“Fortunately for us, it’s best to seven… We’re going home, we have two home-court advantage games, and we have to be better,” said Alyssa Thomas after her team’s 2nd consecutive loss. The Phoenix Mercury’s attempt to turn things around in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals ended badly as the team lost by a larger gap (91-78) than in Game 1, allowed defensive breakdowns, and brought the Aces closer to their 3rd WNBA championship. While the Mercury squad has home-court advantage for the next 2 games, that might not be enough. Therefore, a reporter is asking one particular player to step up in such a situation.

‘Vibe Check’ host Hannah Storm recently sat across from Courtney Cronin for a discussion on the Aces-Mercury Game 2. During the same time, Cronin asked, “Can someone other than Kahleeah Cooper stand up? Can it be Alyssa Thomas? She (was) the triple-double machine in the regular season. Misses both of the free throws in game one, a chance to take the lead of that game. 10, 6, and 5 last night. Not the worst stat line, but you’re supposed to be the leader on this team.”

Alyssa Thomas kicked off the postseason in a major way, averaging 16.3 points in the first round of the playoffs and 20.3 in the Semi-Finals. Now, over the last 2 games, she has managed to average only 12.5 points per game. While her shooting percentages have increased, her number of attempts has gone down from 16.3 and 17 field goals to 9.5.

One thing that Alyssa Thomas is known for is her physical plays. Her own fiancée and teammate DeWanna Bonner once said, “She wants to win. She wants to win the championship bad. She’ll do whatever it takes”. Becky Hammon revealed knowing about the physicality, too. Perhaps this is why she might have drawn plays specifically against the star. As a result, Thomas was limited to just 10 points, along with 6 rebounds and 5 assists, in Game 2. As a result, she shot only 5-9 (55.6%) field goals, 0-0 (0%) 3-pointers, and 0-0 (0%) free throws. A major drop from her performance in the previous games this postseason.

“Right now, the detractors who say the moment’s too big for Alyssa Thomas, they’re right” Cronin added. “Right now, she needs to step up. This is her team. She’s got to get them back in it on Wednesday”.

The loss in the 2022 WNBA Finals continued to haunt Thomas for a while. That is why, when she recently recalled that series, she said, “I’ve been saying it since training camp. For me, it was a Finals year. It’s disappointing to get to the Finals and lose. It’s even extremely harder to get back to the Finals”. In light of this, the player needs to make this big moment count in her favor now.

If the last 2 games made one thing clear, Alyssa Thomas’ physicality isn’t going to work in the Finals. Even her own team’s head coach realizes that.

Nate Tibbetts Questions Officiating Standards For Alyssa Thomas

In the aftermath of Game 3, Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts participated in a post-game presser. During the same time, he addressed the concerns raised about the officiating in Alyssa Thomas’ game. The player has continued her physical play in the Finals, but the Aces’ strong defense is preventing her from yielding the same results. Even then, Tibbetts doesn’t want to hold back Thomas. In fact, he believed that if his star player wasn’t doing well, it was because of the referees.

“There is no holding back AT (Thomas),” Tibbetts said. “She is who she is. That’s why we love her. That’s why she’s the player that she is. The thing that I just get disappointed in is hearing our officials say that she’s hard to officiate because she plays so physical. AT is going to be AT. We want her to be AT because she’s a hell of a player. We want her playing with that downhill force.”

Alyssa Thomas’ reported aggressiveness in Game 2 of the Finals was not well-received by the officials. They went on to tag her for 4 personal fouls, which ultimately led to her on-court time being reduced to just 30 minutes. Thomas certainly wasn’t pleased and could be seen walking off the court, yelling at officials, reportedly over the inconsistent game-calling.

Alyssa Thomas has faced foul trouble against the Aces before, when she racked up a season-high five personal fouls in an 83-61 loss in August. Back then, Las Vegas outscored Phoenix in points off turnovers, 21-0. The last 2 games would have already given some Déjà vu to the 6x WNBA All-Star. Therefore, unless she wants the trend to continue, she has to change for the better.