Phoenix Mercury complete 20-point second-half comeback to defeat Minnesota Lynx in overtime
The Mercury came all the way back to defeat the Lynx in overtime after trailing by 20 points with 5:45 left in the third quarter.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Phoenix Mercury pulled off the improbable and defeated the Minnesota Lynx in an 89-83 overtime thriller after trailing by 20 halfway through the third quarter.
Phoenix’s comeback victory was the largest postseason comeback in franchise history, tied for the third-largest postseason comeback in WNBA history and tied for the largest one on the road in WNBA postseason history.
It was also Phoenix’s first postseason win against the Lynx in 11 tries.
“I think just pride and toughness,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said when asked how the Mercury were able to make the comeback. “Grit. I couldn’t be more proud of our group for doing that. I believe this is our fourth game in seven nights, and so I was a little worried going into the game, but boy, they really responded in the second half. We just kept fighting.”
The Mercury outscored the Lynx 57-35 in the second half and overtime after being outscored 90-54 in the previous four quarters dating back to Sunday’s loss.
After finding themselves down 77-72 with 47 seconds left, Satou Sabally’s tip shot cut the deficit to three and Phoenix subsequently forced a five-second violation to get the ball back.
“I had forgot about it, but that was huge,” Tibbetts said. “We've hung our hat at the defensive end all year, and we competed on that play, and that was a big time play for us.”
Phoenix ended up closing the game on a 17-6 run, including a 10-4 differential in overtime.
“I think we just played harder to be honest,” Tibbetts said. “I mean, that’s how we guarded in the first round. We’ve talked about it, but I think we are gassed. I mean we’re fatigued. We looked like it mentally, physically, but we battled through it.”
Minnesota did not score in the extra period until the final 61 seconds, but back to back buckets from Courtney Williams and Napheesa Collier made it a two-point game with 30 seconds left.
Alyssa Thomas then made four of six free throws down the stretch to seal the win for Phoenix.
Thomas finished with 19 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds, and was instrumental in the Mercury’s second-half comeback. Thirteen of Thomas’ points, nine of her assists and seven of her rebounds came in the second half.
“She's the ultimate competitor. I don't know if I've ever been around anyone quite like her in my whole (coaching career),” Tibbetts said.
Thomas made it a one-point game with 25 seconds left in regulation with her running floater before Williams put the Lynx back up by three.
Out of a timeout and trailing 79-76 with 20.7 seconds left, Tibbetts expected Minnesota to foul up three and it caused confusion for Phoenix.
But after Sami Whitcomb missed her initial 3-point attempt, Thomas was able to grab an offensive rebound and find Whitcomb for a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds left to force overtime after what Tibbetts called a broken-down play.
“That one was completely on me. (Whitcomb) saved my ass,” Tibbetts said. “That’s what great players, shooters do.”
Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said after the game she did not tell her team to foul in that situation.
“We’re certainly thinking we could use a foul. We didn’t instruct them to take a foul, so they were playing it out. In hindsight, I do like a foul there, but I didn’t direct them to,” Reeve said.
Phoenix had just two offensive rebounds in the first half but had six in the second half and overtime.
“The (offensive) boards helped them,” McBride said. “Them just getting the (offensive board) and throwing it out, but we know that’s what they want to do. I feel like in the first half we were doing a good job at keeping them one-and-done. In the second half they were just getting more opportunities.”
Collier had a chance to win it for Minnesota, but her 17-footer with 0.3 seconds left was no good.
How were the Mercury able to come back against the Lynx?
The Mercury were largely able to make their comeback through their defensive effort. Phoenix forced 13 turnovers in the second half and overtime and scored 16 points from those takeaways.
Collier scored 17 points on 7-for-14 (50%) shooting in the first half but was held to seven points in the second half and overtime.
“Phoenix did a good job at coming out aggressive (in the second half), but I think we beat ourselves,” Collier said. “Unforced turnovers, not taking care of the ball when they were pressuring us. I think just keeping our composure in those situations is huge.”
Sabally and Whitcomb said Tibbetts gave the Mercury "appropriate heat" in the locker room at halftime, and Sabally said her confidence didn’t waver despite being down by 16 at the break after Tibbetts gave an impassioned speech.
“I felt that way at halftime once (Tibbetts) really gave us some heat. We’re confident, we’re confident in us," Sabally said. "We’ve been battling all season long, so you can’t give up a basketball game if you’re down, whatever. I believed at halftime, and that’s what we did.”
The comeback was a complete team effort, with Phoenix’s bench outscoring Minnesota’s 25-3.
Whitcomb led with 13 points off the bench followed by Kathryn Westbeld’s eight and DeWanna Bonner’s four.
In the first half, the Lynx played a near-perfect game and ended the second quarter on a 9-2 run to go up 48-32 at the half.
The Mercury are at their best when they're able to play in transition and run and the Lynx did not allow that.
Phoenix’s offense shot 12-for-32 (37.5%) in the opening 20 minutes as Minnesota had just four turnovers in the first half and shot 50% from the field, forcing Phoenix into playing in the half-court.
Satou Sabally, Mercury find 3-points shooting
Sabally had a bounce-back performance and Phoenix as a whole improved from 3.
The Mercury shot 13-for-32 (40.6%) from 3 in Game 2 after shooting 3-for-23 (13%) from 3 in Game 1.
Sabally scored 24 points on 9-for-22 (41%) shooting and shot 5-for-11 (45.5%) from 3 in Game 2, her five 3-pointers being a new playoff career-high.
Her performance in Game 2 came after she shot just 3-for-11 (27.3%) from the field and 0-for-5 from 3 in Game 1.
“They got a decision to make," Tibbetts said. "They’re either going to take away the paint or take away 3s. It’s really hard to do both, and we had a lot of 3s tonight and we knocked them down."
After the Mercury trailed by 20, they ended the third quarter on a 15-3 run. Phoenix forced seven Minnesota turnovers and scored nine points off of them in the period.
“I would think that’s what a team would do, after a first half that didn’t go like they wanted it to,” Reeve said about the Mercury stepping up their defense. “That’s typically what you do. I think our response to it was a little bit uncharacteristic, unfortunate. The types of turnovers that we had in a minute and a half. Four turnovers of ours, we can’t dribble the ball up the court and get it to a guard and go play, so suddenly we lost our way.”
Minnesota had just four turnovers in the first half but had six in the first 6:29 of the third quarter, which Phoenix scored seven points off of. Five of those turnovers came on six straight possessions.
“I can show you four turnovers right now in a minute and a half that had nothing to do with Phoenix, and so that made us out of sorts,” Reeve said.
The series is now even at one game a piece and shifts to Phoenix where the Mercury will have the chance to protect their home floor and book a trip to the finals.
The Mercury and Lynx will meet for Game 3 in the Valley on Friday at 6:30 p.m. The game can be watched on ESPN2.