WNBA: The Aces are champions again due to two big reasons

The Las Vegas Aces are champions once again.

In a series that promised to be a tactical chess match between two elite coaches, the Aces instead delivered a masterclass in controlled chaos, dismantling the Phoenix Mercury in four games to claim their third championship in four years.

While many expected the 2025 WNBA Finals to hinge on subtle adjustments and matchup hunting, Las Vegas imposed their will through two main advantages: how they defended Alyssa Thomas and how they won the possession battle.

1. Defending Alyssa Thomas

Phoenix’s secret weapon throughout the playoffs had been Alyssa Thomas operating as the ball handler in inverted pick-and-rolls, a wrinkle that confused the New York Liberty in the first round and the Minnesota Lynx in the semifinals and created advantages through Thomas’ unique combination of size, passing vision and ability to attack smaller defenders in space.

The Aces, however, had the perfect antidote.

Jackie Young, Dana Evans and Jewell Loyd brought a level of physical resistance that Thomas hadn’t encountered all postseason. Chelsea Gray, who led all guards in post ups defended during the regular season, proved that her defensive versatility extended to handling bigger, stronger players.

When Thomas would attack downhill off inverted screens—situations that had generated easy baskets against the Liberty and Lynx—she found herself bodied up by guards who refused to give ground.

According to Second Spectrum tracking, Thomas’s efficiency in inverted pick-and-roll actions dropped to just 0.75 points per direct play in the last three games of the Finals, down from .97 in the regular season. The Aces guards’ willingness to absorb contact and fight through screens disrupted Phoenix’s entire offensive ecosystem. When Thomas couldn’t consistently make plays, the Mercury’s halfcourt offense collapsed, and their secondary options struggled to create quality looks.

This physical approach extended to how Las Vegas defended Phoenix’s other actions. The Aces weren’t just content to switch; they were aggressive at the point of attack, pressuring ball handlers and forcing Phoenix into uncomfortable situations. Even breaking out an occasional zone throughout the series all proved effective in taking Phoenix out of rhythm.

For all the talk about pace and physicality, the series ultimately came down to basketball’s most fundamental currency: possessions.

The Aces won the turnover battle in three of the four games, but their dominance was most pronounced in the two nail-biters—Game 1 and Game 3—both of which Las Vegas won by a combined five points. When games are decided by two or three possessions, those margins are everything. In Game 4, the Aces had only seven turnovers, which was less than Alyssa Thomas had for the entire game. A nine percent turnover percentage for the entire series for Las Vegas is remarkable, and to dominate the margins the way they did against a team that typically excels in the small differentials is even more impressive.

The rebounding battle followed the same script. Phoenix, despite having some size to match the Vegas with the length of Satou Sabally and Natasha Mack, was thoroughly dominated on the glass. The Aces outrebounded the Mercury narrowly in the series, with Wilson’s 11.7 rebounds per game dwarfing any individual Phoenix effort.

Phoenix had built their playoff reputation on forcing turnovers and capitalizing in transition, ranking second in the playoffs in transition opportunities. But against Las Vegas, the script flipped entirely. The Aces were more intentional in transition, more physical on defense and far more disciplined with the basketball. In Game 2 and 4 combined, the Aces had 25 more true shot attempts than Phoenix.

Phoenix’s vaunted matchup-hunting style never materialized against an Aces team that refused to provide vulnerable targets. Las Vegas’s bench, supposedly the weak link that Phoenix could exploit, played with such pace and purpose that their limitations never came into focus. The Gray-Young pick-and-roll proved still to be timeless.

In what is likely the greatest in-season turnaround in league history, the Aces showed that, when executed with championship-level talent and experience, basketball’s fundamentals still reign supreme.