Mercury’s Nate Tibbetts serenades Alyssa Thomas after historic Game 2 against Liberty originally appeared on The Sporting News
The Phoenix Mercury were down, but not out, heading to New York on Wednesday night. The Liberty were waiting at Barclays Center, hoping to land the knockout blow in this first-round series and qualify for the WNBA semifinals again.
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Instead, the Mercury inflicted the largest home playoff loss on the Liberty in New York’s history, rolling to an 86-60 win that forces a decisive Game 3 back in Phoenix on Friday night.
MORE: Satou Sabally’s outburst leads Mercury’s unthinkable blowout of defending champion Liberty
Led by MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas, the Mercury secured the largest road win in WNBA history for a team facing elimination, holding the Liberty to 30 percent shooting and forcing 15 turnovers. Thomas was brilliant; she scored 15 points, dished out seven assists and hauled in six rebounds in just 26 minutes.
Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts told reporters after the game that Thomas has a “beautiful mind” which can be overlooked because she is not an elite scorer — and because, for the past seven years, she has played professionally with two torn labrums, one in each shoulder, that forced her to adapt her playing style.
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“I think she’s just a savant when it comes to knowing the game,” Tibbetts said. “What she does as a leader, the toughness on the defensive end, and then offensively, she sees things that others don’t. I’ve just really enjoyed coaching her.”
On Friday, Thomas has a chance to add to her legacy — which includes three All-WNBA nods, six All-Defense selections and the WNBA’s single-season assists record — by helping the Mercury eliminate the Liberty back in the desert, which would set up a semifinal showdown with the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx.
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