Fever players, coach talk about Game 1 loss to Atlanta Dream
Kelsey Mitchell, Lexie Hull and Stephanie White meet with reporters following Indiana’s Game 1 loss to Atlanta in WNBA playoffs.
The Phoenix Mercury will head to New York on the brink of elimination from the 2025 WNBA Playoffs.
The Mercury and Liberty held a tightly contested game, but it was the Liberty that prevailed 76-69 in Game 1 of the best-of-three series at PHX Arena on Sunday, Sept. 14. The Mercury’s shooting struggled in the later parts of the game and into overtime as the Liberty outscored them, 11-4, in overtime.
“I just think New York played better than us in overtime. I’ve been extremely proud of our group all season long,” coach Nate Tibbetts said. “No one is picking us to win this series. I know we believe in us and so this is our journey. This was our first playoff game together. We went toe-to-toe with the defending champs and had a chance to win. I am super proud of how we competed and had a chance to win at the end. I know I expect and the group expects to win in New York.”
Kahleah Copper led the Mercury with 15 points, followed by Thomas’ 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
The biggest missed shot came when Alyssa Thomas had a chance to win the game with a spin move for a wide-open layup with three seconds left and the score tied, but she missed.
“It’s just an unfortunate roll. I’ve made that shot thousands of times, but for me, it’s no big deal,” Thomas said. “Of course, it would’ve been nice if it had went down, but there’s still a lot of basketball to play.”
The shooting issues plagued the Mercury in overtime, with five missed shots to begin.
After a slow start, the Mercury scored four unanswered points to make it a two-possession game, but Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu found forward Leonie Fiebich on a backdoor cut and Fiebich hit a 3-pointer with 57 seconds left in overtime to clinch it for New York.
“It’s funny because she got some misses early on and she was going to hit the biggest one of the night,” Ionescu said. “It’s just what she does, and she hit that baseline back cut for a layup before and then came down with a 3, and she’s one of the best 3-point shooters in the world, and we know that. We continue to believe in her and she continues to believe in herself and put in the work, but that was the biggest shot of the night.”
Shooting struggles affected the whole team, but it was most prevalent in forward Satou Sabally’s performance. Sabally had nine points, but went 2 of 17 from the floor (11.8%) and missed all six shots in the second half.
Sabally did contribute on the other end, including grabbing eight defensive rebounds and forcing two steals. The Mercury scored 15 points off the Liberty’s 20 turnovers.
“There are some shots (Sabally) probably wishes she had back, but that happens in the game. When you’re shooting every time you’re thinking about shooting, you’re thinking make and sometimes there’s games like this,” Tibbetts said.
With rookie guard Monique Akoa Makani leading the defensive efforts, the Mercury were able to shut down Ionescu to five points and 2 of 7 shooting in the second half.
While Ionescu got more attention, it opened the way for point guard Natasha Cloud to burn the Mercury. Against her former team, Cloud had yet another big playoff performance, leading New York with 23 points. While with the Mercury last season, Cloud dropped 33 points in Game 1 against the Minnesota Lynx.
The Mercury faced challenges on the glass that hadn’t been seen much in the regular season against New York’s bigger lineup. With 6-foot-6 center Jonquel Jones leading the team with 12 rebounds, the Liberty outrebounded the Mercury by 17 with 48 rebounds.
“Very physical game. It was very hard to get from A to B, but in the end, our resiliency paid off, and we had an understanding of our own experiences, and we just made some shots,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “Defensively, we hung our (heads) on that, which is what we have to do in the playoffs, and we rebounded really well.”
Mercury center Natasha Mack took a hard spill in the second quarter and returned in the third quarter, but didn’t see action after subbing out with 2:21 left in the third. Tibbetts said he made the adjustment because he wanted a smaller lineup against the Liberty.
Liberty forward Breanna Stewart went down late in the game after she went up for a shot at the basket and appeared to have landed awkwardly on her way down. She didn’t come out of the game at first, but then was in discomfort and asked to be checked out. Brondello didn’t have an immediate update on her. Stewart scored 18 points and shot 7 of 14.
Game 2 of the best-of-three series will take place in New York on Wednesday, Sept. 17, at 5 p.m. MST. It will be televised on ESPN. Game 3 would be back in Phoenix on Sept. 19 if necessary.
