PHOENIX — On paper, all the havoc of a basketball game becomes something neat and unfeeling. However spiritually untrue it seems, this is actually true: In Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, there was only one lead change. Nor was it really a lead change to remember: It happened well before the game got interesting, when A’ja Wilson hit a three to put the Aces up 9-8 early in the first quarter. But the cruel fact of the Las Vegas Aces in these Finals is they never let games get too interesting. For every flicker of hope, they bring the extinguisher. Never in doubt, the Aces closed out their third win, 90-88.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Mercury had the Aces right where they wanted them: Phoenix trailed Vegas by 17. They’d played their best ball trailing the Lynx by 20 in the epic Game 2 semifinal comeback. Generate turnovers and open looks at the rate the Mercury do, and you’re never out of a game. Before they came all the way back, they’d have to weather some emotional swings. With a little over four minutes to play, Satou Sabally left with what looked like a bad head injury, at which point Kahleah Copper commandeered the entire game. Few players in the league are faster. In the span of 90 seconds, she scored 11 straight Mercury points, the last one a three to cut the Aces’ lead to 84-83.
