No. 2 Las Vegas Aces Won No. 4 Phoenix Mercury 89-86 in the game of the 1st final Wnba 2025 on Friday.
Dana Evans I scored 21 points from the benches for the benches for the aze corresponding to the high -level game of the four -fold MVP Aaja Wilson And Mercury is a star Kahleya copperField Alissa ThomasWhich was one of the help in a triple oak, missed a couple of penalties in the last minute.
Here's what you need to know about the opening of the series before Sunday 2 (3 pm in ABC).
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How the aces won
Behind the dominant effort of their benches.
Dana Evans Attached 2021 final mvp Kahleya copper And MVP this season Aaja Wilson For honors. She had 21 points, which made five 3 signs in six attempts. Juell Lide He also added 18 points, which makes them the first pair of teammates with at least 15 points as reserves in the final game since 2019, according to the study of ESPN.
10 points of Loyd in the first quarter were crucial for maintaining Las Vegas in the game. Phoenix began starting 10-2, the leading coach Bekki Hammon quickly called Lide in the game instead of the starter Kirstan Bellwho played only five minutes. Evans also helped the acumes keep up with the hot shooting of Mercury, who scored 50 points in the first half.
Nevertheless, the largest contribution of Evans has come throughout all. She made three three -points in the last eight minutes. The last of them gave Las Vegas the greatest advantage to this point in 85-82, identical to the last edge.
In total, the ace of the ace scored 41 points from their reserves, the most when the franchise in the final game and are tied to their second in any game of 2025, in the regular season or play -off.
How he lost mercury
Phoenix will probably spend more than 40 hours before the game 2 mourns, which makes it possible to steal the advantage of the home court in the series. Mercury led almost the entire game and shot 39% at 3 years up to 33% of the acension, ahead of them by 15 points outside the arc, despite the heroism of Evans.
Phoenix was made primarily by differential turnover. Mercury made 14, including five for Alissa ThomasWhich entered the aid of a triple oak, but fought with the quick hands of smaller defenders of Las Vegas. Meanwhile, the seven revolutions of the Aces were tied the smallest in the history of the team in the final game.
In addition, Phoenix regrets that he crossed 20-13 from the foul line. In a close game, Sata SabalnoThe technical foul for hit the ball on the site after it was called to the fifth foul at the beginning of the last period, loomed to a large extent.
Of course, no penalty throws were more painful than a later trip of Thomas to a line with mercury. With the ability to give Phoenix leadership, Thomas missed both, forcing Mercury intentionally foul. Three down with the ball in the last seconds, they could not create a good view of a shot from an arc.
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Alissa Thomas lies up decisive penalties late
Alissa Thomas cannot plunge into his penalties to give Mercury the advantage at the end of the fourth quarter.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, this was the first time in the history of Wnba, when the player missed two potential penalties with an assessment on the same line in the last two minutes of playing at the playoffs.
What can solve the game 2?
How well the mercury processes the protection of the aunts zone.
Phoenix, perhaps, did not spend a lot of time preparing for the zone heading for game 1, since this was not an important part of the protection of Las -Vegas from the middle of the season. Since July 6, the aces have not played more than seven possessions of the zone in the game dedicated to the Geniusiq-and-long series before the victorious series of 16 games, which gave them the advantage of the house in this series. On Friday, Hammon went to the zone for 20 plays in the second half, slowing down the crime of Mercury, which was hot during the first 2 and a half quarters, but scored only 15 points in fourth place.
According to the ESPN study, Mercury shot 3 out of 14 against the ACES-Coneshum zone 1 out of 8 in the fourth quarter-with three more revolutions.
The strategy reminded me of the game of the 1st finals of the Wnba 2022, also in Las Vegas, where the ace Democrated zone in victory over Connecticut the sun and their then star Alissa Thomas and Devanna BonnerField
The difference in this series is that Mercury has much more shooting to attack the zone. Phoenix missed some good glances down on the segment and should be better equipped to defeat it in the game 2. Nevertheless, the zone can be a useful change in the pace for Las -Vegas in this series. This allows the aces to protect Thomas Pick-i Roll, without switching and not passing inconsistencies. Perhaps the easiest adjustment for Mercury would just be more stopped, since it is more difficult to use the area after a rushed shot or turn. – Kevin Pelton
