The five assists Thomas finished the night with felt like consolation prizes. Only one of them led to a 3-pointer.<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t for lack of trying. Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts tried using Thomas as more of a roller than a ball-handler in the pick and roll, to give the Aces defense a different look.<\/p>\n
But instead of outsmarting the Aces defense, the Mercury looked out of sorts in a 91-78 loss<\/a> that sent Tibbetts back to the drawing board looking for ways to solve the Aces defense.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just kind of held the ball, over-dribbled the ball,\u201d Tibbetts said. \u201cListen, I\u2019ve been really proud of our offense the last four, five games, how we moved it. We found matchups that we like. We did not do a good job of that today. I\u2019m not sure. It\u2019s probably some of us and some of Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n After taking the first two games of the series on their home floor, the Aces would like to think their defense had something to do with it.<\/p>\n \u201cDefensively, I feel like we have a firm idea of what we should be doing and how it should look and how it should feel,\u201d Aces coach Becky Hammon said. \u201cIt\u2019s not super complicated, we just want to be super solid in some fundamental areas for us defensively.\u201d<\/p>\n They held Phoenix to their third-lowest scoring night of the postseason.<\/p>\n Thomas finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals, but everyone else had to get it the hard way. Kahleah Copper needed 18 shots to get her 23 points. Satou Sabally needed 19 to score 22. They shot a combined 5 of 17 from 3 and the rest of the Mercury combined to shoot 0 for 9.<\/p>\n \u201cWe weren\u2019t letting the deep penetration with the ball into the paint, so she wasn\u2019t getting those spray out threes,\u201d Hammon said. \u201cWe just did a better job of being more sturdy up front in our defense.\u201d<\/p>\n The Aces, as much as anyone, know how important defense is at this stage. They leaned on it to win back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.<\/p>\n Both teams were anchored by A\u2019ja Wilson in defensive player of the year form, but they had different defensive DNA.<\/p>\n In 2022, their regular-season defensive rating was tied for sixth in the league at 102.0,but their postseason defense ticked up to 100.5.<\/p>\n When they won the title in 2023, they had the best defense in the league (97.7) and that defense was more fierce in the playoffs (92.7).<\/p>\n It took half a season for the Aces to find a defensive identity this year. But over the 16-game win streak that ignited their season, they had the second best defensive rating in the league (98.2) behind the Atlanta Dream (95.5) and it only got stronger as the streak grew. Over their final 12 regular-season games, the Aces had the best defensive rating in the league (96.8).<\/p>\n That defense has been tested in the playoffs in series against Seattle and Indiana that went down to the wire.<\/p>\n They held the Storm to 73 points in a Game 3 win<\/a> in the first round. Then when Indiana refused to go away in the second round, they held them to 12 points in overtime of Game 5<\/a> to get to the Finals.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve just got to play defense,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to buckle in and get ready to weather storms. I think throughout this season, between how we started, between the streaks and now here we are \u2014 we\u2019ve been through a lot, so that\u2019s going to pay off, I\u2019m sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Hammon hammered home the details going into Game 2 \u2014 controlling the glass, defending actions as guards, playing strong post defense \u2014 and with a third title within reach, Hammon was confident the message got through.<\/p>\n \u201cThey know exactly what I\u2019m talking about,\u201d Hammon said. \u201cThey know exactly what I\u2019m going to say. They know it. We\u2019ve been together too long. They know when they\u2019re not up to standard in certain areas. Most of the time, I\u2019m just reminding them. Encouraging them to get to the level we need to defensively in order to win a game.\u201d<\/p>\n