The Phoenix Mercury will look to get into the win column once they host the Las Vegas Aces on Wednesday evening. The Mercury, trailing the best-of-seven WNBA Finals 2-0, will want extra from their star gamers. They’ll additionally hope that the Aces’ two greatest stars — A’ja Wilson and Jackie Younger — don’t replicate their magic from Recreation 2.
Listed here are three keys to Wednesday’s Recreation 3 match-up:
Limiting A’ja Wilson: It’s simpler mentioned than carried out, however the Mercury are going to need to make life somewhat bit tougher for the four-time MVP. Wilson exploded for 20 first-half factors in Recreation 2 and completed with 28 factors on the evening. Had Jackie Younger not taken the reins within the third quarter, Wilson most likely would have tallied many extra. A number of Phoenix gamers have tried to decelerate the Aces star, however nobody has had a lot luck. Minimizing simple seems — like transition layups and easy photographs across the rim — is vital.
Getting Satou Sabally going early: Sabally actually struggled for many of Recreation 2, settling for contested threes and troublesome photographs. Her closing stat line — 22 factors on 7-19 taking pictures — doesn’t mirror simply how a lot she struggled offensively for a lot of Sunday. When Sabally is on, she’s as troublesome to comprise as any participant within the league. The problem shall be to get her clear seems inside the move of the offense, which the Mercury weren’t in a position to do in Recreation 2. Sabally has been the Mercury’s main scorer these playoffs, averaging 18.4 factors per evening. However, she’s additionally been maddeningly inconsistent, taking pictures 38.3% from the sphere and posting a number of abysmal taking pictures video games.
Enjoying by means of Alyssa Thomas: Alyssa Thomas is called “The Engine” and for good purpose — she anchors the Mercury on each ends of the ground, leads the workforce in assists and rebounds, and is the first purpose why the Mercury are the place they’re. In Recreation 2, nonetheless, she took a backseat offensively, posting simply 10 factors and 5 assists. Thomas doesn’t essentially must shoot extra, however she does must have the ball in her palms extra. These playoffs, the MVP finalist has been averaging 17.2 factors and eight.7 assists, and Sunday’s numbers have been a considerable drop from that.
The Mercury will even hope that their residence crowd uplifts them. Through the season, Phoenix was 12-7 at residence, vs 12-10 on the highway. In these playoffs, the Mercury are an ideal 3-0 at residence — with wins over the New York Liberty and Minnesota Lynx — however solely 2-4 on the highway.
