How Mercury's Alyssa Thomas unlocked a new level of her game - ESPN

Phoenix Mercury star Alyssa Thomas lowered her right shoulder and banged into Napheesa Collier to back the Minnesota Lynx forward down closer to the hoop. One attempt wasn't quite enough for Thomas to get where she wanted to go, so she did it again.

Collier grabbed one of Thomas' arms to prevent her from getting a shot up, and as the two got tangled, they stood chest to chest. Thomas — regarded as one of the best trash talkers in the WNBA — gave Collier an earful.

«She's the ultimate competitor. I don't know if I've ever been around anyone quite like her in my whole life,» Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said after his team rallied to win Game 2 and even the WNBA semifinal series 1-1 against the Lynx on Tuesday. «I've been around a lot of players, and I've never seen anyone want to win as badly as she does.»

Thomas' grit has been part of her identity since she was a kid playing games such as Trouble and Candy Land with her parents. Thinking three steps ahead was a must. Trash talk was encouraged. Losing was not an option.

«We had to earn our wins,» Thomas told ESPN. «For me, when I got a win against [my parents], it was everything.»

Now, Thomas' unrelenting will to win manifests as a sinister grin on the court, a sarcastic pout when she gets called for a technical, or as a fist pump when there is something to celebrate.

In her 12th season in the league, Thomas' determination to be the best is as strong as ever. A new level of her game has been unlocked as a full-time facilitator for the first time in her WNBA career, thriving in Tibbetts' free-flowing offense that doesn't rely on set playcalls. She has been a perennial MVP candidate for most of her career, but now as she reaches even greater heights in her performance, she