For the third week in a row, we had an excellent slate of WNBA games on Sunday. We were a few minutes away from getting two Game 5s, but instead, we got Alyssa Thomas making the WNBA Finals for the first time in her 12-year career. So how did we get here? Let’s take a look back at what we learned from those Game 4s. Then, on Thursday, we can look ahead to our WNBA Finals matchup.

The Mercury did a great job running the Lynx off the three-point line.

The Lynx were 0-5 on threes in the first half after shooting a league-best 37.8 percent on 25.4 attempts per game in the regular season. I thought the Lynx actually could have done more to generate pick-and-pop threes for Alanna Smith and Bridget Carleton, but give Phoenix credit for taking away Minnesota’s biggest weapon. The Lynx did a good job in the first quarter of taking what the defense was giving them by consistently driving and cutting to the basket, but that is not this team’s forte with Napheesa Collier out, and eventually those looks dried up.

Alyssa Thomas played like an MVP.

I’m disappointed we didn’t get to see a full-strength Lynx team back in the WNBA Finals, but it's hard not to be happy for Alyssa Thomas, who has finally gotten over one hump after coming very close with some very good Connecticut teams. Outside of Satou Sabally and DeWanna Bonner knocking down some timely threes, it's hard to point to much that was working for Phoenix offensively outside of Thomas. Thomas finished two rebounds shy of a double-double while shooting 61.1 percent from the field. Perhaps more importantly, she put Minnesota’s thin frontcourt in consistent foul trouble. After watching her match up with Napheesa Collier for most of this series, we will get another fun matchup with Thomas and either Aliyah Boston or A’ja Wilson.

Minnesota needed one more offensive creator.

The Lynx had a legit chance to force a Game 5 like Indiana did, but at the end of the day, Courtney Williams and Kayla McBride are not offensive engines like Aliyah Boston and Kelsey Mitchell. McBride made a valiant effort to get to the rim in the first half even though that isn’t her strength, and things might have looked different if a couple of calls had gone her way. But in the fourth quarter, Minnesota did not have anyone they could throw the ball to who would go and get a good shot, and Phoenix had four of those players. That was the biggest difference in this game.

Phoenix’s depth has turned into a strength.

No matter who they play in the Finals, Phoenix will have the deeper team. This wasn’t a great matchup for Natasha Mack and Monique Akoa Makani, but I think they will be more important in the next series. It was clear they were able to wear out the Lynx in Game 4, which I believe played a huge role in the fourth-quarter comeback.

The Lynx ran out of gas.

No team outside of Indiana is going to survive the absence of two of their top rotation players, but the Lynx pretty clearly ran out of gas with their five-player rotation. Jessica Shepard was outstanding in the first half, but she played more minutes in that half than she had played in all of Game 3. I thought Associate Head Coach Eric Thibault could have maybe snuck a few more minutes of rest for Courtney Williams and/or Kayla MBride at the end of the third quarter, but they had a hard enough time scoring with both of their All-Stars on the court.

Las Vegas needs to help on Aliyah Boston.

You might think that the four-time MVP and reigning co-Defensive Player of the Year shouldn’t need help guarding anyone, and there is some merit to that. That being said, Boston was very good against Wilson on Sunday. That was helped by Indiana playing four-out and Las Vegas sticking to Boston’s teammates. Helping off of Lexie Hull or Kelsey Mitchell is death, but I think Las Vegas needs to take advantage of Indiana’s injury-riddled roster by helping off of everyone else. Megan Gustafson was called for defensive three-seconds in the fourth quarter for trying to hedge off of Natasha Howard and getting caught in no-man’s land. I think she should have just double-teamed Boston and made Natasha Howard beat them from the elbow. Brianna Turner and Makayla Timpson basically don’t need to get guarded, but Las Vegas is letting Indiana get away with playing multiple players who contribute very little on offense.

Where is Cheyenne Parker-Tyus?

Megan Gustafson plays hard and is skilled offensively, but the Aces desperately need another big who can play on both ends of the floor. She hasn’t played since Game 2, and I know she hasn’t been great in her limited action, but I think Becky Hammon needs to just throw her out there and hope for the best. If there’s even a chance you can get two-way play off the bench, you should take it.

Is NaLyssa Smith a starter in this league?

I picked Smith to win Most Improved at the start of the season, believing a change of scenery would be good for her. Instead, she has been underwhelming on offense and bad on defense for two different teams. I don’t think Las Vegas is desperate enough  (or has good enough options) to take her out of the starting lineup at this juncture, but I will be extremely interested to see what her free agent market looks like after the season.

Lexie Hull is a winning basketball player.

I’m not sure Hull got the credit she deserved, especially from me, or how well she has played this season. A lot has been made of her similarities to Sophie Cunningham on and off the court, but there is no doubt the Fever would be vacationing right now if not for Hull’s efforts in Game 4. She grabbed seven defensive rebounds, and it seemed like all of them were huge plays in traffic. She’ll never have the foot speed to be an elite three-and-D wing, but she works exceptionally hard on that end and is a pest who drives opposing fans crazy. Hull missed several open shots in this game that she normally makes, but she was relentless in 38 minutes. She deserves a lot of credit for the Fever making it this far.

The Aces need to figure out a way to get Chelsea Gray and/or Jewell Loyd going.

They shot a combined 6-for-21 in this game, including 1-for-7 on two-pointers. I know they’re not the athletes they once were but they need to find a way to get into the paint, if not all the way to the basket. I thought Gray settled for mid-range shots when she might have gotten layups, and that is a problem for this offense.