The Liberty were almost on the brink of elimination.
Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas appeared to have a go-ahead layup with three seconds remaining in regulation to defeat the defending champions in Game 1 of a first-round series.
But she smoked it and gave the Liberty life.
oh my god Alyssa Thomas smokes an open layup for the WIN pic.twitter.com/e4Oqf4PK7R
— Lucas Kaplan (@LucasKaplan_) September 14, 2025
“Obviously followed it. [I] just like watched it go up, and it looked long to me,” said Sabrina Ionescu, who was steps away from Thomas as she made the attempt. “So I was just trying to kind of get a tip out and make sure she didn’t kind of get another one.”
Indeed, Thomas’ layup was long. She tossed the ball from her right hand, bounced it off the backboard and it landed on the front rim then into the hands of Leonie Fiebich.
Not through the net.
The miss — and Ionescu’s end-of-regulation 28-foot misfire — led to an overtime period the Liberty won, which resulted in a 76-69 first-round Game 1 victory over the Mercury.
Now it’s the Mercury on the brink of elimination as the best-of-three series shifts to New York for Wednesday’s Game 2.
The result came after Fiebich put her team up six following a made trey with under a minute remaining in OT. Natasha Cloud‘s drive — and near turnover — got Fiebich open on the wing for a trey at the 57.3 mark of the extra period.
At that point, the game was out of reach.
Cloud scored a game-high 23 points in the Game 1 victory. She started the matchup 5-for-5 and didn’t miss a field goal till the third quarter. The veteran made three treys as Mercury defenders went under screens. And the slasher made sure to stay aggressive by driving into the point for timely baskets.
Cloud shot 9-of-12 from the field while grabbing six rebounds, dishing five assists and recording three steals.
Without her, the Liberty would’ve been in a 0-1 series hole.
“Tash has been good for us. We know she has the ability to get downhill. I thought she did a great job of that,” coach Sandy Brondello said postgame. “But I think where she’s growing this year is just really being steady, and when they’re going under, which every team does, has been ready to shoot that three ball, and she’s been shooting the three ball extremely well lately. So it’s a luxury we have.”
Brondello also added that Cloud “was massive tonight at both ends of the floor. She had to guard [Kahleah] Copper down the other end, but she made some really timely shots, and she controlled the game for us.”
Copper led the way for Phoenix with 15 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field. And the former Finals MVP didn’t get much offensive help from Satou Sabally, who missed 15 of her 17 attempts for nine points and eight rebounds in the outing.
But the Liberty have more issues on the horizon as Breanna Stewart left the overtime period due to an apparent left knee injury. She finished the game on the bench with a brace on the knee. The apparent injury was sustained to her left knee — not the right knee that caused her to miss 13 games (bone bruise over the summer).
The game ended up in OT after countless lead changes. There were 15 total in Game 1.
The see-saw battle eventually got the Liberty down two with 1:45 remaining in regulation following a nice sequence by the Mercury: after playing defense for almost 24 seconds, Monique Akoa Makani advanced the ball then passed to Thomas. Thomas advanced into the paint, then misdirected traffic and found a cutting Copper for the go-ahead layup.
But then Stewart tied it, 65-65, with a contested jumper at the 1:31 mark.
No one scored for the rest of that fourth quarter and Thomas’ easy layup would’ve likely iced the game.
She missed the opportunity. And Phoenix missed the opportunity in OT to seal a home win after losing the extra period, 11-4.
Thomas — the Mercury’s do-it-all MVP candidate — got close to her season averages against the Liberty: 17.3 points, 10.5 rebounds and 9.8 assists on 56.3% shooting. Phoenix finished the regular season 3-1 against New York.
On Sunday, Thomas recorded 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists on 38.8% shooting.
She missed 11 of her 18 attempts and worked each possession while guarded by Jonquel Jones.
She faced a defensive game plan tailored for her from the start. The non-shooter faced no resistance from the three-point arc, but Jones — and sometimes a Liberty wall — never left her as she got close to the paint.
The attention — and open paint space with Jones drawn out — created scoring opportunities for cutters on some Mercury possessions. But overall the Liberty head coach was pleased with the defensive performance.
“She defends everyone, everywhere, and does such a good job,” the head coach said of Jones. “But everyone has to be aware… know your personnel, what they want to do off the ball. Alyssa had the ball in the middle a lot, and they’ve got so many different options out of it. For the most part, I thought we did really well to keep this team to 69 points. I mean, that’s in an overtime game. Defense was really strong for us.”
A third-quarter scoring drought — 10-8 in favor of the Liberty — contributed to the low-scoring affair.
It was a quarter the away team should’ve ran away with.
Copper picked up her fourth personal foul and was relegated to the bench. The tailored defense on Thomas kept the Mercury’s offense quiet — so quiet that Phoenix didn’t score a field goal until the 2:44 mark of the period. The Liberty, however, only made two more field goals than their opponents during that stretch, failing to take advantage of a perfect opportunity.
Then the Mercury scored eight unanswered to take a one-point lead with under a minute remaining. And after Jones’ bucket, Mercury forward Kathryn Westbeld drained a 28-footer to cap an 11-2 run that gave Phoenix the lead, 57-55 entering the fourth.
It was the kind of sequence the No. 4 seeded Mercury needed to upend the No. 5 seeded Liberty.
But the Liberty stayed afloat, benefitted from some luck at the end and pulled out the win.
At the end, the defending champs leaned on their experience “a lot,” per Ionescu.
“I think we looked around and kind of realized we kind of been in that position before, with the majority of us,” said Ionescu, who finished with 16 points, seven assists and six rebounds. “Just understanding how important overtime is and knowing we had another gear to get to. And, you know, I’m really just proud of the way that we stuck together, we weathered the runs that they went on, and ultimately found a way to win.”
Just like that, the Liberty crawled away with Game 1.
And another win puts them in the second round of the playoffs.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
