Mercury embrace doubt as team looks to clinch Finals spot

Since the beginning of the playoffs, ESPN analysts haven’t picked the Mercury to win their two series so far. After eight of nine analysts didn’t choose Phoenix to win the first round, they were able to knock off the defending champions – the New York Liberty – in a 2-1 series win.

Phoenix was again not picked by seven analysts to win the semifinals series against the No. 1 seed Minnesota Lynx. The Mercury have a 2-1 lead against the Lynx in the best-of-five series.

The Mercury have embraced being overlooked in the playoffs, something that has helped fuel them to play harder and better.

“I think we’ve probably had people that have been overlooked throughout their career,” head coach Nate Tibbetts said post-game on Sept. 26. “I think as a coach and as a team, you try to buy into certain things, and this is our group, right? We’ve been focused on us while others have talked about other teams, and we still got work to do. This is a great team in Minnesota. They’ve been through these kind of battles. It’s a series – we just won one game, and we got more work to do.”

However, being overlooked isn’t anything new for Phoenix.

At the beginning of the season, ESPN ranked the Mercury seventh overall in the league, projecting them to win 19.4 games and miss the playoffs due to the team’s lack of chemistry and experience together.

Now, they’re one game away from the Finals.

“To me, it’s disrespect to us,” Phoenix forward Satou Sabally said post-game on Sept. 26. “Those two [Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper], they’re gold medalists, they’re All-Stars, and to put that type of disrespect towards people who’ve literally been in the league for so long – [Copper] has won a championship – that just fuels us. And we’re the underdogs. We have something to prove to ourselves, more than to others, and I think this is really what bonds us.”

The Mercury continue to thrive on doubt, using it to fuel their playoff run in hopes of winning a championship.

The Phoenix Mercury and the Minnesota Lynx play Game 4 of the semifinals series on Sunday, Sept. 28, at 5 p.m.