So much of what fueled the Phoenix Mercury to the WNBA Finals was the ability of Alyssa Thomas to barrel through defenses until they collapse, then spray to shooters eager and capable of pulling from 3-point range.
But whenever Thomas had the ball at the top of the key in Phoenix’s Game 2 loss to the Las Vegas Aces, it was hard to tell if she was scanning or settling.
No player created more 3-pointers for teammates in the regular season than Thomas, but the Aces wouldn’t let her find the plays she spent all season hunting.
The five assists Thomas finished the night with felt like consolation prizes. Only one of them led to a 3-pointer.
It wasn’t for lack of trying. Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts tried using Thomas as more of a roller than a ball-handler in the pick and roll, to give the Aces’ defense a different look.
But instead of outsmarting the Aces, the Mercury looked out of sorts in a 91-78 loss that sent Tibbetts back to the drawing board ahead of Wednesday’s Game 3.
“We just kind of held the ball, over-dribbled the ball,” Tibbetts said. “Listen, I’ve been really proud of our offense the last four, five games, how we moved it. We found matchups that we like. We did not do a good job of that today. I’m not sure. It’s probably some of us and some of Vegas.”
After taking the first two games of the series on their home floor, the Aces would like to think their defense had something to do with it.
“Defensively, I feel like we have a firm idea of what we should be doing and how it should look and how it should feel,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “It’s not super complicated, we just want to be super solid in some fundamental areas for us defensively.”
They held the Mercury to their third-lowest scoring night of the postseason.
Thomas finished with 10 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals, but everyone else had to get it the hard way. Kahleah Copper needed 18 shots to get her 23 points. Satou Sabally needed 19 to score 22. They shot a combined 5 of 17 on 3-pointers and the rest of the Mercury combined to shoot 0 for 11.
“We weren’t letting the deep penetration with the ball into the paint, so she wasn’t getting those spray-out threes,” Hammon said. “We just did a better job of being more sturdy up front in our defense.”
The Aces, as much as anyone, know how important defense is at this stage. They leaned on it to win back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023.
Both teams were anchored by A’ja Wilson in defensive player of the year form, but they had different DNA.
In 2022, their regular-season defensive rating was tied for sixth in the league at 102.0, but their postseason defense ticked up to 100.5.
When they won the title in 2023, they had the best defense in the league (97.7) and were more fierce in the playoffs (92.7).
It took half a season for the Aces to find a defensive identity this year, but over the 16-game win streak that ignited their season, they had the second-best defensive rating in the league (98.2); it only got stronger as the streak grew. In their final 12 regular-season games, the Aces had the best defensive rating in the league (96.8).
That defense has been tested in the playoffs in series against Seattle and Indiana that went down to the wire.
The Aces held the Storm to 73 points in a Game 3 win in the first round. Then when the Fever refused to go away in the second, Vegas held them to 12 points in overtime of Game 5 to get to the Finals.
“We’ve just got to play defense,” Wilson said. “We’ve got to buckle in and get ready to weather storms. I think throughout this season, between how we started, between the streaks and now here we are — we’ve been through a lot, so that’s going to pay off, I’m sure.”
Hammon hammered home the details going into Game 2 — controlling the glass, defending actions as guards, playing strong post defense — and with a third title within reach, Hammon was confident the message got through.
“They know exactly what I’m talking about,” Hammon said. “They know exactly what I’m going to say. They know it. We’ve been together too long. They know when they’re not up to standard in certain areas. Most of the time, I’m just reminding them. Encouraging them to get to the level we need to defensively in order to win a game.”
Julian Benbow can be reached at julian.benbow@globe.com.