During a series against the Indiana Fever, Becky Hammon criticized WNBA’s growing physicality in the game. But against the Mercury, she went ahead to call it a ‘football game’, comparing Alyssa Thomas to professional NFL players.
Thomas is the top defender in the league, but as per the Aces’ HC, the Phoenix Mercury forward is a different ‘beast’ who is difficult to simulate in practice.
Becky Hammon Calls Alyssa Thomas A Hard Defender
In game 3 of the Lynx vs Mercury series, cameras caught Alyssa Thomas’ brutal collision with Napheesa Collier. The hard impact injured Collier, while the Mercury forward went on to score a basket. This was just an example of how hard AT can be on the court, and the Aces’ HC agrees with the fact.
During the training session ahead of Game 2, Hammon reacted to the difficulty in dealing with the 33-year-old opponent. She compared her physicality to that of professional footballers and also maintained that the forward is impossible to copy in practice.
“I think Alyssa Thomas is probably the one player in the league who could switch and play professional football. I can’t really simulate her. We try to get the guys to do stuff, but she’s just a different animal in our league. There’s nobody like her, who does what she does and how she does it,” Hammon said.
Becky Hammon, part one:
— Nekias (Nuh-KY-us) Duncan (@NekiasNBA) October 4, 2025
-Her (self-restricted) thoughts on fouling up 3
-How the practice players simulate Alyssa Thomas pic.twitter.com/9M9KWT6zab
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Hammon then added, “I haven’t thought about her animal traits yet… Um, a bull? A bull. She’s just tough. She’s hard-nosed. I think she’s hard to officiate; she’s hard to guard. Because she presents different problems, and she just has a natural physicality, very much to her. So I’ll have to think about her animal comparison.”
Interestingly, the MVP candidate supports physicality in the game and plays hard to win it all. She even mentioned that the WNBA has a physicality element in its games, and during the postseason period, players go to the next level to win the ball game.
Becky Hammon Breaks Strategy for Game 2
As Hammon’s Aces squad will try to be the matadors during Sunday’s game, they also have to deal with other offensive superstars like Kahleah Copper, DeWanna Bonner, and Satou Sabally. The trio has been instrumental for the Mercury team, providing perfect support to ‘triple-double’ queen Thomas.
Preparing for Game 2, Hammon mentioned that her side needs to work on defense as the Arizona team was able to score easily in Game 1. But as soon as the hosts switched to zone defence, the Mercury players struggled to find an opening, which was the difference maker in the match.
The Mercury team hasn’t lost back-to-back games in the playoffs so far, and the Aces will look to break that chain on October 5.