Once the buzzer sounded at Mortgage Matchup Center, Kahleah Copper gathered her Phoenix Mercury teammates and let them feel the emotions of the room.
The shouts from the Las Vegas Aces locker room, the excitement, the energy.
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Copper wanted them to know the sting.
“I brought us all together and said, Take a couple of seconds, feel it, hear it, you hate this feeling,” Copper said. “You hear the other team celebrating and just remember what this feeling feels like and remember the hurt and remember everything you feel in this moment and then just let them fuel you for the future.”
Copper isn’t used to losing on the big stage. In the 2021 WNBA Finals, Copper’s first Finals appearance, she made herself known and won the Finals MVP. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Copper had some crucial moments as the U.S. team won the gold medal.
Mercury WNBA Finals history: What happened in the Phoenix Mercury’s 5 previous trips?
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But now, Copper and the Mercury end their season without a fourth WNBA title.
The Mercury were swept by the Aces in Game 4 of the Finals on Friday, Oct. 10.
Not many people predicted that the Mercury would wind up in the Finals after legend Diana Taurasi retired and center Brittney Griner signed with the Atlanta Dream.
But the Mercury skipped the rebuild and did the improbable when getting stars Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally in a four-team trade.
From there, the Mercury’s identity quickly shifted from one of the league’s worst defensive teams to one of the best — in the regular season and postseason.
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And a lot of that change boils down to Thomas’ impact. Known for her physical style of play, she was on Phoenix’s radar for a while.
“That’s why I harassed her to come here,” Copper said. “I just got tired of competing against her. Just going against her, I was like, ‘I got to go and get that one. That’s the one I want.’
“Just being out there, when I look to my left, we’re going to war. It’s about winning.”
The Mercury surprised the league early in the season and kept the momentum up to the All-Star break before hitting a slump. Phoenix fought late into the season to maintain a top-four seed in the playoffs, but still wasn’t seen as a contender.
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In every playoff series, the Mercury weren’t expected to win, but didn’t buy into the noise. Instead, they knocked off the defending champion New York Liberty in the first round and stunned the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx in the semifinals.
In both of those series, the Mercury quickly adjusted from a poor Game 1 performance and appeared unstoppable.
Until they ran into the Aces.
With superstar A’ja Wilson headlining an Aces team filled with depth, the Mercury couldn’t find answers. Five different players guarded Wilson throughout the Finals to no avail as she collected her second Finals MVP award.
Adding to the sting was losing Sabally in devastating fashion when she went down with a concussion in Game 3. Sabally was unable to be at Game 4 due to her condition, and her teammates largely had to stay away due to the hospital’s visitation rules.
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The Mercury tried everything they could in Game 4, but limped out of the season as coach Nate Tibbetts was ejected in the third quarter and several players earned technical fouls.
However, the ending doesn’t define how this season went.
“This was a special year,” Tibbetts said. “This is one of the funnest years I’ve had in basketball. For a new group to come together the way that we did and compete, it just says a lot about who’s in our locker room and everyone involved.
“Everyone bought into the vision of restructuring the group. … I’m going to remember this year forever, it’s a special year. You obviously want to get to the Finals and win the Finals, but it doesn’t always work out the way that you want. But I just love what we started to build here. It’s a great group. I’m disappointed that it’s ended.”
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Reach the reporter at jenna.ortiz@arizonarepublic.com, as well as @jennarortiz on X.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Mercury’s sensational, surprising season ends in WNBA Finals
