The Phoenix Suns have been in full support of the Phoenix Mercury during their entire playoff run, which continues in the WNBA Finals.
Devin Booker, Dillon Brooks, Mark Williams, Ryan Dunn, plus rookies Koby Brea and CJ Huntley attended the Sunday, Sept. 28, Game 4 win over the Minnesota Lynx at PHX Arena to eliminate the No. 1 seed in the best-of-5 semifinals.
Advertisement
“Being here my first year, I’m able to experience that and just see what basketball is like in Phoenix,” Brea said after training camp practice on Sept. 29. “It’s amazing to see everybody that comes through and supports them. We’re expecting the same thing for us. Definitely motivating for us to watch that.”
The No. 4 seed Mercury will play either the No. 2 seed Las Vegas Aces or the No. 6 seed Indiana Fever in the finals. The decisive Game 5 in that series was scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 30, in Vegas.
Game 1 of the WNBA Finals is Friday, Oct. 3.
“I think the whole season they’ve surprised a lot of people,” Booker said last week. “They went in with no expectation from the outside world and you can see they brought it together and kept everything in house and continued to improve at the right time.”
Advertisement
The Mercury began their postseason run by eliminating the defending NBA champion New York Liberty in three games of a best-of-3 series.
“We challenged our group in training camp that every day was going to be a new day,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said after the Game 4 win. “We were going to continue to come in and work. Just to see the smiles and the pride and the togetherness for such a new group, it’s pretty impressive. It really is. We’ve got some great leaders here that have really poured into the group and the young players have done a good job of responding.”
Suns first-year head coach Jordan Ott proudly wore a black Mercury shirt at training camp practice on Sept. 29 at the team’s practice facility.
Advertisement
“The guys care,” Ott said. “It’s really cool to see them follow, them care about the Mercury.”
Ott has been in communication with Tibbetts, who was a longtime NBA assistant coach, in the playoffs. He said Tibbetts wanted to “reiterate” to him the importance of having the Suns attend Mercury games.
“I’m speaking to our team about it as we started the day in our film session and you can see the guys bobbing their heads. They’re really behind them. Obviously, it’s a really good season. Their success creates our energy and you can see the fans show up for them. Our guys go to the game and see the fans show up for them. That stuff is really cool.”
Ott admires how the Mercury play, starting with MVP finalist Alyssa Thomas, who is in her first season in Phoenix. The 6-2 forward is averaging 18.6 points, 8.4 rebounds and 9.1 assists in the playoffs (seven games).
Advertisement
“How they play, they’ve formed their own identity even with all the roster flux,” Ott continued. “How aggressive, physical, gritty, tough their team is because their best player (Thomas) plays that way. She plays a style of play every coach would love to coach. She’s downhill, in the paint, making the right plays. Plays super hard, physical and everyone else rallies around her.”
The Suns look to exceed low preseason expectations as they open the 2025-26 season Oct. 22 against the Sacramento Kings at PHX Arena.
The Mercury’s special postseason run is motivating the Suns.
“I think our guys have really enjoyed being a part of some of those atmospheres,” Ott concluded.
Advertisement
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
Support local journalism. Start your online subscription.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns supporting Mercury’s special run to WNBA Finals
