{"id":160827,"date":"2025-09-16T12:33:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T12:33:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/160827\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T12:33:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T12:33:16","slug":"mercurys-heartbreaking-overtime-loss-highlighted-one-overlooked-difference-maker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/160827\/","title":{"rendered":"Mercury\u2019s heartbreaking overtime loss highlighted one overlooked difference-maker"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Mercury have a star-studded roster. Alyssa Thomas is an MVP candidate<\/a>. DeWanna Bonner is a two-time champion and third on the all-time scoring list. Satou Sabally has made three All-Star teams and one All-WNBA First Team since 2021, and Kahleah Copper was the 2021 Finals MVP as well as an All-Star from 2021 to 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Copper was the Mercury\u2019s leading scorer in their playoff opener, Bonner provided a necessary boost off the bench, and Thomas almost recorded a triple-double with 14 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists. The stars weren\u2019t the only players who had solid games, though.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rookie Monique Akoa Makani struggled to make shots in her playoff debut, going 2-11 from the field, but her impact was felt elsewhere. She took on the assignment of guarding Sabrina Ionescu and did a formidable job, considering the circumstances. Making your playoff debut against the reigning champions is no easy task. Doing it while also having to defend one of the best guards in the league only makes it more difficult.\u00a0<\/p>\n

After the game, head coach Nate Tibbetts praised Akoa Makani\u2019s defensive effort. \u201cMo [Akoa Makani] is probably a little overlooked with some of the other great players that we have on our team,\u201d Tibbetts said<\/a>. \u201cWhat she has done as a rookie in this league is super impressive. The way she battled against Sabrina [Ionescu] all day is what we\u2019re going to need to win this series.\u201d<\/p>\n

Monique Akoa Makani put together an impressive rookie season<\/p>\n

The Mercury\u2019s roster features several undrafted rookies: Kathryn Westbeld, Lexi Held, and Akoa Makani. All three played big roles early in the Mercury\u2019s season when they were dealing with injuries. Now that the playoffs are here, Akoa Makani is the only Mercury rookie still playing significant minutes. She started her first playoff game and played 34 minutes as the team\u2019s lead guard.\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the regular season, the 24-year-old averaged 7.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game and often took on some of the toughest perimeter assignments on defense. She finished the season seventh in total points scored among rookies, third in assists, and sixth in steals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Her averages may not be as impressive as those of fellow rookies Paige Bueckers, Sonia Citron, Kiki Iriafen, or Janelle Sala\u00fcn, but Akoa Makani has been a steady contributor on one of the top four teams in the league all season long.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Phoenix has a chance to even out the series on Wednesday\u00a0<\/p>\n

When the Liberty got the 76-69 win over the Mercury, they became the only lower-seeded team to win their playoff opener<\/a>. While losing a close overtime win wasn\u2019t the outcome the Mercury had hoped for, the series is far from over.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Liberty\u2019s core won a championship together last season. Meanwhile, Phoenix\u2019s core just played its first playoff game together. While there are things they need to clean up, the Mercury have a chance to even out the series and force a Game 3. Akoa Makani will be an important part of that effort.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Mercury have a star-studded roster. Alyssa Thomas is an MVP candidate. DeWanna Bonner is a two-time champion…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":160828,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-160827","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160827\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/160828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}