Aces 90, Mercury 88: WNBA Finals Game 3 FULL Log

Keep track of the happenings in the desert as the WNBA Finals shift to the Phoenix Mercury’s domain for Game 3 against the Las Vegas Aces.

The Phoenix Mercury certainly hope that what happened in Vegas will stay in Vegas.

Phoenix is down 2-0 in the championship set against the Las Vegas Aces but will be back in its friendly desert confines on Wednesday night. Game 3 of the Finals’ original best-of-seven showdown will be staged at the newly-named Mortgage Matchup Center after the Aces successfully defended their home floor in Sin City.

Las Vegas handily took a 91-78 decision in Game 2 of the series over the weekend after things opened up with a narrow showing.

The Aces went up by as much as 22 in the second win, as they were primarily sustained by a 32-point scoring effort from Jackie Young, who set a WNBA Finals record with 21 tallies in the third period alone to break a 14-year record set by Angel McCoughtry. A’ja Wilson (28 points, 14 rebounds) and Chelsea Gray (10 points, 10 assists) each had double-doubles while Kahleah Copper led the Mercury with 23 points in defeat. 

Phoenix will have to topple some dire history if they have dreams of stealing the Finals trophy: to date, no team has ever won the Finals after falling behind 2-0 in the series. 

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FINAL: Aces 90, Mercury 88 (LVA leads series 3-0)

Aces (90)

Points: A’ja Wilson (34)
Assists: Jackie Young (9)
Rebounds: A’ja Wilson (14)

Mercury (88)

Points: DeWanna Bonner (25)
Assists: Alyssa Thomas (9)
Rebounds: Alyssa Thomas (12)

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4th Quarter: Aces 90, Mercury 88

0.0—Bonner’s catch-and-shoot falls just short and Las Vegas has a 3-0 lead in the series.

0.3—Who else? Off the feed from Gray, Wilson…once again…lives up to her MVP namesake and sinks a go-ahead fadeaway with less than a second left on the clock. Timeout Phoenix. (90-88 LVA)

5.0—Just as a Young drive is about to begin, the Aces call timeout.

17.3—Thomas’ drive bounces off the backboard, thanks to solid defense from Gustafson. Vegas does not initially call timeout.

40.3—Wilson loses a drive out of bounds, giving Phoenix the ball back. 

1:01—Bonner’s would-be equalizer falls short but she gets the board. She takes a whack from Gustafson and stays down for a little but gets back up. She hits both freebies (88-88)

1:26—Gray responds with a three of her own, driving against Akoa Makani, getting two, and drawing a foul. The added single is no good (88-86 LVA)

1:40—Tie game after Bonner sinks a three at the top of the key (86-86)

1:57—Young is fouled by Bonner in a shooting motion, the fifth for the latter. Phoenix will challenge. It’s unsuccessful. Young sinks the pair (86-83 LVA)

2:20—After Phoenix survives a jumpball on the other end, Copper’s would-be go-ahead triple falls short.

3:06—With Thomas obtaining a Young miss, she gets it to Copper, who sinks a delirious triple that sends the desert into hysterics. Timeout Las Vegas (84-83 LVA)

3:31—Copper turns a steal from Loyd into two, maybe three, more, as she goes coast-to-coast for the double. With a pursuing Gray called for a foul, Copper sinks the extra single (84-80 LVA)

3:45—Seeking to get hot late, Copper gets two to fall on a drive and gets one more via Bell foul. She hits it. (84-77 LVA)

4:05—Wilson finds an open Young under the basket to re-establish the double-figure lead (84-74 LVA)

4:26—Fouled by Young Sabally hits her head in into the leg of Bell and remains down. The play will reviewed for a potential upgrade. Much to the chagrin of the Phoenix crowd, it remains a common foul. A shaken Sabally requires assistance from the Phoenix medical staff and a teammate to be removed from the floor. She is immediately taken to the Phoenix locker room and is placed in concussion protocol. Copper will shoot her free throws and hits both. (82-74 LVA)

4:41—Wilson puts back her own miss to re-establish the double-figure lead (82-72 LVA)

5:01—A Gray foul puts Las Vegas over the limit for the rest of the period. Sabally goes to the line and hits two (80-72 LVA)

5:33—Thomas, on the other end is charged with her fifth foul

5:51—Evans fouls out and sends Thomas to the line. Thomas hits one while Bell enters for Evans (80-70 LVA)

5:55—Timeout on the floor after a Gray kickball 

6:04—Young beats the shot clock to re-establish the double-figure tally (80-69 LVA)

6:28—Sabally shrinks the lead to single-digits with a three (78-69 LVA)

6:43—True to form, Wilson gets her tallies anyway, scoring when she puts back Young’s shot rejected by Sabally. She becomes the third player to post a 30-10 game in the Finals (joining Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart) and also sets a new record for most points scored in a single WNBA postseason. Vegas is on the board in the fourth and it’s also a new career-best in the Finals for Wilson (78-66 LVA)

7:02—Wilson appears to reach her 30th point and Vegas’ first of the period, but a Bonner foul is ruled to have occurred on the floor. 

7:20—After Phoenix forces Las Vegas into a shot clock violation, another Bonner drive yields two and a Gustafson foul. Evans, with five fouls, re-enters for Gustafson while Bonner sinks the single (76-66 LVA)

8:10—A Bonner drive gets her to the line after Wilson commits her first foul. She makes one-of-two. (76-63 LVA)

8:50—Akoa Makani finally inserts some energy into the Phoenix crowd by sinking a corner three and opening fourth period scoring (76-62 LVA)

9:41—With some regulars in foul trouble, Aaliyah Nye checks in for Vegas … and is immediately called for a loose ball foul on a rebound scrum.

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3rd Quarter: Aces 76, Mercury 59

27.2—Loyd takes an unintentional elbow to the face from Copper and is shaken up. The play is under review for a possible upgrade after Copper is charged with a loose ball foul (her first). It remains a common foul. Despite getting looked at during the break, Loyd returns to shoot her free throws, hitting both to create a new largest lead and eventually close out period scoring (76-59 LVA)

1:00—With a rebound on Sabally’s missed free throw, Wilson has a double-double. She’s also the first player in WNBA Finals history to have consecutive games with 25 points and 10 boards.

1:02—After a Young jumper, Smith now picks up her fifth foul, putting Sabally at the line for two. Gustafson steps in for Smith while Sabally sinks one. (74-59 LVA)

1:44—Evans now gets charged with her fifth foul, which will send Bonner to the line, as Phoenix is in the bonus. She hits two and Evans sits down for Smith (72-58 LVA)

2:13—After Copper gets on the board with six, Thomas is charged her fourth after knocking over Loyd, who, in turn, sinks her two (72-56 LVA)

2:51—Wilson has tied her Finals career-best with 28 points after another double (70-54 LVA)

3:18—Westbeld earns her first points of the Finals on her first two-point attempt (68-54 LVA)

3:41—Two more Sin City singles at the line, these from Gray, create a new largest lead at 16 (68-52 LVA)

4:00—Bonner picks up her third foul, sending Wilson to the line. She sinks two more (66-52 LVA)

4:20—Officials miss a Sabally foul against Gray but a Loyd foul, her third, will place Phoenix at the foul line after a timeout on the floor. Sabally makes one of two (64-52 LVA)

5:33—Wilson spins herself into a foul and Las Vegas is in the bonus for the rest of the period. She hits two singles on a Thomas foul, her third (64-51 LVA)

6:28—Kathryn Westbeld enters the game for Phoenix for the first time tonight, replacing Bonner

6:39—Bonner earns another driving two and a trip to the line but once again can’t convert the vital and-one (62-51 LVA)

6:58—Wilson hits one at the line on an Akoa Makani foul and then earns a double to keep the lead consistent (62-49 LVA)

7:37—After an exchange of doubles, Bonner has a chance to cut the lead back to single digits but misses an and-one opportunity (59-49 LVA)

9:49—Vegas has a new largest lead after Young opens second half scoring with two on the line after an Akoa Makani foul (57-43 LVA)

10:00—Bonner is in the Phoenix starting lineup in place of Mack

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Halftime Leaders

Aces (55)

Points: A’ja Wilson (17)
Assists: Jackie Young (8)
Rebounds: A’ja Wilson (7)

Foul Trouble: Dana Evans (3)

Mercury (43)

Points: Satou Sabally (15)
Assists: Alyssa Thomas (5)
Rebounds: DeWanner Bonner, Alyssa Thomas (6)

Foul Trouble: DeWanner Bonner, Satou Sabally, Alyssa Thomas (2)

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2nd Quarter: Aces 55, Mercury 43

0.0—Smith’s drive off the feed from Young re-establishes the lead at a dozen while Phoenix is unable to respond with Whitcomb’s three in the corner. Halfway through Game 3 (55-43 LVA)

29.7—Following two more tallies from Young at the foul line, another Bonner putback stops an Aces run at nine in a row (53-43 LVA)

1:13—After two more from Wilson at the line, Gray re-establishes Sin City’s double-figure lead with another three (51-41 LVA)

2:27—Out of the timeout, Wilson braves a double-team to bank one in (46-41 LVA)

2:47—Thomas takes a pass away from Wilson, and takes it the other way for another double to get to double figures, part one of a potential triple-double. Timeout Vegas. (44-41 LVA)

3:12—Burdened with three fouls, Evans is unable to contest Sabally’s finish off a deep pass from Thomas (44-39 LVA)

4:03—Las Vegas calls timeout to call for a challenge of Evans’ third foul, which would send Bonner to the line. The call stands and Bonner hits one of two. Evans remains in the game (44-37 LVA)

4:15—Bonner’s second foul, making her the first Arizonan with two, allows Wilson to complete a three-point play (44-36 LVA)

4:31—Loyd re-enters the game while Bonner hits two foul shots off a Gray foul (41-36 LVA)

4:53—Following an exchange of doubles, Evans once again expands the lead with her second three in as many attempts (41-34 LVA)

5:56—A Gray three sunk amidst a shot clock violation is briefly reviewed. The original call of a violation stands 

6:44—Off the timeout, Akoa Makani sinks a big three (36-32 LVA)

6:57—Phoenix is forced into another timeout after Gray turns a rejection of Sabally into a double before Young hits another three (36-29 LVA)

7:35—Thomas ties the game with an athletic drive down the middle but Young instantly grants Las Vegas the lead back (31-29 LVA)

8:29—After Smith’s second foul and a Copper double, Thomas hits two at the foul line (29-27 LVA)

9:18—Evans helps Vegas pick up where it left off with its sixth three-point. Vegas may have earned an extra possession with an inaccurate shot clock reset, but the game carries on (29-23 LVA)

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1st Quarter: Aces 26, Mercury 23

0.0—Las Vegas maintains the three-point lead with a Gray jumper that served as a response to Thomas’ reverse layup on a Whitcomb feed. Dana Evans’ strip of Thomas prevented Phoenix from getting a last shot up. (26-23 LVA)

53.3—Another rejection for Bonner is called a shooting foul that will send Wilson to the line. Phoenix head coach Nate Tibbets is charged with a technical foul for arguing it. Wilson sinks the extra single before hitting her originally-rewarded pair (24-21 LVA)

1:34—Another strong showcase for Bonner off the bench: after the two sides exchange misses (with Bonner blocking a Wilson jumper), Bonner ties the game with a three earned off her own offensive rebound (21-21)

2:09—Whitcomb swipes a bad pass from Megan Gustafson (who just entered for Gray) and finds Sabally once again. A fastbreak double leads to one-possession game, a pumped up crowd, and a Las Vegas timeout (21-18 LVA)

2:29—Sabally once again earns two and a single at the foul line, this time victimizing Loyd. She completes the three-point play again (21-16 LVA)

2:49—Following Loyd’s awaited first misfire from deep, Bonner takes advantage with a two (21-13 LVA)

3:25—Sabally fianlly stems the bleeding at a 17-0 run, driving against Gray to score and draw a foul. She converts the three-point play (21-11 LVA)

3:48—Loyd, again, hits a triple, her fourth (21-8 LVA)

4:14—Loyd hits yet another three, giving her half of the Vegas points on three tries from deep (18-8 LVA)

5:12—Loyd immediately sinks another triple, leading to a Phoenix timeout as they’re forced to deal with an 11-0 run. Following the timeout, DeWanna Bonner and Sami Whitcomb check in for Mack and Akoa Makani respectively on the Mercury side. (15-8 LVA)

5:43—Wilson’s emphatic rejection of Monique Akoa Makani and a Young offensive rebound leads to a Loyd triple (12-8 LVA)

6:14—Wilson’s three-pointer, the first of the day and following a two-point jumper, gives Vegas its first lead (9-8 LVA)

6:57—Following a Young double, NaLyssa Smith commits the first foul of the game and sends Thomas to the line. She hits one of two. In between, Jewell Loyd steps in for Kiersten Bell. (8-4 PHX)

7:50—Alyssa Thomas gets the points back with a putback of a Young rejection of Sabally (7-2 PHX)

8:32—A’ja Wilson gets Vegas on the board with a two-point jumper (5-2 PHX)

8:52—Sabally now sinks a three off the feed from Mack (5-0 PHX)

9:35—Satou Sabally gets Phoenix on the board to open things up (2-0 PHX)

10:00—Natasha Mack wins the opening tip from NaLyssa Smith and Game 3 is underway

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Pregame

What: Las Vegas Aces @ Phoenix Mercury, WNBA Finals, Game 3 (LVA leads series 2-0)
Where: Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix, AZ
Watch: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN
Who’s Favored: PHX -4.5

Starting Lineups

ACES: Kiersten Bell, Chelsea Gray,  NaLyssa Smith, A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young
MERCURY: Monique Akoa Makani, Kahleah Copper, Natasha Mack, Satou Sabally, Alyssa Thomas

Injuries

ACES: None
MERCURY: None

Referees: Amy Bonner, Fatou Cissoko-Stephens, Tara Cruse