Phoenix Mercury calls their home crowd the “X-factor” for a reason. They stumbled out of the postseason with a home loss, but since then, they’ve been unstoppable. Plus, let’s not forget, they went 15-7 at home during the regular season. “We’re excited to go home [and] play in our home arena,” said coach Nate Tibbetts. But the question remains: will returning to familiar turf be enough to solve their Finals struggles?

The answer might be… not really.

The Aces took Game 1 by a narrow 89-86 margin and then completely dominated Game 2, 91-78. Now, all eyes turn to Game 3 at the PHX Arena on Wednesday, October 8.

As Meghan Hall noted on WNBA on NBC, “I think if you’re the Mercury, you got to be questioning what’s happening now. Like how do you change the tide in game three? Yeah, you go home and yes, you have your home crowd, but like what are you going to do differently in that game three that could rectify games one and game two because you had to have at least one of those? And now the question is going to get a lot louder.”

Phoenix didn’t exactly help themselves in Game 2. Satou Sabally and DeWanna Bonner struggled to hit three-pointers. As a team, Mercury shot 17.9% from the three-point line. Depth has also been a major issue. The Aces’ bench outscored Phoenix’s 41-16, while Alyssa Thomas, the anchor of Phoenix’s defense, ran into foul trouble and struggled to contain A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young. 

So, if you’re counting, Phoenix has too many questions to answer:

• Shooting woes
• Inconsistent performances
• Depth 
• Challenge of countering Wilson, Young, and Chelsea Gray

Thankfully for Phoenix, this year’s Finals is a seven-game series. As Natalie Esquire pointed out, “You know in the beginning we asked a lot of the players how they felt about a seven game series and many of them were like give back to me after the series. I’m sure right now Phoenix is very happy that it’s a seven game series, right? It gives them some more games to try and like work themselves out of it.” 

For sure. Even Sabally echoed the sentiment, saying, “The positive thing is that we have so many games still to play. We lost two, we’re returning home. I still believe in us.” For both teams, it’s just a short flight from Las Vegas to Phoenix. While Mercury is confident, the Aces aren’t taking anything lightly. “Phoenix is a hard place to play… we can’t get too high with our highs,” Wilson said.

Still, we can’t help but note, even with the extra games, history isn’t on Phoenix’s side. “But even in a seven game series, the odds do not favor Phoenix in terms of uh coming back. Like usually the team that goes up two 2-0 most times will win the the series,” Esquire highlighted.  And actually, history tells us that 20 of 28 teams that won Game 1 went on to win the series. And this is Aces we’re talking about. If not their core, their bench will show up. More than anything, they always have a plan B when things go south. 

So, unless Phoenix pulls off a miracle, it’s shaping up as another dominant chapter for the Aces. 

The Aces dynasty 

The 2025 Aces will one day be remembered for hitting rock bottom on August 2, when the Minnesota Lynx crushed them 111-58 at Michelob Ultra Arena,  the largest home loss in league history, dropping Las Vegas to .500 and scraping into the eighth and final playoff spot.

Then everything flipped. A’ja Wilson remained dominant, Jackie Young emerged as one of the league’s most potent duos, and suddenly the Aces were kicking down doors on a path to dynasty. Think of basketball’s greatest four-year runs: the Showtime Lakers of the late ’80s, MJ’s Bulls of the late ’90s, and the Golden State Warriors of the late 2010s.

What these teams shared were three championships in a maximum of four seasons, a core of at least three transcendent players, resilience through turbulence, and a headline-grabbing coach who consistently stood above their peers. Now, with just two more wins, the Las Vegas Aces could join that elite pantheon. Credit the stars for their brilliance, but don’t forget Becky Hammon. She transformed this team into a superteam, made the crucial adjustments in Game 1 of the Finals, and has been the anchor guiding them through every challenge.

We might be on the brink of witnessing a historic moment in the WNBA, but don’t count the Mercury out just yet.