Mercury erase 13-point deficit, clinch Finals berth with 86-81 victory.

PHOENIX (AP) — Alyssa Thomas scored 23 points, DeWanna Bonner made two key 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and the Phoenix Mercury overcame a 13-point deficit in the final period to beat the short-handed Minnesota Lynx 86-81 in Game 4 on Sunday night and advance to the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2021.

Phoenix will face the Indiana-Las Vegas winner in the championship series. Indiana forced a Game 5 earlier Sunday with a 90-83 home victory.

The Mercury won the final three games of the best-of-five semifinal series. The top-seeded Lynx were playing without Cheryl Reeve, who was suspended for Game 4 because of her behavior and comments toward officials in Game 3. Minnesota also was without All-Star guard Napheesa Collier, who suffered an ankle injury near the end of the Game 3 loss.

The Mercury trailed 68-55 heading into the fourth quarter but pulled to 70-69 on Sami Whitcomb’s 3-pointer with 4:46 left. Bonner’s 3-pointer pushed them ahead 72-70 and she hit another 3 with 2:03 left for a 77-73 lead.

Minnesota’s Kayla McBride hit a 3-pointer — her sixth of the second half — to cut it to 77-76 with 1:04 left. The 38-year-old Bonner then made a pair of free throws to push the Mercury ahead 79-76.

Bonner scored 11 points in the fourth quarter. Satou Sabally scored 21 points.

Phoenix will play in the Finals for the first time in four years and try to win its first championship since 2014.

McBride led Minnesota with 31 points on 6-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. Courtney Williams added 20 points.

Phoenix’s Kahleah Copper hit a 3-pointer early in the third quarter to give the Mercury their first lead of the game at 41-38. But the Lynx responded with a 23-9 run, highlighted by three 3-pointers from McBride.

The Lynx jumped out to an early 12-1 lead but the Mercury slowly chipped away at the deficit. Thomas hit Bonner for a layup just before the halftime buzzer to tie the game at 38.

Sabally led the Mercury with 18 points before the break.

FEVER 90, ACES 83

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — All-Star center Aliyah Boston finished with 24 points and 14 rebounds and Kelsey Mitchell scored 25 points to help Indiana avoid elimination in the WNBA semifinals with a victory over the second-seeded Las Vegas.

The best-of-five series is now tied 2-2 with a winner-take-all Game 5 set for Tuesday in Las Vegas. The winner faces either top-seeded Minnesota or fourth-seeded Phoenix.

Indiana closed it out after Las Vegas mistakenly called a timeout it did not have with 30.1 seconds left in the game. The technical foul gave Indiana one free throw and possession of the ball, and the Fever made all three free throws to take an 87-77 lead.

The Fever broke out their “Stranger Things” uniforms, perhaps trying to send a message it wouldn’t let the high-powered Aces run roughshod over a team missing four key players — Caitlin Clark, Sophie Cunningham, Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald — because of injuries.

Boston and Mitchell then delivered it by leading the Fever to their second straight elimination-game victory in this year’s playoffs. They won the final two games against Atlanta in a best-of-three first-round series.