Mercury stun top-seeded Lynx with furious rally to crash WNBA finals | WNBA
Alyssa Thomas collected 23 points and 10 assists, Sutou Sabally scored 21 points and the Host Phoenix Mercury qualified for the WNBA final with a winning victory of 86-81 on the game, but paralyzed the Lynx of Minnesota in match 4 of her series of semi-final on Sunday evening.
Dewanna Bonner collected 11 of his 13 points and his three to 3 points in the fourth quarter, when the Mercury was ahead of the Lynx 31-13 to overcome a deficit of 68-55 and qualify for the final for the first time since he fell into the Chicago sky in 2021.
The Lynx played without Star Center Napheesa Collier, who suffered an injury to the left ankle in the last seconds of the victory of Mercury 84-76 in match 3 Friday and watched the match from the bench in a walking boot.
Kayla McBride of Minnesota collected 14 of his 31 career points in a career in career when the lynx took over in the third quarter but could not hold out. Courtney Williams collected 20 points and Jessica Shepard raised a career in 14 career points starting for collar.
The finals must start on Friday, with the first two games on the upper seeded site. The fourth seeded Mercury eliminated the seeded lynx in his Best Five series. The second seeded Las Vegas Aces and the sixth Indiana fever head meets in match 5 of their series on Tuesday.
The WNBA final will be the best of seven for the first time in the history of the League. Phoenix won a championship for the last time in 2014.
The Mercury scored 19 of the first 21 points in the fourth period, and the second of the two three points of Bonner gave them an advance of 72-70 with 3:39 to play.
McBride and Bonner exchanged 3 points while the Mercury remained in advance 77-73. The sixth three of McBride made 77-76 with 1:04 to play, but Bonner followed with two free throws for an advance of 79-76 with 42 seconds to play.
After a Miss McBride, Thomas made a driving for an advance of 81-76 with 27 seconds to do. The lynx then obtained less than three on the pointer of Natasha Hiedeman with 5.2 seconds to play before Kahleah Copper closed the scoring with two free throws.
Deputy head coach Eric Thibault trained the lynx while head coach Cheryl Reeve served a match for his driving and comments to the officials during and after match 3.
Thomas was two rebounds in less of his second triple-double in playoffs.
The Mercury had outlined 21-9 in the fourth quarter of match 3.
The Mercury followed from 14 years to the first quarter, even attracted 38 years at halftime and did not lead until the 3-point copper pointer during their first possession of the second half.
The lynx gathered another push comprising two three of McBride for 55-45 in advance halfway from the third.
Sabally raised 24, 23 and 21 points in the last three games in the series, all Mercury’s victories.
