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Kevin Pelton
SEATTLE — The Phoenix Mercury needed all of Alyssa Thomas’ fifth triple-double of the season Sunday to defeat the Seattle Storm 85-82, snapping a two-game losing streak and spoiling “Forever Sue” day after the Storm unveiled a statue of legendary former star Sue Bird.
Thomas had the last of her 19 points and her 11 assists in the midst of a 6-0 Phoenix run after Seattle took its only lead of the game 78-77, and her 10th rebound to complete the triple-double also came in that span. A pair of late Mercury turnovers gave the Storm a chance to tie in the closing seconds, but Phoenix held on for the win to remain tied for fourth in the WNBA standings with the Las Vegas Aces.
“She’s physical, she’s smart and she makes timely plays,” Seattle coach Noelle Quinn said. “When you have an athlete like that who plays hard every possession, she’s going to continue to impact the game the way that she does. She did all three things at a high level. I thought for the most part we were engaged with the coverages there, just she knocked her shots in today.”
Thomas’ fifth triple-double — and fourth in seven August games — matched the total for all other WNBA players this season. No other player has recorded multiple triple-doubles in 2025. Additionally, Thomas is one shy of her own single-season record for triple-doubles, set in 2023 while playing for the Connecticut Sun.
“It’s definitely not something I think about,” Thomas said. “For me, I just want to win. We’ve been up and down in the second half, so for me, it’s just setting the tone and coming out and trying to win the basketball game.”
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Sitting next to Thomas in the postgame press conference, teammate Sami Whitcomb — who had 15 points starting in place of Monique Akoa Makani, who missed the game due to a left knee injury and is day-to-day — could only shake her head hearing about Thomas’ latest triple-double.
“No, you don’t get used to that,” Whitcomb said. “It’s one of those things like when you see the attention that she gets every game and the different things that people are throwing at us and her. For it to still happen, it’s a credit to what she does, her prep from game to game, from team to team and schemes to schemes.”
Two of Whitcomb’s three 3-pointers were assisted by Thomas, who moved out of a tie with Skylar Diggins (who finished with two assists) and ahead of Becky Hammon for seventh place on the WNBA’s all-time assist leaderboard with 1,717 according to ESPN Research.
“She’s still finding us, she’s still getting us these wide-open looks,” Whitcomb said. ” It’s really fun to play with and it’s still just very impressive.”
Thomas herself remains about the only person not impressed by her play.
“I’m just being me,” she said. “My whole entire career, I’ve just tried to do a little bit of everything, whether it’s offense, defense. I just let the game come to me. Each game is different.”
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