LAS VEGAS — Will the Mercury win a game in these WNBA Finals? The problem for them is that the Aces are doing exactly what they set out to do — carry forward their championship experience while bringing new players into the fold.
Now up 2-0, Las Vegas is finding different ways to win. In Game 1, it was their newcomers. In Game 2, their championship core turned back the clock.
Jackie Young scored a Finals-record 21 points in the third quarter of Game 2, and if A’ja Wilson had hit one more basket, they would’ve become the first teammates in Finals history to each score 30.
“I dropped the ball on that one,” Wilson said afterward, laughing.
Young’s outburst was the headliner, but the setup came earlier. In the first half, point guard Chelsea Gray flashed her signature creativity, dazzling with a handful of blink-and-you’ll-miss-them assists. During a second-quarter run, she motioned for Wilson to hurry up in transition, switched the ball from her left to right hand, and zipped a perfect slider into the paint.
The scary thing for the Mercury? The Aces didn’t even need that magic in Game 1. Gray’s understudy, Dana Evans, stole that show, scoring 21 points off the bench with timely threes and backcourt steals to seal the win. Hammon said afterward that both Wilson and Young had “average or below-average games” in Game 1.
“That’s what makes us tough,” Hammon said after Game 2. “It can be anybody on any given night. Dana and Jewell can come in and hit you for 15 or 20. That’s a lot of firepower.”
It certainly is. But they’ve needed it given what they lost in the offseason. Kelsey Plum — a member of their “Core Four” — left for the Sparks, and key rotation pieces Tiffany Hayes and Alysha Clark also departed. This year has required them to find new chemistry and rediscover what makes them the Aces.
It’s been a long, bumpy road.
They hovered around .500 early, falling as low as eighth in the standings. There were intense group-chat messages from Wilson, lineup changes, even emotional team meetings. Then they rattled off 18 wins in their final 19 games to close as the No. 2 seed.
It’s hard to tell what was more surprising — their slow start or their surge.
So at this point, with the No. 2 seed Aces clicking, is there any hope for the No. 4 seed Mercury?
They entered the Finals with swagger and extra rest, having just taken down both the defending champions and last season’s runners-up. But they’ve looked nothing like that team. Maybe that’s the silver lining in all of this: they need their backs against the wall to play their best.
The Mercury are happiest when they’re the underdogs — a personality that mirrors not just their star, Alyssa Thomas, but the supporting cast as well.
“A lot of our players have been overlooked their whole career,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said earlier this week.
Now, heading back to Phoenix, they’ll need to channel that edge again.
So maybe they can still make it interesting on their home court, which even Wilson acknowledged is a tough place to play. But the Aces have already shown two different versions of themselves that can win in dominant fashion. The Mercury are still looking for one.
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