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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLas Vegas Aces guard Jackie Young (0) reacts after a play against the Indiana Fever during the second period in Game 5 of a WNBA basketball playoff semifinals series Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/John Locher)<\/p>\n
But some way, somehow, both teams made it to the best-of-seven championship series, which opens Friday, and those postseason escapes leave two opponents that aren\u2019t likely to back down regardless of the situation. The Aces are -125 series favorites, according to BetMGM Sportsbook.<\/p>\n
Las Vegas\u2019 path to the finals has been anything but smooth. The Aces needed Young\u2019s rebound shot to beat the Storm in the deciding Game 3 first round. Then they were taken the distance by a Fever team that went into the playoffs without players such as Caitlin Clark and Sophie Cunningham, lost Kelsey Mitchell to injury in Game 5 and played OT without Aliyah Boston after she fouled out.<\/p>\n
But now they\u2019re here.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re battle tested,\u201d Aces point guard Chelsea Gray said. \u201cEach series was completely different, but they were challenges. I\u2019m proud of the way we responded to those challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Mercury showed their own mettle after falling behind 59-39 with 5:45 left in the third quarter of their Game 2 semifinal series against Minnesota. They rallied to force overtime and win 89-83 and stun the Lynx to make the series 1-1. Phoenix then won the following two games at home, going against a Lynx team without star Napheesa Collier in what became the decider after she was injured toward the end of Game 3.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think (the comeback) speaks volumes to the team and how we stay composed and go on runs and ride the waves,\u201d Mercury star forward Alyssa Thomas said. \u201cIt\u2019s the same in the finals. It\u2019s going to be a hard-fought battle, a tough series. You don\u2019t know what each game is going to bring.\u201d<\/p>\n
History on the line<\/p>\n
No matter which team wins, that side will claim of piece of WNBA history.<\/p>\n
Las Vegas, which won titles in 2022 and 2023, is hoping to becoming the second team to win at least three championships in four years. The Houston Comets in 1997-2000 won the league\u2019s first four titles.<\/p>\n
Phoenix hopes to add to its trophy haul from 2007, 2009 and 2014. Should the Mercury prevail, they would tie the Comets, Storm and Lynx for the most WNBA championships.<\/p>\n
Both teams downplay regular-season series<\/p>\n
The Aces took three of four from the Mercury in the regular season, but both sides said these are different circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayoff basketball, man,\u201d Gray said. \u201cIt\u2019s totally different than regular season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thomas said Phoenix\u2019s postseason success showed its seeding, which was based on the regular season, was not relevant.<\/p>\n
New WNBA Finals format creates uncertainty<\/p>\n
This is the first time the WNBA Finals will be a best-of-seven series. It had been a best-of-five.<\/p>\n
Neither side is certain what to expect from what could be the longest finals series in league history.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s exciting being a part of the first one,\u201d Thomas said. \u201cAt the same time, you don\u2019t know what a best-of-seven brings, but nothing changes. You still approach it the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Copper looking for an edge<\/p>\n
Bulletin-board material may or may not materialize, but that won\u2019t stop Mercury forward Kahleah Copper from searching for any kind of slight that might give her and her team an advantage.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt this point, I\u2019m a pyscho looking for something,\u201d Copper said. \u201cGive us an edge. Don\u2019t pick us. It\u2019s cool. I\u2019m just wired a little different.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fever big draw even without Clark<\/p>\n
The Aces-Fever series averaged 1.56 million viewers, making it the most-watched league semifinals or conference finals series in WNBA history despite ratings magnet Clark being sidelined because of a groin injury.<\/p>\n
The nine semifinals games, including the Mercury-Lynx series, averaged 1.34 million views, up 57% over last year.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP WNBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/wnba-basketball<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 Las Vegas and Phoenix faced serious questions during the regular season about whether they…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":186744,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-186743","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186743","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=186743"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186743\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}