Satou

Sabally

On the heels of a 25-point, 10-rebound performance in Wednesday’s loss to the Aces, Bonner will get the start in the Mercury’s must-win Game 4. She’ll replace Satou Sabally, who suffered a concussion in the fourth quarter of Game 3 before being ruled out for Friday’s contest. Bonner is averaging 9.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in 25.3 minutes per game throughout this 2025 postseason. She and the rest of the Mercury will need a strong outing if they hope to avoid elimination and send the series back to Las Vegas for Game 5.

Sabally left Wednesday night’s Game 3 of the WNBA Finals with 4:26 left in the fourth quarter. Her head collided with the leg of Aces forward Kiersten Bell as Sabally and Aces guard Jackie Young were fighting for a rebound. Young was assessed a personal foul for tangling up Sabally’s arm, but Bell’s contact with Sabally’s head was accidental. After Sabally was down for around 10 minutes on the ground following the collision, she left the floor with some help from teammate Kalani Brown and a member of the Mercury’s training staff. The injury is a major blow for the Mercury as they will enter Game 4 on Friday down 3-0 in an elimination game of best of seven series without one of their stars available to play. With Sabally out for Game 4, expect DeWanna Bonner to start in her place and for stretch big Kathryn Westbeld to get some more run off the bench.

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.

Despite shooting inefficiently, Sabally was one of Phoenix’s better offensive performers in Game 2. The veteran wing crossed the 20-point mark for the fourth time in the last five games with the help of a 10-point fourth quarter. Sabally also got involved on the glass, where her nine defensive boards almost led her to a double-double on the afternoon. While she looks to be more efficient in Wednesday’s Game 3, another high-scoring performance would likely benefit Phoenix as it looks to avoid falling behind three games to none.

Sabally had the hot hand on Friday and was impactful on offense for most of Game 1, despite dealing with foul trouble. The versatile forward ultimately logged 31 minutes, utilizing the three-point shot to finish just shy of 20 points. She concluded as one of Phoenix’s top playmakers on the evening, as well, while proving to be a tough cover for the Aces’ defense. Sabally has now tallied at least 19 points in four consecutive playoff games, but saw her streak of 20-point games end at three. The Mercury would benefit from another productive offensive showing from her in Sunday’s Game 2.

Sabally was the lone Mercury player not to start slowly on Sunday, shooting 5-of-9 from the field in the first half. Despite scoring just 14 first-quarter points, Phoenix’s exemplary second quarter on the defensive end of the floor allowed them to pull even at the half. Sabally didn’t do much scoring in the second half, but her play in the first kept Phoenix within striking distance, allowing others to step up late and send the team to the WNBA Finals. Game 1 is on Friday, with Phoenix either visiting Las Vegas or hosting Indiana, depending on the result of Tuesday’s Game 5 between the Aces and Fever.

Sabally came up big down the stretch for the Mercury on Friday night. After shooting just 1-of-6 from the field over the first three quarters, the left-handed forward more than doubled her points total in the fourth quarter, where she shot 4-of-5 from the field and drained two key three-pointers en route to scoring 15 of the Mercury’s 21 points. Sabally’s fourth-quarter efforts ultimately allowed her to make her way past 20 points and finish as Phoenix’s leading scorer in Game 3. She has now recorded at least 20 points in three of the last four games, which have all been Mercury wins.

Thomas was two rebounds shy of yet another triple-double during semifinals game two against the Lynx. Her impact on the Mercury offense really took hold in the second half and the overtime period where she registered nine of her total 13 assists in the third and fourth quarters in addition to 13 of her total 19 points in the final three periods of the game including that final five minute overtime. Five of Satou Sabally’s nine made field goals came on Alyssa Thomas assists during the first and fourth quarters. The Lynx put Thomas to the line four times during the overtime period and she made 5-of-8 of her attempted free throws.