Will the Mercury Hand the Lynx Their 3rd Loss?

The Phoenix Mercury, coming off a dominant win versus the Wings, looks to upset the Minnesota Lynx and give them only their third loss of the season. Can the Mercury hold the Lynx and execute their offense to earn them a win?

Phoenix Mercury forwards Satou Sabally (0) and Alyssa Thomas (25) and guard Lexi Held (1) celebrate after forcing a Seattle Storm timeout during the Mercury home opener in the PHX Arena in Phoenix on May 17, 2025. / Patrick Breen/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Phoenix Mercury hope to build on their win against the Dallas Wings, which scored 102-72. With this big win, they hope to carry their momentum into the powerhouse matchup between the first and second seeds in the West against the Minnesota Lynx.

For the Mercury to have the best odds of defeating the Lynx, they need a couple of big performances from some of these key players.

First, Phoenix will need a big game from someone other than Alssya Thomas or Satou Sabally. Against Dallas, that player was Sami Whitcomb. She went off against the wings, scoring 36 in 27 minutes of basketball.

She shot lights out, shooting 12-19 from the field and 7-11 from three-point range. These percentages helped the team shoot tremendously from the field, whereas they shot 47% and 43.8% from three-point range.

The game of basketball is simple: score more points than the other team. One of the best ways to do that is to have the ball go through the hoop more, which the Mercury did in this game. The Lynx lead the WNBA in fg percentage in the league at 46.7%. The Mercury are not far behind at 43.3%, but to beat the Lynx, they're going to have to shoot like they did against the Wings.

Another player who is crucial to the Mercury's success is Alyssa Thomas. She had a triple-double in her last outing against the Wings, dropping 15 points, ten rebounds and 15 assists. Not only was her offensive presence felt, but so was her defense.

The Minnesota defense allows the fewest points per game at just 74.1 points allowed per game.

Not mentioning that Satou Sabally is battling an ankle injury, meaning that the scoring is now more than ever leaning on Alyssa and other players to step up and make their impact on offense. With the Lynx's defence being so elite, these girls have a steep hill to climb.

Not only do the Lynx have and elite defense they also house an outstanding offence. They average the second most points in the WNBA at 85.2 points per game.

The Mercury will be relying on their defensive anchor Natasha Mack, who had 2 blocks and a steal against the Wings. She is averaging 1.2 steals and averaging 1.3 blocks a game, which is 6th in the league in blocks per game.

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