After a heartbreaking two-point loss in Game 3, the Phoenix Mercury received more bad news. All-Star Satou Sabally will have to miss Game 4 with a concussion. Sabally took a scary fall in Game 3 and hit her head. She had to be helped off the court and wasn’t able to return to help her team close out the game.
Down 3-0, the Mercury now face elimination. Winning the series after falling behind by so much is a tall task—a task no team has accomplished in a seven-game series yet. After losing Sabally, even avoiding a sweep will be difficult for the Mercury. They are not well-equipped to survive the absence of one of their big-time star players on such a big stage.
Playing without Satou Sabally will be a challenge
With Sabally out, other players will have to step up in Game 4. The only question is, who will that player be? There aren’t many options.
Kahleah Copper can undoubtedly take her game to another level, but the Mercury will need others to step up. This is far from Alyssa Thomas’s best series, but she already plays a huge role for the team. So does DeWanna Bonner who averages the fourth-most minutes in the playoffs despite coming off the bench. With Sabally out, Bonner will likely step into the starting lineup, leaving the bench looking rather bare.
So far, Nate Tibbetts has trusted three reserves to play regular minutes in the finals: Bonner, Sami Whitcomb, and Kathryn Westbeld. Bonner was great in Game 3, but will likely fill in for Sabally. Whitcomb played a huge role in the team’s semifinal win over the Lynx. However, she hurt her knee in Game 1 of the finals and hasn’t made a shot since. She went 0-3 in Game 2 and 0-5 in Game 3.
That leaves Westbeld, who hasn’t produced much in the finals yet, and a bunch of reserves, who haven’t played in the postseason. Kitija Laksa is the most experienced guard/wing on the bench given her success overseas before coming to the WNBA. However, she has only played nine total minutes in the playoffs so far. Throwing her into an elimination game and expecting her to help keep the season alive would be asking a lot. The same goes for Kalani Brown, who is a WNBA veteran and could provide some much-needed size, but has been glued to the bench for most of the playoffs.
The Aces are a tough matchup for the Mercury
After the Mercury took down New York and Minnesota—the defending champions and one of the favorites to win this year’s title—a lot of people had high expectations for them in the finals. They didn’t live up to those expectations, struggling against the Aces. Phoenix has struggled to contain Las Vegas’s championship core of A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young, and Chelsea Gray. The Aces’ bench also outplayed the Mercury’s reserves, and Becky Hammon did an outstanding coaching job in the first three games.