The Phoenix Mercury's road through the 2025 WNBA Playoffs to the Finals was anything but easy. Not only did they impressively take down the W's top team in the Minnesota Lynx, but they did so in historic fashion.
The Mercury overcame a 20-point deficit in Game 2. Then, after a controversial Game 3 ending, Phoenix's Game 4 comeback made the team the first to outlast multiple 13-point deficits in a single playoff series after putting up a 31-point fourth quarter.
“No one has had expectations for us except ourselves. The pride and the togetherness for such a new group, it's pretty impressive,” head coach Nate Tibbets said about his squad.
“We looked a little bit nervous or tight or too excited,” Tibbets said about the Mercury's opening quarter of Game 4.
“We could've just said, ‘You know, we'll go to Game 5 in Minnesota and figure it out,'” Tibbets added. “But we kept fighting. That's what we do … we just kept playing, and when you do that, especially with this group, good things happen.”
DeWanna Bonner, who has the most WNBA postseason experience out of any active player in the W, reiterated how big a feat Phoenix's accomplishment truly is.
“It's hard to get here. It's hard to get to the Finals,” the 15-year WNBA veteran said. “I was just telling [my teammates], I've been in the league and all these playoff appearances, and I've only been to the Finals three times. That's how hard it is to get back here.”
A member of the team's Big 3, Alyssa Thomas, made history on her own with her 28th career double-double, the most of any WNBA player ever, while becoming the first in league history to put up 20 points and 10 assists in multiple series-clinching wins in one postseason.
The 2025 WNBA MVP finalist doubled down on the faith each player had in the squad they were collectively building, despite being one of the franchise's newcomers after leaving the Connecticut Sun last offseason.
“I believed in the franchise. I believed in the team they were putting together,” Thomas admitted. “For me, it was a fresh start to play with people who want the same thing as I do and a franchise that's known for winning, winning championships. That's been my goal: Trying to get a championship.”
