{"id":196996,"date":"2025-10-08T07:43:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T07:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/196996\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T07:43:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T07:43:10","slug":"down-2-0-in-finals-expanded-best-of-seven-format-gives-mercury-hope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/196996\/","title":{"rendered":"Down 2-0 in Finals, expanded best-of-seven format gives Mercury hope"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX \u2014 The Phoenix Mercury<\/a> are already experienced at comebacks during this post-season, dropping the first game in each of the first two series before rallying and advancing to the\u00a0WNBA\u00a0Finals.<\/p>\n

They’ll need to climb out of an even bigger hole to win the championship.<\/p>\n

The Las Vegas Aces<\/a> have a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-seven series as the Mercury prepare to host Game 3 on Wednesday. Phoenix hopes a change of scenery, complete with a raucous home-crowd advantage, can help them overcome a frustrating first two games.<\/p>\n

\u201cStarting out on the road is tough,” Mercury veteran DeWanna Bonner said. “That’s not an excuse, because in order to win a championship, you’ve got to win on the road. But I think being home, we’re more comfortable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe lacked a little bit of confidence (in Vegas), so hopefully we get that back tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts doesn’t bring up his NBA experience much with his players, but his familiarity with what it takes to win a seven-game series has helped him stay optimistic despite the 2-0 deficit. Tibbetts spent more than a decade as an assistant in the NBA with the Cavaliers, Blazers and Magic.<\/p>\n

This is the first time the WNBA Finals have been a best-of-seven series, expanding from the previous best-of-five format.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve done a good job of resetting after wins and losses, getting back and finding ourselves,\u201d Tibbetts said. \u201cIn a seven-game series, a lot of times the home team wins the first two. Now it’s our responsibility to protect our home.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the Mercury are going to make this a tight series, their defence almost certainly has to improve.<\/p>\n

The Aces edged the Mercury 89-86 in\u00a0a tight Game 1, but were\u00a0much more dominant in Game 2, winning 91-78 on Sunday while controlling the entire second half. Jackie Young scored 32 points \u2014 including a record 21 in the third quarter \u2014 while A’ja Wilson added 28 points and 14 rebounds.<\/p>\n

Las Vegas shot 49.3 per cent from the field and won the rebounding edge 43-34.<\/p>\n

Tibbetts said, \u201cThe reason we’re (in the finals) is because of our defence, and to give up 89 and 91, that’s just too much.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, they’re great players \u2014 Jackie and A’ja,\u201d the coach added. \u201cThey’re going to score, but you just need to make it tough. We’re not playing 1-on-1 or 2-on-2, we’re guarding it 1 vs. 5 and we need to understand that, showing them bodies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Phoenix has actually been the early aggressor in both finals games, taking a 50-45 halftime lead in Game 1 and a 27-24 lead after one quarter in Game 2. Both times, Las Vegas responded.<\/p>\n

Wilson said she’s proud of the Aces’ resiliency, but falling behind game after game isn’t a recipe for success, particularly on the road. The two-time reigning MVP said defence will be crucial in making sure the Mercury don’t get on an early roll.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s going to be more important now more than ever,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cOur starts in Vegas were awful and we know we can’t come in here and do that. It’s a different type of feel. Defensively, we’ve got to lock in.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 The Phoenix Mercury are already experienced at comebacks during this post-season, dropping the first game in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-196996","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\/196996","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=196996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}