PHOENIX — Valley basketball fans have been here before, in fact it wasn’t all that long ago when they were.
In the 2021 NBA Finals, Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo imposed his will beyond belief in an all-time series performance to defeat the Phoenix Suns, and that level of physical domination was reached by Las Vegas Aces forward A’ja Wilson four years later against the Phoenix Mercury on Wednesday.
Wilson’s 34 points now has the Mercury on the brink, down 3-0 in the 2025 WNBA Finals, holding off a furious Phoenix comeback from 17 down to force the game to come down to the last possession.
Vegas’ offense was razor sharp just about all night, except for in the last few minutes, when it got away from getting Wilson the ball. That is presumably to avoid double-team scenarios the Aces perhaps aren’t too cozy in, but sometimes you just get the best player in the building (and league and world) the freaking ball anyway.
That is what they did at a tie score with five seconds remaining, and Wilson scored over that double-team.
Another angle of A’ja Wilson’s game winner to give her 34 PTS and push the @LVAces past the Mercury 90-88 in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals presented by @youtubetv
The Aces are up 3-0 in the series! pic.twitter.com/m8xwTbXPPg
— WNBA (@WNBA) October 9, 2025
“Give the ball to A’ja and get out of the way — that’s all the play was,” Aces head coach Becky Hammon said, with Wilson chiming in that it indeed really wasn’t much of a play design at all.
With 0.3 remaining, Phoenix actually got a more-than-decent chance at tying it, with a DeWanna Bonner mid-air catch nearly going down.
FINAL: Las Vegas Aces 90 Phoenix Mercury 88
DeWanna Bonner’s attempt with 0.3 seconds left is no good and the Aces take a 3-0 series lead. #WNBA pic.twitter.com/N0ALgqdyiL
— Desert Wave Media (@DesertWaveCo) October 9, 2025
Wilson also grabbed 14 rebounds to make her only the third player with a 30-point double-double in WNBA Finals history, per ESPN’s Kendra Andrews. And when it comes to at least 34 points and 14 rebounds in the playoffs, Wilson becomes the first to ever do that twice and is one of only three to do it once, according to Stathead.
The 34 points were also a career high for Wilson in the WNBA Finals for the 2023 WNBA Finals MVP who is on her way to adding a second. In the building attached to a street named after Diana Taurasi, Wilson’s run at G.O.A.T. status continues to pick up speed.
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This was largely a game defined by how the Aces are just definitively better, and with a 3-0 series lead, it is hard to dispute that. But some Alyssa Thomas free throws in Game 1 and a closing minute on Wednesday that could have been in Phoenix’s favor could easily have this thing at 2-1 Mercury. As is playoff basketball.
Las Vegas rode superb offensive execution against lackluster Mercury defense and a poor Phoenix shooting night to a cushion that didn’t seem surmountable. But as the Mercury continued to hang around within 10-12 points in the first few minutes of the fourth quarter, Kahleah Copper exploded with 11 points in 80 seconds to improbably have it 84-83 Aces with 3:06 to go.
Baskets were traded from there, including an outstanding step-back 3 and pair of free throws from the long-time clutch shot-maker Bonner, had it tied at 1:01 to go. The possession to have back was the next one for Phoenix, when after getting a stop, a Thomas drive was stymied on a night where it was unusually a mixed bag for her going downhill.
That ultimately kept the game even and allowed Wilson to be the hero.
As mentioned already, a Game 1 loss for the Mercury felt like a missed opportunity in many ways, none bigger than wasting an outing in which Wilson appeared mortal.
The 2025 MVP was then back in business for Game 2, scoring 20 points in the first half, and kept that rhythm rolling into Phoenix.
She began the game 3-for-3 from the field, all on jumpers, a telltale sign that she was feeling it from the get-go. The Mercury switched up some individual matchups but that did not fix another unrecognizable outing when it comes to team defense for the second straight loss.
“It took us too long to wake up and play defense. … Shame on us for not coming out the way we needed to come out,” Thomas said.
With credit deservedly going to the Aces for how sharp their offensive execution was (at the level you should expect in the Finals), they were just about flawless in moving the ball and exploiting botched rotations almost all night. When the defense was there, it wasn’t physical enough, and Vegas was comfortable showing pristine shot-making ability.
It was a bad sign to see Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts pick up a technical foul in the early first quarter, an indication that Phoenix’s signature physicality that caused fireworks last round wasn’t going to fly on Wednesday.
In the first half, Vegas posted 49-56-100 shooting percentage splits, leaving Phoenix in a fortunate spot to only trail by a dozen at halftime.
The only extended blips defensively came when the Mercury went on a 10-0 run early to answer for Jewell Loyd’s four 3s in 1:56 to put Vegas up 21-8, while a scoreless run of nearly two minutes at the tail-end of the second quarter let Phoenix get back within three before an 11-2 Vegas close following an Aces timeout with 2:48 to go.
An exceptional offensive first half from Satou Sabally, who had 13 of Phoenix’s opening 18 points, kept the Mercury from falling into a massive hole.
But in a building ready to erupt, Phoenix never found any run, let alone even a mini-spurt in the third quarter to take advantage of homecourt. More of the same OK offensive execution persisted, all without many stops on the either end, where Vegas attempted 14 of its 25 free throws in those 10 minutes alone.
Sabally exited the game in the mid-fourth quarter after taking a knee to her cheek and did not return, the moment that directly preceded Copper’s flurry.
While jostling for a rebound in front of the basket, Sabally was fouled and fell to her left, directly into the path of a Vegas player. That player’s knee rocked Sabally in the face as she was heading toward the ground, and she stayed down for a few minutes collecting herself before getting helped back to the locker room. It is always the play you worry about whenever anyone falls around the basket and leaves her status top of mind for Game 4 on Friday.
The Mercury can ride hot shooting nights through these troubles at times but they were 3-of-15 from 3 in the first three quarters before making four of their final six tries. And for a team defined largely by pace and pushing the ball, Vegas punished turnovers to the tune of a 16-10 advantage in points off turnovers and held up at just a 15-13 deficit in fastbreak points.
Bonner produced 25 points and snagged 10 rebounds in her latest memorable night as one of the best postseason performers in franchise history.
This was a strange Thomas outing, in that the usual effectiveness of her dribble-drives was more inconsistent than we’re used to seeing. Vegas did a terrific job making her be off a step in some of those spots where she is normally clinical. Thomas finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, nine assists and two steals.
This was the first time all year — including the regular season — that Sami Whitcomb was scoreless in back-to-back games. The tremendous shooter routinely brings game-changing waves of 3s to shift games, and this is a different Mercury team without that contribution off the bench.
No team has ever been down 3-0 in WNBA playoff history, because this is the first best-of-seven series the league has ever had.
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