The Phoenix Mercury knocked off the defending champion New York Liberty with a 79-73 win on Friday to earn a spot in the 2025 WNBA semifinals. They will take on the No. 1 seed Minnesota Lynx on Sunday at 5 p.m. ET. 

This is the first time the Mercury have advanced out of the first round since 2021, and they did so behind a triple-double of 20 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists from MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas.

“We are not ready for this to be over,” Thomas said during her postgame interview. “We got a special group. We want to keep playing. Tonight was just about taking this win.”

The Liberty were the favorites to win this series and took Game 1 with a 76-69 result in overtime, but the Mercury forced a Game 3 with a 25-point victory in New York.

The Mercury came out with a lot of energy on Friday and outworked New York for most of the first half, as shown by their 28-15 advantage in rebounds after the first two quarters. The Liberty turned up the heat defensively in the third quarter and held Phoenix to just 15 points, but only Breanna Stewart was able to score for New York in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Minnesota will be a tough semifinals opponent as the Lynx earned the No. 1 seed in the playoffs by being the most consistent team all year. The Lynx went 3-1 against the Mercury during the regular season, but Thomas said her team will be stronger this time around.

“They haven’t seen us full strength,” Thomas said during her postgame interview. “We are ready, we are ready to play.”

Thomas keeps making history

There have only been seven triple-doubles in WNBA playoff history, and Thomas owns five of them. The other two belong to Sheryl Swoopes and Courtney Vandersloot. Thomas is the first one to do it with at least 20 points. Friday was also her ninth triple-double in 2025. 

“Is that AT’s first triple-double of the year?” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts joked. “I think we are just kind of getting used to it. This is just what she does. She impacts the game in so many different ways. She cares about one thing, and that’s winning. When you got a player of her caliber with that much pride win a game and do whatever it takes, you are going to have a great team.”

A full team effort

Thomas is the leader of the team, but the energy came from multiple players. Satou Sabally scored 23 points and a playoff career-high 12 rebounds, although she joked that her double-double seemed “modest” compared to what Thomas did. 

Kahlea Cooper almost got one too with 12 points and nine rebounds. Meanwhile, Sami Whitbomb gave the team 13 points off the bench and assisted Cooper on the last field goal of the night. Another highlight of the night was DeWanna Bonner tallying eight boards to pass Candace Parker (610) for first all-time on the playoff rebounds list.

“This is why we tried to get her to come back home to Phoenix the last two offseasons,” Tibbetts said of Bonner. “I rewatched our game the other night and just hearing what people were saying on TV about all of her accolades, what she has done in the playoffs … We are so damn lucky to have her. She’s been awesome, we’ve loved having her. She is a big reason why we are where we are.”

Stewart deserves credit

Stewart suffered an MCL sprain in her left knee during Game 2, but she decided to suit up on Friday and put forth a valiant effort. Although most of the Liberty came out flat, Stewart brought the energy from the beginning and played with the same intensity for all 35 of her minutes. She left it all out on the floor and scored all of New York’s 14 points in the fourth quarter.

Stewart finished the night with 30 points, nine rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks. She also earned a lot of respect from her opponents.

“When it’s playoff time, you don’t wanna go home. You’re gonna give everything you have,” Thomas said of Stewart. “Stewie’s the ultimate competitor. She showed it day in, day out, especially with all the injuries she’s had. You have to give her a lot of credit for what she was able to do.”