PHOENIX (AP) — Natasha Cloud scored 23 points, Breanna Stewart added 18 before hurting her knee in overtime and the New York Liberty beat the Phoenix Mercury 76-69 on Sunday in Game 1 of their best-of-three first-round playoff series.
New York will advance to the semifinals with a win in Game 2 on Wednesday in New York.
Stewart fell to the the ground and grabbed at her left knee after making a layup with 3:01 to play in overtime. She stayed in the game and missed the free throw, trying to play through the injury. She left the game about a minute later and didn’t return.
New York coach Sandy Brondello had no update on Stewart’s injury after the game. The New York star had a bone bruise in her other knee in late July that forced her to miss about a month of the season.
Kahleah Copper led the Mercury with 15 points and Alyssa Thomas had 14 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. DeWanna Bonner added 12 points.
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<div id="ek2fr9mtno" class="fs-feed-ad" data-freestar-ad="__336x280 __336x280" data-google-query-id="CJyc2rTd2Y8DFbKzWgUdzUIDIw">Cloud hit a 3-pointer to open the OT and spark an 8-0 run that made it 73-65 with 1:51 left. Phoenix got within four, but Leonie Fiebich, who finished with 10 points, hit a huge 3-pointer to seal the win.</div>
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Cloud, who played in Phoenix last season, made back-to-back layups to give the Liberty a two-point lead with 4:17 left in the fourth quarter. Copper answered with two free throws and, after a turnover by Sabrina Ionescu, Thomas dropped a no-look pass to Copper for a wide-open layup that gave the Mercury a 65-63 lead with 1:44 remaining.
Stewart then made a tough basket in the lane 13 seconds later that eventually forced overtime.
The Liberty, who averaged 13.8 turnovers in the regular season, finished with 20 turnovers — one shy of their season high — which included 14 after halftime.
The Mercury made 25 of 77 (33%) from the field and shot 23% (6 of 26) from 3-point range.
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Game Recap: New York Liberty vs. Phoenix Mercury (First Round, Game 1)

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New York Liberty Top Plays vs. Phoenix Mercury

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Phoenix Mercury vs. New York Liberty - Game Highlights

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2025 Playoffs

We have finally arrived at the finish line of the 2025 WNBA regular season. The postseason bracket is finally set, with some wildly entertaining first round matchups such as the Seattle Storm against the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty against the Phoenix Mercury. 
Ahead of the first day of the First Round contests on Sunday, September 14, we can dive into the X-factors on each playoff team, and how key those players’ contributions will be for their teams looking to make deep runs. 
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<h3>Minnesota Lynx: Natisha Hiedeman (18.9 MPG)</h3>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-203703" src="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2025/09/GettyImages-2233255277.jpg" alt="Natisha Hiedeman #2 of the Minnesota Lynx dribbles the ball against the Seattle Storm" width="960" height="640" srcset="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2025/09/GettyImages-2233255277.jpg 4917w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2025/09/GettyImages-2233255277-300x200.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" />
Regular season stats: 9.1 PPG, 1.9 RPG, 2.8 APG
The Lynx have plenty to write home about in their starting lineup, beginning with All-Star forward Napheesa Collier. They’re a powerhouse on both ends of the court, and they have been the runaway top seed in the league for quite a while. 
Of course, a team with championship aspirations is only as good as its bench. That’s where Hiedeman makes her case as one of Minnesota’s most valuable players. The seven year veteran has completely come into her own this season, averaging a career-best 49 percent on her field goal attempts on a steady diet of 6.8 shots per game. 
She’s a steady force in the midrange, equipped with speed which can muck up a lot of defensive assignments. It’s what makes her so valuable to the Lynx as they seek out offense whenever Collier, Kayla McBride, or fellow StudBud Courtney Williams don’t have the ball in their hands. 
She’s a huge X-factor for the Lynx. Her doggedness on defense is often underrated, and her ability to sneak around screens will be huge for her ability to battle with physical guards such as Skylar Diggins/Veronica Burton. 
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<h3>Las Vegas Aces: NaLyssa Smith (22.7 MPG w/ LVA)</h3>
Regular season stats w/ LVA: 8.2 PPG, 5.3 RPG
When the Aces traded for Smith from the Dallas Wings this season, it wasn’t necessarily seen as a “blockbuster” deal for a team witnessing some major regression. Smith, a fourth year forward who has already bounced around the league a fair deal, landed with Las Vegas amidst some major changes to their roster and starting lineup. 
She had struggled to find a comfortable role with both the Indiana Fever and the Wings prior to ending up with the Aces, so the chances of her doing so while working behind A’ja Wilson felt slim. 
What we’ve seen from Smith’s 27 games with Las Vegas have been anything but questionable. Smith is such a huge X-factor for the Aces not because of her ability to become a sponge around Wilson, which has seemingly contributed to her newfound confidence with scoring in the post and acting as a rim protector when Wilson is on the bench, but because of her durability. She hasn’t missed a single game in two seasons, and her health is nothing to sneer at as a measurement of her value to this Aces team. 
Her ability to stay on the court is exactly why Las Vegas has benefited so strongly from acquiring her. The team went from zero answers at backup to Wilson to one, very reliable, one. 
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<h3>Atlanta Dream: Naz Hillmon (25.5 MPG)</h3>
Regular season stats: 8.6 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 2.4 APG
The Dream, heralding a new head coach in Karl Smesko and a promising core in the duo of Allisha Gray and Rhyne Howard, have completely dominated the 2025 regular season. They were consistently atop the standings thanks to some otherworldly shooting improvement from Gray and a solid bench helmed by future Hall of Famer Brittney Griner, and thanks to the impact of Naz Hillmon throughout the year. 
Hillmon, another Dream player who decided to improve drastically upon her three point shot, has developed into one of the most important players for Atlanta as they look ahead to the postseason. In her first two years in the WNBA, she shot zero percent from three point range &#8211; she wasn’t even looking in the basket’s direction if she was 22 feet out. This year, she’s attempting 3.8 per game and hitting them at a clip of 32.1 percent. 
If she can maintain her confidence from deep while coming off the bench, she can help keep Atlanta’s dream alive of making a deep postseason run. Gray and Howard are sure to be the focal points of any teams’ defense in the playoffs &#8211; Hillmon can make them pay. 
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<h3>Phoenix Mercury: Kahleah Copper (27.2 MPG)</h3>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-203705" src="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2025/09/GettyImages-2222807547.jpg" alt="Kahleah Copper #2 of the Phoenix Mercury reacts after making a basket during the second half against the Las Vegas Aces" width="960" height="640" srcset="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2025/09/GettyImages-2222807547.jpg 2988w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2025/09/GettyImages-2222807547-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" />
Regular season stats: 15.6 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.1 SPG
Copper is not a “fringe” star or performer for the Mercury by any means. On the contrary, she’s one of the most important pieces to their offense that’s led by perpetual engine Alyssa Thomas. Her three level scoring capabilities in addition to her length on defense that can quickly disrupt screens or backcuts are what make Copper an All-Star in any other year. Injuries are the only thing that kept her back from achieving that accolade in 2025. 
Nonetheless, she’s an X-factor in the postseason because of the Mercury’s first round matchup against the New York Liberty. 
The Liberty have struggled to find a perfect defensive scheme to stop Copper from getting hot, and the closest defender they have to pair against her is Leonie Fiebich. Copper’s ability to take advantage of this matchup &#8211; which she’s done consistently in the regular season &#8211; is what makes her an X-factor for Phoenix ahead of the playoffs. She’s averaging 22 points per game on 41 percent shooting from deep against New York in 2025, creating a formidable task for Fiebich and the Liberty. 
Health makes her another X-factor, as she only played in 28 games out of a possible 44 this year. But, she seems completely healthy to close out the year, averaging 16.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, and just over one assist and steal over her last ten games for Phoenix. 
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<h3>New York Liberty: Leonie Fiebich (28.4 MPG)</h3>
Regular season stats: 8.7 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 1.7 APG 
 
Fiebich, conversely, will be the Liberty’s X-factor this postseason. She’s the teams’ best 3 and D wing, able to get hot from three point range and savvy enough to navigate through the chaos and get decent open looks from beyond the arc consistently. On defense, she is often paired up against opposing teams’ wings, like Copper, and asked to stop the bleeding from beyond the arc. 
One stat that stands out for Fiebich ahead of this postseason is her true shooting percentage, a stat that measures field goals made from both two and three point range, and one that measures free throw efficiency. Fiebich has the best true shooting percentage of anyone in the WNBA in 2025 amongst players who have featured in 30 or more contests. 
She’s a threat, full stop. However, Fiebich’s usage percentage of just 12.8 percent this season doesn’t feel like a recipe for success for New York, especially if they’re trying to find shooting outside of Sabrina Ionescu, Emma Meesseman, and Jonquel Jones from beyond the arc. 
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<h3>Indiana Fever: Natasha Howard (24.1 MPG)</h3>
Regular season stats: 11.4 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 1.5 APG, 1.2 SPG
Howard has been one of the Fever players that kept the ship afloat this season. Playing in all 44 contests, Howard has been a vital veteran presence in a sea of changing faces in the starting lineup for Indiana due to numerous injuries. She’s managed to provide reliable scoring in the post, hitting 55 percent of her field goals this year. That’s good for second best in her career, just behind her 2016 year with the Lynx.  
Another stat that speaks to her impact on the Fever’s injury-riddled squad is how many steals she alone has contributed to Indiana &#8211; 28 percent of them through 44 games, good for best on the team. Her defensive impact when slotted in alongside Aliyah Boston can’t be ignored in the postseason. 
Howard has struggled to be a proper rim protector for Indiana this season, with Boston often taking over in that regard. But, she’s still got the length to properly end an opponent’s drive into the paint. A wall is easily constructed by herself and Boston in the post, and that’s not a tool many teams can utilize in the postseason. 
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<h3>Golden State Valkyries: Cecilia Zandalasini (23.7 MPG)</h3>
Regular season stats: 10.5 PPG, 2.9 RPG, 1.7 APG
Zandalasini recently returned to the Valkyries from a calf injury, a welcome sight considering she had been one of the teams’ best bench scorers prior to going down with that. A former Minnesota Lynx X-factor, Zandalasini is suddenly going to be thrust into postseason action for the WNBA’s latest expansion team. 
As mentioned, her shooting this season has been unreal &#8211; she’s averaging 44 percent from three point range on 4.7 attempts per game. She can start or come off the bench for Golden State, providing a pop whenever she’s utilized. Her length is key to her ability to match up well with other wings this postseason, and her defense has been solid around the perimeter. 
As Golden State navigates a postseason without Kayla Thornton back from injury, Zandalasini comes back at the perfect time to provide versatility on defense and to contribute to the third-highest scoring bench in the WNBA at 24.4 points per game. 
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<h3>Seattle Storm: Dominique Malonga (14.3 PPG)</h3>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter wp-image-203722" src="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2025/09/GettyImages-2234035186.jpg" alt="Dominique Malonga #14 of the Seattle Storm looks on against the New York Liberty" width="960" height="640" srcset="https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2025/09/GettyImages-2234035186.jpg 3891w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2025/09/GettyImages-2234035186-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2025/09/GettyImages-2234035186-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://cdn.wnba.com/sites/4/2025/09/GettyImages-2234035186-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px" />
Regular season stats: 7.7 PPG, 4.6 RPG
After a slow start from the French rookie, Malonga has quickly become an important piece to Seattle’s bench unit led by Erica Wheeler. Now averaging just over 14 minutes per game, Malonga has begun to look like every bit of the scoring threat she’s been while playing overseas. Her 22 point explosions against the Dallas Wings and the Las Vegas Aces were proof that she had finally arrived with Seattle, and had clearly endeared herself to head coach Noelle Quinn. 
Malonga is an X-factor for Seattle as they prepare to face off with the Las Vegas Aces. Seattle’s bench is averaging 18.4 points per game, good for only 11th in the league. More utilization for the rookie center could go a long way for helping produce a more efficient offense when starters are resting. If the Aces are also relying on Smith’s backup minutes when Wilson is off the floor, the best matchup defensively for her would be Malonga. 
A key stat reflecting just how impactful she is when on the court is her PIE, or Player Impact Estimate. She’s got the second-highest PIE on the Storm (13.8), just behind Nneka Ogwumike (15.9). Malonga can throw a wrench into some game plans if Quinn decides to up her minutes at any point in the first round, or beyond.

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2025 WNBA Playoffs X-Factors: First Round

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Seattle Storm vs. New York Liberty - Game Highlights

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Latest

Leonie Fiebich

<div>• WNBA Champion with New York Liberty (2024)</div>
<div>• WNBA All-Rookie Team (2024)</div>
<div>• AP All-Rookie Team (2024)</div>
<div>• 1st rookie in WNBA history with 5+ 3PM in a Finals game</div>
<div>• 1st rookie in WNBA history with 4+ 3PM in a playoff game without a miss</div>
<div>• No. 2 all-time in single-season +/- by a rookie in WNBA history (+279)</div>
<div>• No. 2 all-time in single-season 3PT% by a rookie in WNBA History (43.3%) • Two-time LF Endesa Most Valuable Player in Spain (2023, 2024)
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