Phoenix– Aja Wilson He caught the ball on an inbounds pass with five seconds left in regulation and the game was tied. He quickly examined his surroundings, took a drop and, as crazy boner And alyssa thomas Sent a double-team, made a quick transition and launched the ball.
The shot went halfway in before going wide of the net. but it sealed and fell back Las Vegas Aces, win 90-88 Above phoenix mercury on Wednesday night and put them up 3-0 in the WNBA Finals.
Now, the Aces are just one win away from their third title in four years.
“I mean, under Becky [Hammon]We’ve never won a Game 3. It was a must-win for us,” Wilson said. “Just for that reason. I think that’s my biggest mentality and the thing I tell my guys is that we just need to win one game… win possession, win quarters, and then everything else will fall into place.”
Wilson’s decisive play – the ninth game-winning field goal in the final five seconds of a Finals game in WNBA history – was exactly how Hammon had accomplished it. Kind of.
“Get the ball to Aja and get out of the way,” Hammon joked.
Wilson knows moments like this enhance his legacy. And at the same time, he admitted that right now, performing on this stage is exactly what his team needs from him.
“I appreciate Becky trusting me in those moments,” Wilson said. “But those are just playoff basketball moments. Those are the moments you live for. … I’m glad I could come to work.”
She continued: “It’s the finals. …It’s that moment that you see on TV. You’re watching on TV and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, being in that building,’ and it’s really powerful.”
Wilson finished with 34 points on 11-of-20 shooting and 14 rebounds. It was his fifth career 30-point double-double in the playoffs, and only the third time a player had a 30-point double-double in the Finals (Breanna Stewart More in 2021 and 2024 Jonquel Jones in 2019).
In true Wilson form, he made sure his impact was felt on both ends of the floor. According to ESPN Insights, he shot 59% on contested shots and held the Mercury to 18% when he contested a shot.
However, his game was not played without mistakes. With 40 seconds left and the score tied at 88, Wilson could not catch the pass on a backdoor cut and turned the ball over.
In that moment, Wilson knew he had to somehow get the ball back and cause what could have been a costly turnover.
“It wasn’t necessarily about me getting it back, but I knew whether it was on the defensive end or something, I just knew I had to get something back because it would have crushed my entire soul. … When I saw the next play was for me, I said, ‘Trust me.’
“We all had 100 percent confidence in A’Ja,” jewel lloyd Said. “Everyone on that bench was saying, ‘We’re going to win this game.'”
The Aces controlled the game for the first 30 minutes and took a 17-point lead in the fourth quarter. Ultimately, Hammon did not have to take a timeout in the first quarter to get his team off to a slow start.
Las Vegas imposed the pace it wanted, shutting down Mercury on attack and systematically controlling any response from Phoenix.
But the Mercury played with a new level of energy in the fourth quarter. In the semi-finals, Phoenix overcame 20- and 14-point deficits against minnesota lynx To win two games. And the Mercury looked poised for another comeback against the Aces in Game 3.
“We threw a punch and they went crawling back,” Hamann said. “I think to some extent, sure, I want the game to be played perfectly, but you have to give them credit for coming out fired up and giving themselves a chance to win at the end. … It’s a desperate team – they had to win that one … We were able to weather that storm.”
Hamann was right: Mercury was close to win-win status without being on the brink of elimination.
In the first best-of-seven Finals in WNBA history, the Aces must win one more game to be crowned champions. Mercury needs to win four in a row.
“We have a lot of opportunities to go out there and get a win,” Thomas said. “At some point, we have to take it upon ourselves.”
The last time a sweep of the WNBA Finals occurred was in 2020 when the Aces lost in three games seattle hurricane,
“I’m not going to sugarcoat it,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “We have a tough road ahead, but we have to take it one game at a time.”
