Mercury’s Thomas continues MVP campaign and leads team to thrilling win over Storm

The Mercury led throughout the entire game before the Storm took their first lead of the game with under two minutes to play in the fourth quarter, 78-77. With less than 22 seconds left, Phoenix took the lead right back and kept it for the rest of the game.

Not only did Phoenix start its road trip with a win, but Thomas also continued to add to her MVP campaign.

The All-Star notched her fifth triple-double of the season and 20th triple-double of her career. Thomas scored 19 points, had 11 assists and 10 rebounds against the Storm. She remains at the top of the leaderboard with the most triple-doubles of all time, 16 more than the next player on the list.

Thomas also broke a franchise record, surpassing Brittney Griner with the most double-doubles in a single season with 17.

“[Thomas is] the ultimate winner. She’s the ultimate competitor,” Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts said after the win, according to the team’s post-game recording. “She wants to win at everything… There’s probably times when she looks at me crazy because I’m moving her around, but that’s her ability and she can just affect the game in so many ways.”

Thomas keeps herself grounded and strives to do what’s best for her teammates, regardless of whether she’s securing another milestone or not.

“I’m blessed to be able to go out here and do this as my job each and every day,” the All-Star said, according to the team’s post-game recording. “For me, I’m just being me… I’ve just tried to do a little bit of everything, whether it’s offense [or] defense, and I just let the game come to me.”

Through the accolades and history, the All-Star only has one goal in mind this season.

“I just want to win basketball games,” she said. “The goal is to win a championship, so I’m gonna do whatever it takes to do that.”

The Phoenix Mercury continue their road trip, visiting the Golden State Valkyries on Tuesday, Aug. 19.