Kahleah

Copper

Copper went out swinging in the Mercury’s final game of the season. She repeatedly attacked downhill and put pressure on the Aces’ defense throughout, which was especially notable in her 13-point third quarter that helped get Phoenix back in the game. The former Finals MVP ultimately set a new personal best for points scored in a WNBA Finals game before fouling out of Friday’s contest late in the fourth quarter. She averaged 22.8 points through the four games and was arguably the Mercury’s most consistent scorer throughout the series.

For the second straight game, Thomas dealt with foul trouble although she still played in all but one minute of Wednesday night’s game. She picked up three of her five personal fouls in the second half and as a result was less potent on both sides of the ball. She also had difficulty taking care of the ball, turning the ball over three times which resulted in two Aces scores. She was just one assist off from yet another triple-double and distributed to four teammates in DeWanna Bonner, Kahleah Copper, Satou Sabally and Monique Akoa Makani. Thomas led her team rebounding the basketball picking up 12. She had two offensive boards, which moved her into a tie with league legend Lisa Leslie for eighth on the All-Time Playoffs offensive rebounds list with 127.

After a very quiet first three quarters, Copper turned it up in the fourth especially following Satou Sabally’s exit after her collision with Kiersten Bell. She scored 11 of her total 17 points in the fourth quarter alone in less than two minutes of play in the fourth. Copper not only took and made Sabally’s free throws after Sabally exited the game, but Copper had multiple and-one’s on drives to the basket in addition to a three-pointer that brought the Aces once 17-point lead down to just a single point.

Sabally had her highest scoring performance since Game 2 of the semifinals against the Lynx, a game the Mercury won. On Wednesday night however, this wasn’t the case amid Sabally’s most efficient shooting performance of the Finals series. She took advantage of her size advantage over the Aces guards early, but her teammates struggled to get her the ball to further exploit that size mismatch throughout the game. Sabally was less trigger happy, and found her teammates DeWanna Bonner, Kahleah Copper and Monique Akoa Makani on cuts to the basket and kick outs. Sabally’s solid performance was cut short. She left the game after hitting her head on Kiersten Bell’s leg with 4:26 left in regulation. The ESPN broadcast reported that Sabally was going to be evaluated for a concussion. Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts had no update on Sabally postgame.

For a second straight game, Copper came out aggressively. The former Finals MVP drained three first-quarter triples as part of a 15-point first half in which she led the Mercury in scoring. Unlike in Game 1, she mostly kept her foot on the gas in Game 2 by tallying eight more points after halftime to conclude with a team-high. Sunday marked the second straight game of at least 20 points for Copper, which came on efficient shooting both inside and outside the arc. The Aces haven’t yet proven able to limit the versatile wing’s production — she’ll have a chance to record another productive game on Wednesday.

Copper, in her first WNBA Finals appearance since capturing the Finals MVP award with the Chicago Sky back in 2021, was in championship form for the first half of Friday’s game. The veteran wing wasted no time getting acclimated, scoring 19 points in the opening couple of quarters, where she tallied five made three-pointers — the three-point barrage made up more than half of Phoenix’s eight threes through the opening half. Yet, Copper cooled off after halftime and scored only two points the rest of the way on 1-of-4 shooting. She still finished with a team-high in points on the evening and has now reached 20 or more points in three of the Mercury’s eight playoff games thus far.

Copper’s offensive production mostly came in the second quarter of Friday’s contest. In the frame, the former Finals MVP tallied 13 points on a perfect 6-of-6 shooting. She landed only four points after halftime, but competed on the glass, logged 36 important minutes in the victory, and finished as one of three Phoenix players to score at least 20 points on the evening. The Mercury will likely continue to lean on Copper and the rest of their Big Three in Sunday’s Game 4.

Copper was Phoenix’s most aggressive scorer on Sunday — she looked for her shot often, and it led her to finish as the Mercury’s leading scorer. Despite struggling from beyond the arc, she was the only Phoenix player to reach the 20-point mark. Additionally, she tallied half of her team’s 10 points in a fourth quarter they entered tied on the scoreboard with the Lynx. Even without the former Finals MVP contributing in many other areas in Game 1, she was one of the Mercury’s best players on Sunday. They’ll likely need an even better performance from her in Tuesday’s Game 2.

While Copper led the Mercury in scoring on Sunday night, the 2021 WNBA Finals MVP didn’t have her most complete game. She had her most productive quarter in the second when she scored around half of her points on a drive to the rim, a pull-up and-one from 18 feet away in addition to three free throws. But since Copper got in foul trouble early, that limited her aggression on both sides of the ball. Copper struggled in clutch moments as she only made one field goal in the final three periods of the game including overtime.

Sabally led the Mercury in scoring in a game her team had little motivation to win. She scored at all three levels on Thursday night including two deep threes on assists from Alyssa Thomas and Monique Akoa Makani. Sabally also hit a 12-foot jumper on one foot over Paige Bueckers in addition to scoring the basketball as a driver. Sabally also had five assists in her final regular season game, her highest amount since she had six on August 19 against the Valkyries. She found Kahleah Copper for a bunch of three-pointers in addition to acting like the point forward while Alyssa Thomas wasn’t on the floor when she was able to find Kathryn Westbeld and Kalani Brown rolling to the basket.