PHOENIX — This season marked the start of a new era for the Phoenix Mercury. Yet, they are now heading back somewhere familiar: the WNBA Finals.

The Mercury punched their ticket to their sixth Finals and first since 2021 on Sunday night, beating the Minnesota Lynx 86-81 in Game 4 of the semifinals, winning the series 3-1.

Entering this season with almost an entirely new roster and without the two cornerstones that built Phoenix’s identity over the past two decades, there were questions about what this group could accomplish. Kahleah Copper and Natasha Mack were the only returning roster members. The team added Satou Sabally and Alyssa Thomas, but its big three (Cooper, Sabally and Thomas) weren’t healthy until the end of the year. The depth was built with unknown and less-experienced players including rookies.

But the Mercury embraced their underdog mentality, and now they will face the Las Vegas Aces-Indiana Fever winner for the title.

“No one has had expectations for us except ourselves,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said. “The pride and the togetherness for such a new group, it’s pretty impressive.”

That mindset continued into the postseason.

In the first round, the Mercury faced the defending champion New York Liberty and took the series 2-1 after dropping the first game but bouncing back for a resounding 26-point win on New York’s home court.

Then, Phoenix’s semifinals matchup came against a hungry Lynx team looking to redeem itself from its Finals loss a year ago. As in Round 1, the Mercury dropped the first game. In Game 2, they mounted a historic second-half comeback. Game 3 ended in controversy, with Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier injuring her left ankle and coach Cheryl Reeve getting ejected — and then suspended — in the final seconds.

Heading into Game 4, the Mercury finally felt like the favorites for the first time all year.

“We looked a little bit nervous or tight or too excited,” Tibbetts said about his team’s first-quarter performance, where it found itself in a 14-point hole. The Mercury made a push to tie the game by halftime, but heading into the fourth quarter, they trailed by 13.

“We could have just said, ‘You know, we’ll go to Game 5 in Minnesota and figure it out’ … but we kept fighting,” Tibbetts said. “That’s what we do … we just kept playing, and when you do that, especially with this group, good things happen.”

Behind a 31-point fourth quarter, the Mercury became just the third team in WNBA playoff history to overcome a deficit of at least 13 points entering the final period.

The Mercury are also the first team to overcome multiple 14-point deficits in a single playoff series in WNBA history, having come back from down 20 in Game 2.

Thomas finished with 23 points on 11-of-18 shooting from the floor and 10 assists — becoming the first player in league history with 20 points and 10 assists in multiple series-clinching wins in a single postseason (Game 3 vs. New York). This was also her 28th career playoff double-double, the most in WNBA history.

Sabally added 23 points, while Copper and DeWanna Bonner both had 13 points.

“It’s hard to get here. It’s hard to get to the Finals,” Bonner said. “I was just telling [my teammates], I’ve been in the league and all these playoff appearances, and I’ve only been to the Finals three times. That’s how hard it is to get back here.”

The Mercury didn’t expect it to be easy. But they made their goals clear. In their practice facility, they had a countdown of how many days there were until Game 7 of the WNBA Finals. Each day, that number got lower. Now, it’s down to 19.

“I believed in the franchise; I believed in the team they were putting together,” Thomas said. “For me, it was a fresh start to play with people who want the same thing as I do and a franchise that’s known for winning — winning championships. That’s been my goal: trying to get a championship.”

The belief was always there throughout the team. But the players know they still have a bit more to prove.

“I think we are [playing] at 99 percent,” Sabally said. “Winning it, proving it, then I’ll say we’re at 100 percent.”