LAS VEGAS — The games keep coming, and Phoenix Mercury head coach Nate Tibbetts is hoping the extra rest his team gained by finishing the semifinals a game early will be beneficial.

“These games are only going to get harder as we go,” Tibbetts said ahead of the Mercury . “This is the first seven-game series ever, right? And so, you know, I don’t know when that [rest] will pay off.

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The No. 4 Mercury have now lost each Game 1 in this postseason. They swept the reigning champion New York Liberty in the back two of a best-of-three and won three in a row to upset No. 1 Minnesota in four games. Tibbetts said he felt those two series prepared them for the current moment.

For the first time in WNBA history, for either the Mercury or the No. 2 Las Vegas Aces, they’ll need to win four games in the Finals to lift the trophy. The league introduced a best-of-seven series for the first time this year, placing it in line with postseason series in the NBA, NHL and MLB.

“I’m excited it’s here,” Tibbetts said.

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There are few coaches more equipped for the challenge than Tibbetts and Aces leader Becky Hammon. Tibbetts took the Mercury job ahead of the 2024 season after spending more than a dozen years as an assistant in the NBA. Hammon is in her fourth season leading Las Vegas after seven years with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs.

“Either team has to win one more game to win a ring this year, so I don’t think it’s going to be that crazy different,” Hammon said ahead of Game 1. “I think there’s just going to become a familiarity as the season goes on and the series goes on. So those are the things more or less you have to navigate, is themes instead of maybe just specific like actions, it’s themes, trends.”

Hammon stayed true to the point when she reiterated on Saturday the importance of consistency and remaining present in the moment. She said at shootaround ahead of Game 1 her team has become more consistent in what they’re doing as time goes on, and there’s no guarantee looking ahead any one game will be the winner.

“When you look at it at seven games, one, it might not get there,” Aces point guard Chelsea Gray, a three-time WNBA champion, said after practice on Saturday. “But two, you try to focus one game at a time. Do your best to win that specific game. Try not to look too far in advance a lot of times. Even past closeout games, you try to do the haymaker right away, and it’s just like, no, be consistent in what you try to do.”

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The toll of the longest season in history at 44 games, followed by the longest postseason in history, showed in Game 1. Gray and Sami Whitcomb each exited briefly with an injury. The 2024 Finals slogged by the clincher in Game 5, an issue that could come into play especially given the structure. The series shifts to Phoenix for two games on Wednesday and Friday. There are two days off in between Games 2 and 3. Then the 1-1-1 backend of the series will go between cities. It’s a plus that travel between Phoenix and Las Vegas is a one-hour plane ride.

That could be when the Mercury’s rest — avoiding travel back to Minnesota for a Game 5 — might come into play. If it reaches that far.