{"id":140560,"date":"2025-09-13T08:20:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T08:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/140560\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T08:20:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T08:20:10","slug":"3-reasons-mercury-will-beat-liberty-in-2025-wnba-playoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/140560\/","title":{"rendered":"3 reasons Mercury will beat Liberty in 2025 WNBA Playoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The post 3 reasons Mercury will beat Liberty in 2025 WNBA Playoffs<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Facing the defending WNBA champions in the opening round is no easy task for the Phoenix Mercury<\/a>. Even after defeating the New York Liberty 3-1 in the regular season series and clinching home court advantage, the playoffs are a different beast.<\/p>\n

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Everyone is 0-0, and everything that happened in the regular season is just about obsolete. Still, some elements from the Mercury and Liberty\u2019s matchup<\/a> should intrigue Phoenix fans.<\/p>\n

There are three particular reasons why the Mercury could take down the reigning champions.<\/p>\n

Continuity plays into Mercury\u2019s Big 3 vs Liberty\u2019s Big 3\"Eakin<\/p>\n

Eakin Howard-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

Experience is key. And while players on both sides have plenty of championship experience, New York was plagued with injuries throughout the season.<\/p>\n

The same could be said of the Mercury, who missed Kahleah Copper and Natasha Mack to open the season. Shortly thereafter, Satou Sabally picked up a lingering ankle injury that carried into the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

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Since then, though, the Mercury\u2019s Big 3 have played 19 games together<\/a>, and the last 15. That continuity is huge, considering the chemistry that New York already has.<\/p>\n

Still, there are some holes to poke in this argument. The Liberty have championship experience<\/a>, and this is the third year of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, and Sabrina Ionescu playing together.<\/p>\n

They have that advantage over Phoenix, but the latter\u2019s trio of Satou Sabally, MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas, and Copper pose some serious matchup problems.<\/p>\n

Versatility, defense, and true 3-level scoring make this lineup a problem for other teams. For instance, Thomas tied a Mercury franchise record with 15 assists against the Liberty early in the season.<\/p>\n

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The past two weeks, Phoenix hasn\u2019t had many injuries. That\u2019s not to test their luck, but to show that consistency is key, and could be a difference maker.<\/p>\n

Mercury\u2019s small-ball lineup can negate Liberty\u2019s size\"\u00a9<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Allan Henry-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

At the beginning of the 2025 season, the Liberty had plenty of size in the front court. Jonquel Jones, Leonie Fiebich, and Nyarra Sabally are just a few of the names.<\/p>\n

Those players are big for their respective positions, especially Fiebich, who is a 6-foot-4 guard and bigger than most forwards. Not to mention, they only got bigger when the Liberty signed free agent Emma Meesseman.<\/p>\n

As a result, head coach Sandy Brondello has experimented with a plethora of lineups. For instance, she\u2019s played Stewart, Jones, and Meesseman in the same lineup.<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s been a slower lineup<\/a> (averaging a 96.64 pace, compared to 100.42 per 40 minutes). If that lineup played the entire season, it would still be the second-fastest in the league.<\/p>\n

That statistic is impressive to say the least. But this is where Phoenix\u2019s small-ball attack comes in.<\/p>\n

After the Mercury signed DeWanna Bonner<\/a> earlier in the season, she provides the size and shooting touch from outside. Phoenix can play a five-out offense when she subs in for Mack.<\/p>\n

Bonner might not be strong enough to contain Jones or Meesseman on the inside, but her length presents a shot-blocking problem for New York.<\/p>\n

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Depending on the matchup, she\u2019s typically the closer in the game. Bonner will likely be out there to exploit the size and keep the defense glued to the perimeter.<\/p>\n

She has 14 games played with the other four starters<\/a> and has 44 minutes played. Considering she joined midway through the season, it\u2019s clear what direction Phoenix wants to go to close a game.<\/p>\n

However, the game slows down to the half-court; it could be a sweep for New York. On the flip side, if the Mercury accelerates their already up-tempo and transition attack, they\u2019ll be difficult to stop.<\/p>\n

Hustle points are huge for both teams\"\u00a9<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Joe Rondone\/The Republic \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

A major element Brondello mentioned was the Liberty\u2019s lack of effort<\/a> the last time her team and Phoenix squared off. Even from the press box, there were plenty of chances for New York to take control.<\/p>\n

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Phoenix managed to pull away thanks to outworking the Liberty. Loose balls, players diving into the crowd, and onto the floor for a chance at another possession are huge.<\/p>\n

Also, when someone like Thomas is doing that, it sets the tone for the rest of the team.<\/p>\n

However, this goes back to taking advantage of New York\u2019s size. That big lineup with Stewart, Jones, and Meesseman could simply be too big to go after loose-ball opportunities.<\/p>\n

In the playoffs, little things like those can swing the momentum of the game and the series.<\/p>\n

Although Brondello has mentioned experimenting with different lineups, including the \u201cjumbo\u201d lineup, now might not be the best time.<\/p>\n

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For Phoenix, it could be as advantageous as ever if it plays its cards right.<\/p>\n

Either way, both teams could have the most entertaining and thrilling first-round series of them all. But it\u2019s also a chance for the Mercury to make some noise by knocking off the 2024 WNBA champions.<\/p>\n

Related: Mercury\u2019s Nate Tibbetts sees \u2018great series\u2019 vs. Liberty in 2025 WNBA playoffs<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Mercury\u2019s Alyssa Thomas sets new WNBA record with rapid triple-double vs. Sparks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The post 3 reasons Mercury will beat Liberty in 2025 WNBA Playoffs appeared first on ClutchPoints. Facing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[4652,4657,49,48,12193,12200,12202,21595,24530,3457,3461,4644,23760,4659,82,23761,25836,630,23933],"class_list":["post-140560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-alyssa-thomas","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-emma-meesseman","tag-jonquel-jones","tag-kahleah-copper","tag-leonie-fiebich","tag-natasha-mack","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-phoenix-mercury","tag-sabrina-ionescu","tag-sandy-brondello","tag-satou-sabally","tag-sports","tag-the-liberty","tag-the-mercury","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-champions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}