The Las Vegas Aces, after a bit of hiccups in Round 1 and the semifinals, are back to being the beast they are with 2 straight wins in the finals. Yet, you wouldn’t find a single hint of celebration inside the locker room because the goal is to wrap by Game 4. “We just don’t want to have a satisfied locker room because we’re not there yet,” Coach Becky Hammon told reporters during a post-game press conference. That right there is the Hammon edge-an unshakable discipline. Can Nate Tibbetts overcome one more challenge?

Well, every Finals has a rhythm, and Mercury vs. Aces has one too. Speaking on No Offseason, Ben Pickup, the co-host, unveiled it as he said, “The roadmap for them (Mercury) to win four games, I think it will be a very similar game to game. Satou might have a big game here, or AT might have, transcendent game there. But it’s going to be the three core players producing. It’s going to be AT getting downhill, scoring in transition, opening things up for Satou and Copper on the perimeter.” And if they don’t…

Aces will take it away. Because Becky isn’t playing the final for the first time. She has had two back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023. Skills so good there was even a demand to bring her as the head coach of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. To help connect, she was already an assistant coach with the Spurs. She is among the rare or the only female coaches who were close to being an HC for an NBA team, the Blazers. That discipline naturally comes when you have worked under Greg Popovich.

They’ve got experience, chemistry, and mentality-everything that strengthens their case for a third championship title. “The thing that really will stay with me from these first two games is just the multitude of weapons that Las Vegas has,” added Pickup. The Aces took Game 1, in part, because of Becky Hammon. She switched from a man defense to a zone defense toward the end of the game. While it didn’t make huge changes, it was enough to derail the Mercury.

Following the switch, the Aces flipped a 71-67 fourth quarter into a narrow three-point victory as they secured 89 points. But the head coach played smart in Game 2, too, though this time, it was much easier. Led by a historic night from Jackie Young, A’ja Wilson, and Chelsea Gray, who combined for 60 of the Aces’ 91 points, Las Vegas earned the first dominant win of the series with a 13-point margin. The pattern changes with each game, and that’s exactly the biggest challenge yet for the Mercury.

But the Phoenix Mercury isn’t just another team. She has been one of the most resilient and decorated franchises. Once defined by Diana Taurasi’s brilliance, they’re now writing a new chapter led by Alyssa Thomas, Satou Sabally, and Kahleah Copper. While no one expected them to make it to the Finals, these underdogs-after defeating favorites for the championship title this season-made it. But the process won’t be easy. Down 2-0, they now need 2 wins to survive and 4 to win.

And yes, it all makes sense since the Mercury-a team projected to be the league’s 7th best in ESPN’s preseason ranking-made it to the Finals using this same strategy. Even in Game 3’s 84-76 win against the Lynx, it was the big three who led the game. MVP finalist AT, former Finals MVP Copper, and one of the most versatile players in the league, Satou recently formed trio-combined for 65 points on 23-for-43 shooting. That offensive production, paired with defense and physicality, was enough to outplay the Lynx’s All-Star trio of Napheesa Collier, McBride, and Williams.

“ESPN, all of them-they ranked us really low, and I think to me, it’s a disrespect towards those two… They’re gold medalists, they’re All-Stars, and to put that type of disrespect towards people who’ve literally been in the league for so long… That just fuels us,” shared Sabally in the post-game interview after the Game 3 win against the Lynx. So yes, the spark’s there-but the Aces have been in the league long enough to know how to handle it. Though, a comeback for the Mercury is still possible!

What areas does Mercury need to focus on?

Mercury needs to make some adjustments to Becky Hammon’s plans. In Game 2, the Aces’ defense started clicking after Wilson’s defensive rebound turned into a layup. Then a steal transitioned to a step-back jumper, followed by an offensive rebound that became a putback. And just like that, the game went sideways for the Mercury-and they were never able to recover.

“I thought we were pretty stagnant offensively… We tried to force it a little bit ourselves and tried to go get it. That’s part of us just trying to figure it out as a group,” shared Nate Tibbetts in the post-game press conference. But this isn’t the only thing the team needs to analyze. The Mercury’s bench has been another issue since Game 1. Even in Game 2, the Mercury fell behind as Tibbetts emptied the bench with 3:58 remaining in the last quarter.

That’s the same bench that entered the postseason as the highest-scoring unit. But for the first two games, they’ve been outscored 41-16 in Game 1 and then 16-8 in Game 2 by Aces HC Becky Hammon’s style. So yes, they can still use their bench depth to win the next four games-especially since the next two will be in Phoenix. What do you think? Will the Mercury be able to outscore the Aces?