Phoenix hosts Las Vegas in a must-win Game 3 during the WNBA Finals. After Jackie Young and A’ja Wilson’s respective dominant performances to open up this series, expect Kahleah Copper and company to put their foot down and create a close series as the Mercury will open up their rotation and get even more physical with Wilson in the paint during this Wednesday night matchup.
Copper has been hot during this Finals run, scoring 22 points per contest on 53/47/80 splits. She is the leader of this offense, and with previous finals experience, I’m trusting her once again at home to deliver for this Mercury team in desperate need of a nuclear outing from one of their three star players.
Copper has been hot from beyond the arc, and when the stakes get higher, she seems to deliver. In the 2021 Finals, she delivered two key 20+ point performances to out the Mercury and lift the title.
Now on the Phoenix end, she’ll have the green light all game to attack and create more opportunities for herself in a fast-paced scheme.
After coming close to a triple-double in Game 1 with 15, 10, and 9, AT scored just 10 points with 6 boards and 5 assists in Game 2’s difficult loss, where Phoenix couldn’t get anything going past the first quarter, where they scored 27 points.
Thomas has played better at home this season, averaging 9.5 assists and shooting a higher field goal percentage in the southern desert.
Playing only 30 minutes in Game 2, I expect this number to rise in a must-win scenario and for AT to go three straight games without a double-double; it’s only happened once this season.
The superstar has made her presence felt in this series, averaging 24.5 PPG alongside 12 boards and 4 assists per contest. With the Vegas Aces up 2-0 on this series, I’m backing Phoenix to bring the heat on Wednesday night defensively as they expand their rotation, throwing everything at Wilson.
Before this series, she only had two games with the over this postseason, and while she creates a matchup problem for Phoenix, they will figure something out at home with a few days to rest and gameplan. It’s not that Wilson won’t score her 25-30 points, but expecting the Mercury to be more physical and throw the extra bodies at the WNBA MVP will limit her playmaking and constant rebounding abilities.
We also do not expect Phoenix to go 5/18 from FG and 0/7 from beyond the arc in a quarter. This happened in the second quarter of Game 2, where Wilson picked up 7 boards in just 8 minutes.