Alyssa Thomas arrived in Phoenix to finally get her hands on the coveted title. “I’m still chasing the championship.” Thomas had said in her introductory press conference. The heartbreak seems to follow Thomas as A’ja Wilson pulled the dagger in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals with mere seconds on the clock to send the Phoenix Mercury down 0-3. The side faces a clean sweep in Game 4, and coach Tibbetts has pointed out a nagging problem that held them down. 

“I thought in the first half we had some really good defensive possessions, but we just didn’t finish them with the rebound. We talked about second-chance points. I liked our focus coming out defensively, but there were a couple of loose balls. They picked up and hit some threes. You know, they had nine threes in the first half. Seven of them were uncontested.” Tibbetts said after the game. 

Nate Tibbetts had announced that he would be making some changes to their defensive strategy. Instead of going one-on-one, they were focusing on the help side and crowding the ball to force difficult shots. “Us showing bodies to their great players hasn’t been to the level that we need to right, and so uh it’s not a one-on-one matchup. It’s it’s five on five and and we need to do a better job of understanding that.”

But the side effect was that you always had someone open, and Vegas found the passes to get the ball to them despite being surrounded by multiple defenders. A’ja Wilson hit a few shots over her double team, including that final-second winner. Like Tibbetts said, Aces really overperformed their 3 pointers in the first half, hitting 9 when their first half average in 2025 is just 3.3. 

Even after improving in the playoffs, it has increased only to 5.7. So you just know, it was becoming too easy for the Aces to get the ball moving on the perimeter for open shots. But Phoenix upped its game in the second half, which Tibbetts acknowledged. “In the second half, we made a stand right, and we picked it up, and it looked like a lot more of the defense that we’ve been playing all year.” He said. 

And the numbers back up Tibbetts. The Aces failed to hit any of their 8 3-pointers in the second half. However, even with the improved defense, they left a leak in another part of the court. In the first half, they won the paint battle, conceding only 10 points from that area in the first half. After they improved their perimeter defense, the Aces zeroed in from under the basket, scoring 20 points from that area in the second. Mercury even lost the boards battle 36-33 despite being the better rebounding team in the playoffs. However, a lot of their problems would be solved if they managed to contain A’ja Wilson, but that is easier said than done.

Nate Tibbetts cannot figure out the A’ja Wilson puzzle 

Wilson is always the first thing on her opponent’s mind. The 4-time MVP has been the biggest threat to the Mercury. Satou Sabally suffered while guarding Wilson in Game 1.  In Game 2, Tibbetts tried to force an Alyssa Thomas vs A’ja Wilson one-on-one battle. However, Wilson did not have much problem breaking through Thomas, scoring 20 points in the first half itself and finishing with 28 points. On top of that, Alyssa Thomas was in foul trouble early, getting 3 within the first quarter. Now, Tibbetts had her premier creator sitting out important minutes.  

So, in Game 3, he switched up the marker again. DeWanna Bonner was given the A’ja Wilson task. “We changed the matchups. She (Bonner) went to A’ja . I thought she competed at a high level.” Tibbetts said. She even had some help from Thomas at times. But she was largely on Chelsea Gray in the first half to disrupt the Aces’ rhythm. “There is no holding back AT. She is who she is,” Tibbetts has said. “That’s why we love her. That’s why she’s the player that she is.” Even in Game 3, despite the change in matchups, Thomas finished with 5 fouls. A’ja Wilson is giving Nate Tibbetts a lot of headaches.

We are well into Game 3 of a Finals series, and she seems to be only getting better. Wilson notched just the fourth 30/10 game in WNBA playoff history with a 34-point and 14-rebound game 3. Wilson is now the first player in WNBA Finals history to post consecutive games of 25+ points and 10+ rebounds.  She has averaged 27.7 points per game on 52.5% FG while grabbing 12.7 boards. A beast on both ends of the court. Nate Tibbetts better speed-dial Stephanie White. Because if Phoenix wants life, it needs Indy’s blueprint, as Wilson only slipped the leash twice in that Fever series.