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Alyssa Thomas nodded her head repeatedly as she walked back to the Phoenix Mercury bench after evening Phoenix’s WNBA semifinal series with the Minnesota Lynx.
Thomas appeared calm, as if she had expected the Mercury to do what few have ever done before: stage a comeback in the WNBA playoffs against the Lynx. After trailing Minnesota by 20 points midway through the third quarter, the Mercury chipped away at Minnesota’s lead en route to an 89-83 overtime victory. Defensive stops led to scores from Thomas and forward Satou Sabally, and with 4.3 seconds remaining in regulation, guard Sami Whitcomb pushed the game into an extra session with a 3-pointer that silenced the Target Center crowd.
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With momentum behind them, the Mercury never trailed in OT. As Phoenix played a fourth game in seven nights, coach Nate Tibbetts admitted he worried about players’ energy going into a crucial Game 2 in this best-of-five series.
But as they have done so often this season and this playoffs, the Mercury never quit.
“Pride and toughness. Grit,” Tibbetts said. “I couldn’t be more proud of our group for doing that.”
What they did was knock off the Lynx in Minnesota — just the fourth team to do so this season (including the Fever in the Commissioner’s Cup). What they did was pick up just their second win in franchise history when trailing by at least 15 points at halftime. What they did was level their semifinal series before it turns to Phoenix for Game 3 on Friday.
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“It would have been very easy for us to give in tonight,” Tibbetts said. “A lot of teams would have. I’m just extremely proud of how we stepped up and battled.”
Thomas led the Mercury in their second-half fight. She scored 14 of her 19 points after halftime. Sabally scored a team-high 24 points, making 5 of 11 3-pointers. Sabally rebounded from a sub-par Game 1 shooting performance, when she was 3-of-11 from the field. Her nine rebounds were critical and her one assist was perhaps the most important pass of the night, finding Whitcomb in the waning seconds of regulation.
Tibbetts said that Whitcomb’s 3-pointer came on a broken play. He had expected the Lynx to foul leading by three points with just seconds remaining in regulation. But Minnesota didn’t, and after Whitcomb missed her first 3-point attempt, she buried her second 3-point attempt of the possession.
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“Sami saved my a—,” Tibbetts said, adding that his team didn’t run the right play in the late-game situation. “And that’s what great players, great shooters do.”
There is much the Mercury can still improve on going forward. And three Minnesota players, led by Napheesa Collier’s 24, finished with at least 20 points. But the series is now tied.
“We just kept fighting,” Tibbetts said.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Minnesota Lynx, Phoenix Mercury, WNBA
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