"Made that shot thousands of times": Alyssa Thomas remains upbeat after bricking potential game-winning layup against Liberty

Alyssa Thomas had a chance to win Game 1 for the Phoenix Mercury when she attempted to make a last-second layup in the fourth quarter in an attempt to beat the defending champions, the New York Liberty. The Mercury took on the Liberty on Sunday for their first game of the 2025 WNBA Playoffs.

During the final few seconds of the fourth quarter, Phoenix had a play drawn up for Thomas to take the last shot and go for the win. The score was tied 65-65. As Thomas sliced the defense inside the paint, she got past Sabrina Ionescu with a spin move, giving her a clear path to take an easy layup.

Unfortunately for the Mercury, Alyssa Thomas failed to get the ball in the basket, which resulted in overtime. Ultimately, the Liberty prevailed, managing to escape the hostile environment in Phoenix by winning in overtime.

During the postgame press conference, Thomas opened up about missing what could've been a game-winning shot for her team.

"Yeah, I mean the playoffs isn't won in one game," Thomas said. "Just an unfortunate roll. I made that shot thousands of times. For me it's no big deal. Of course, it would've been nice if it went down, but there's still a lot of basketball to play."

The Mercury will have the opportunity to redeem themselves in Game 2, which will be held on Wednesday in New York. Hopefully, being the visiting team wouldn't affect Phoenix as much.

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Alyssa Thomas' last-second miss sends Phoenix back to the drawing board

The Phoenix Mercury will now have to figure things out after losing to the New York Liberty 76-69 on Sunday. While the Mercury proved that they had what it took to beat the defending champions, it was their simple mistakes that ultimately got the best of them.

Despite their errors, Alyssa Thomas did all that she could to try to win Game 1. Thomas nearly had a triple-double performance, adding 14 points, nine rebounds, eight assists and one steal.

Helping Thomas carry the load were Kahleah Copper and her soon-to-be spouse, DeWanna Bonner. Copper was Mercury's leading scorer, adding 15 points, two rebounds, one steal and one block. Meanwhile, Bonner put up 12 points, five rebounds and three steals.

Edited by Itiel Estudillo