Aces vs. Mercury: A'ja Wilson Scores 33 as Las Vegas Grabs 18 Steals and Clinches a Commissioner's Cup Spot

For one half on Wednesday night, the Phoenix Mercury simply could not miss. They went 7-of-10 from 3 and 18-of-30 overall, took a 49-45 lead into the break, and had the defending champions looking a lot like the team they beat 99-66 back in the season opener.

Then Las Vegas started taking things. The Aces finished with 18 steals, A'ja Wilson finished with 33 points, 10 rebounds and five steals of her own, and the visitors walked out of Mortgage Matchup Center with an 86-76 win in this rematch of the 2025 WNBA Finals and a ticket to the Commissioner's Cup championship game.

Phoenix Had the Shots, Vegas Had the Hands

The early going belonged to the Mercury's shooters. Las Vegas built a 19-12 lead before Phoenix closed the first quarter on a 16-5 run, going 4-of-4 from deep during it, for a 28-24 edge. DeWanna Bonner scored all 10 of her points in that opening frame. The Mercury pushed the margin to 47-38 in the second, but the Aces scored the next seven, and Kahleah Copper's free throws made it 49-45 at the half.

Jackie Young flipped the game right out of intermission, personally scoring all eight points in an 8-2 run that made it 53-51 Vegas. From there it turned into a coin flip of a quarter, with five lead changes and five ties. Phoenix held a 64-63 lead inside the last two minutes before Wilson's layup put the Aces back in front, and Stephanie Talbot's 3 sent them to the fourth up 68-64. The Mercury didn't attempt a free throw in the period.

NaLyssa Smith opened the final quarter by scoring the first seven Las Vegas points. Then came the closing act, and Wilson didn't exactly hide. With the Aces up 80-74, she hit from 12 feet, then 14, then 17 with 31.2 seconds left, all three off passes from teammates who'd spent the night feeding her. Ballgame.

The Most Complete Line in the Building

Wilson's stat line sits in very rare air. The Aces' own game notes count just seven games in WNBA history with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and five steals, and Wilson now owns three of them, the only player with more than one. Add her three assists and two blocks, and the team says she's the only player in league history to hit 30, 10, five, three and two in those categories. She shot 11-of-20, went 11-of-13 at the line and was a plus-14.

Young was nearly as disruptive, with 20 points, nine assists and five steals, tying her career high in that last category. She hit 4-of-8 from deep on a night when the rest of the team went 1-of-13. Smith was the efficiency story, scoring 21 on 8-of-10 shooting. Together those three scored 74 of the 86 points.

Chelsea Gray's shot wasn't falling at all, as she went 2-of-10, but she had nine assists, four rebounds, two steals and a team-best plus-15. By the team's count, her assists set up 18 points and Young's set up 19. Jewell Loyd went 0-of-7 and was somehow still a plus-10, which tells you what kind of night the defense was having.

Copper was outstanding for Phoenix, scoring 26 on 9-of-16 shooting and making all seven of her free throws. Alyssa Thomas had 10 points and 11 assists but also six turnovers and five fouls, and Jovana Nogic came off the bench to hit 4-of-6 from 3 for 12 points. Natasha Mack grabbed eight rebounds in 23 minutes without scoring. That's a lot of good individual work for a team that gave the ball away 22 times.

The Basket Stopped Working

A Phoenix 3 got the Mercury within 75-72 in the fourth, and if you'd left the room at that moment, you'd have assumed a tight finish. It wasn't. Phoenix did not make another field goal the rest of the game. The Mercury's final four points all came at the line, and they finished the quarter 2-of-11 from the floor. Las Vegas wasn't exactly on fire either, going 7-of-17 in the period without making a 3, but it didn't have to be.

That's where all those giveaways caught up with them. A team that had looked unstoppable in the first half scored 27 points in the second, and it spent the final minutes of a home game watching Wilson bury mid-range jumpers.

Sticky Fingers

• 18: Las Vegas steals, matching Toronto for the league's single-game high this season. Wilson and Young had five each.
• 24: Steals plus blocks, the most by any team this season, according to the Aces.
• 28-17: Points off turnovers, on 22 Phoenix giveaways to nine for Las Vegas.
• 68-57: Field-goal attempts. That's 11 extra looks for a team that needed them.
• 9-of-21 vs. 5-of-21: Phoenix won the 3-point line by 12 points and lost by 10 anyway.

June 30, New York

Las Vegas is 11-4 overall, 8-2 on the road and 6-1 in Cup play, and it bounced back fast from Monday's 96-66 loss in Dallas, the one that ended a six-game winning streak. The title game goes to New York on June 30, because the Liberty, also 11-4, own the better average point differential, plus-6.6 points per game to plus-3.4. The Aces won the Cup in 2022 and lost the 2023 final to New York, and this is their third trip, which ties the Liberty for the most by anyone. Next up, they host Golden State on Sunday.

Phoenix drops to 4-12 and 1-6 at home, its fourth straight loss. Seattle visits on Saturday, and the Mercury could use one.

Ocean's Eighteen

Danny Ocean needed an elaborate plan, a crew of specialists and a whole lot of Vegas casino footage to pull off his job. The actual Las Vegas team went to Phoenix and did it in broad daylight, or at least under the arena lights: 18 steals, a clinched title shot and a superstar who walked away with the biggest share of the take.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Context as reported by the Associated Press and the Las Vegas Aces.