Monique

Akoa Makani

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.

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.

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.

Bonner played a critical role off the bench especially when the Mercury struggled to get offensive production from Monique Ako Makani and Natasha Mack. Bonner scored in transition on a bunch of layups at the rim and moved off the ball well. Her final score of the night was the final dagger that put the Sparks away for good. With over 1:20 left in the fourth, Alyssa Thomas drove to the right wing and threw a shovel pass to Bonner in the left corner pocket. While Azurá Stevens was right there on the close out, Bonner dribbled a little to confuse her and then stepped back to nail the three-point shot right over the long outstretched arms of Stevens to put the Mercury up 87-75.

Plum struggled to assert herself as the Sparks’ number one option on Tuesday night. Part of that credit is due to the aggressive defense played on her by Mercury guard Monique Ako Makani. She took shots in the first three quarters, but didn’t successfully put pressure on the rim and get to the line until the fourth quarter when she got to the line twice and made all of her free throws. While Plum’s fourth quarter takeover where she scored 10 points on 3-of-4 shooting to get the Sparks back into the game, it came too late, especially when Tuesday night’s game was defined by moments of individual scoring moments throughout the game from Rickea Jackson and Dearica Hamby.

Jackson was who kept the Sparks in the game in the especially when Monique Ako Mokani did an excellent job guarding Kelsey Plum and taking away what she does best. Jackson was responsible for 55.5% the Sparks’ offense in the first quarter where scored 10 points, hitting two threes including a crafty step back in the process. She was also the team’s go-to scorer in the third not missing a shot. But with 40 seconds left in the third quarter, Jackson went down with left ankle injury while being guarded closely by Satou Sabally. While she checked back into the game in the fourth with 5:51 left on the clock, she only attempted one shot and didn’t have the same movement on the floor that she did prior to the injury.

After head coach Nate Tibbetts was tight lipped about Akoa Makani’s status during his pregame press conference, the rookie guard will play for the Mercury on Tuesday night against the Sparks. Akoa Makani’s left knee has been a recurring injury this season. With the playoffs coming soon, expect Sami Whitcomb and Lexi Held to get meaningful minutes so that Akoa Makani’s load doesn’t make her pre-existing knee pain even worse.

Akoa Makani is back on the injury report after missing the Mercury’s August 17 game in Seattle against the Storm but then returned to the floor two days later against the Valkyries. When head coach Nate Tibbets was asked about this lingering injury during shoot around on Tuesday morning, he called it day-to-day. “It’s something we’ve been dealing with all year,” he said. “There’s days when it gives her some issues and then there’s days when it’s good.” Akoa Makani was spotted going through her regular pregame warmups but Tibbetts wouldn’t elaborate on if her status has changed during his pregame presser. If Akoa Makani doesn’t take the floor on Tuesday night, expect Sami Whitcomb to take her place in the starting lineup. Lexi Held will also earn more meaningful minutes coming off the bench if Akoa Makani doesn’t play.

While Alyssa Thomas stole the show with her sixth triple-double of the season, rookie Akoa Makani led the Mercury in scoring on Friday night. She had her most efficient shooting night on Friday since August 5 against the Sun and she made the most three-pointers she has in a game this season. She did most of her damage in the second quarter where she hit three of her four total threes, but then cut off the ball and ran the floor in transition to get her other scores that weren’t from beyond the arc.

Thomas made league history on Friday night notching her sixth triple-double of the season and the 17th of her career. She tied her own record from 2023 when she also recorded six triple-doubles in a single season. She also broke the Mercury single-game assist record with her 16 assists, tied her own career high for assists in a game, and has had five triple-doubles in the month of August which is more than any player has ever had in their career. Thomas became the third player in WNBA history to record a triple-double on the back end of a back-to-back. The first came from Lisa Leslie in 2004 and the second came from Jessica Shepard just hours before. Thomas’ 16 assists were to five different teammates including four field goals to Kahleah Copper and Monique Akoa Makani, three field goals to DeWanna Bonner and Satou Sabally and then two of Sami Whitcomb’s field goals were Thomas assists.