's Ezi Magbegor and New York Liberty's Breanna Stewart.

Reach the reporter at jenna.ortiz@The News Pulse, as well as@jennarortiz on X.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Mercury on brink of elimination in WNBA Finals