Copper knows what it takes to win a championship, and as the Mercury go through this series, they will need her scoring. She can help the Mercury set the tone in Game 1 of this series, and if she is not their leading scorer, she will at least be one of the players who score in double figures.

But on Friday night in Phoenix, the Mercury flipped the script. In front of a fired-up home crowd for a decisive Game 3, the Mercury stunned the Liberty 79–73 to knock out the reigning champs and punch their ticket to the next round.

The Mercury made a big splash in the offseason by bringing in Sabally and Thomas, and bringing in those stars showed how serious the team was about competing this season. The move has paid off, and now, the Mercury's new stars are a step closer to winning a championship.

The first round of the WNBA playoffs closely resembles the chaotic nature of March Madness. A Best-of-3 series where travel is involved in each game means the stakes are always high. You're two bad days away from seeing your season ended.

New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart became the fastest player to score 1,000 career postseason points on Friday, accomplishing the feat in 46 career playoff games.

Rather than a WNBA Finals rematch in the second round, the Lynx will play Phoenix, which never had its full roster together when the teams met earlier this season.

For a half, the Mercury looked like they belonged. They threw haymakers in the paint, bullied their way to 42 of their 47 first-half points inside, and carried a seven-point lead into the break despite shooting an icy 13% from deep. It was gritty, it was physical, it was the kind of basketball that had Minnesota off balance.