On Sunday night, the Phoenix Mercury eliminated the No. 1 seed Minnesota Lynx with an 86-81 win in Game 4 of the WNBA semifinals to make it back to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2021.
Minnesota was without star Napheesa Collier (left foot injury) and coach Cheryl Reeve, who was suspended for one game.
“It took everybody. Everybody on this team,” Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas said during her postgame interview on the ESPN broadcast. “We are hungry. We are ready for this moment and I’m just super proud of how we fought today.”
Alyssa Thomas flirted with a triple-double as she finished the night with 23 points, 10 assists and 8 rebounds. Satou Sabally and Kahleah Copper put up 21 and 13 points, respectively. DeWanna Bonner gave them 13 points off the bench and hit some key shots in the fourth quarter.
Bonner was drafted by the Mercury fifth overall in the 2009 draft and played in Phoenix for 10 seasons, where she was a key part of the 2009 and 2014 championship teams, the WNBA’s Sixth Woman of the Year in 2009, 2010 and 2011, and a three-time All-Star. She went to the Connecticut Sun in free agency in 2020 and the Indiana Fever in free agency last offseason, but her time in Indiana didn’t go smoothly and she was waived by the Fever in early June. The Mercury took advantage and signed her, and while her offense has been spotty at times — particularly in this series — she came up big when it mattered the most
“I’m sure that there was people wondering why I was playing (Bonner) at times this series. We went and got her for this reason. I told her after the game, the first three games weren’t a big enough moment for her. She needed the fourth to step up. And I mean, she hit some big threes. Her experience, that’s why you go get a player like that,” Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts said.
“I’m just home,” Bonner said. “It feels good.”
Even though the Lynx were shorthanded on the court and on the sidelines, they were still a tough out.
Minnesota’s effort was led by Kayla McBride, who set a new playoff career-high with 31 points. She scored just 11 points in the first half but started to take over after the break with 14 points in the next 10 minutes. Her momentum helped her team outscore the Mercury 30-17 in the third and register their highest-scoring quarter of the series. Meanwhile, Phoenix forward Satou Sabally scored 18 points in the first half but was held to just three points in the third quarter.
But this series has been all about runs and stealing the momentum, which the Mercury did in the fourth quarter by turning up the intensity on both sides of the court. Sami Whitcomb made it a one-point game with a 3-pointer with 4:46 remaining, getting fans at PHX Arena on their feet. A minute later, a 3-pointer by Bonner gave Phoenix a 72-70 lead. At that point, Minnesota only had one field goal in the fourth quarter.
McBride tried to stop the bleeding with a 3-pointer of her own with 1:37 left, but Bonner responded with another shot from beyond the arc. The Lynx tried to make a final push, but they were not able to find the lead again.
“It was a struggle for three quarters. I give Minnesota a ton of credit. That organization, that team, they got some really good players. What McBride did was super impressive,” Tibbetts said. “I mean, for our group, we could have said, ‘We’re just going to go to Game 5 in Minnesota and figure it out.’ It was ugly at times for us, but we kept fighting, and that’s what we do. We’re a gritty group. We were down 13 or 14 to start the fourth, and we just kept playing. And when you do that, especially with this group, good things happen.”
“It’s us versus everybody all season long,” Sabally told ESPN. “Champions win these games, and we did that.”
Up next, Phoenix will face the winner of the Las Vegas Aces vs. Indiana Fever series in the Finals, which are set to start on Friday, Oct. 3. The Mercury are chasing their fourth WNBA title, which would tie them with the Lynx, Storm and Comets for most all-time.
