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Despite scoring their lowest output in a playoff win in franchise history, the Las Vegas Aces’ latest win punched the team a ticket to a second straight WNBA Finals appearance.
Las Vegas disposed of Dallas, 64-61, Friday, Sept. 29 from the College Park Center to finish off a sweep in the pair’s WNBA Semifinals matchup. The Aces send the Wings home after winning the last five meetings of the year dating back to the regular season.
“We’re happy to put ourselves back in a position to win the ultimate prize which is a championship,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “This was a real gut-check type of win, [it’s] hard to beat a team as talented as them in a closeout game.”
Heading into the Finals, Las Vegas will be riding a nine-game win streak going back to the regular season while sitting on a 5-0 mark in the playoffs. Dating back to last season, the franchise has won six straight playoff games.
The Aces can be the league’s first back-to-back champion since 2001-02 with the Los Angeles Sparks. The WNBA Finals are set to begin Sunday, Oct. 8 at 12 p.m. from the Michelob Ultra Arena.
New York and Connecticut will continue to battle it out to vye for the final spot in this year’s Finals. Currently, the Liberty are up 2-1 on the Sun with Game 4 scheduled Sunday, Oct. 1.
“I don’t take these experiences for granted,” guard Kelsey Plum said. “It’s a blessing, it’s so hard to get here. A lot has to go right and just to be able to do it with this group – you know, the job isn’t done.
“We’re not sure who we’ll be playing yet but we do know that we’ll be very prepared and we’re going to be excited to defend homecourt.”
In such a tight defensive contest, Las Vegas needed to hold Dallas without a point for the final 4:59 of regulation en route to the victory. This included forcing misses on the final 11 Wings’ field goals of the night including the potential tying three-point basket as time expired by guard Arike Ogunbowale.
"I’ve been challenging them to finish out quarters against this team,” Hammon said. “This team can score a lot quickly. I can’t really say that we were doing anything differently.”
Neither team shot particularly well from the field at 41% and 32% overall with the Aces getting the edge. The Wings took a two-point lead into the second quarter behind a 8-0 run to close the first 10 minutes. That run would later be pushed to 15-1 with the home team going up seven.
“It just shows you that we can win with our defense,” Hammon said. “Because it certainly wasn’t our offense tonight. But at the end of the day, it’s not always going to be a pretty one. These are actually the ones you have to find a way to win.”
Las Vegas had to overcome several segments of stalled offensive possessions including going without a field goal for the final 4:33 of the first quarter, scoring just one point. In fact, the team trailed at halftime for the first time in about a month.
“Just not thinking so much,” guard Chelsea Gray said of the team’s mentality at halftime. “When we’re able to get the ball side-to-side and get to our second action and our secondary movement it [starts] spread the floor for us.”
With one more quarter to play, the Aces were down two points after going scoreless for the final 1:44 of the third quarter. Not long into the final quarter of regulation, the game would be knotted at 61 apiece after a 8-0 rally from Las Vegas.
The reigning champs would take the lead by extending that run to 9-0 and eventually a 11-0 run to close the game along with the defensive stance.
“This is a special group,” Gray said. “We were down and we were just like, ‘It’s fine, we kept our composure in our huddles and held tight with how locked in we were.”
Gray led all scorers with 15 points coupled with six rebounds and four assists.
Forward A’ja Wilson was thrown different assignments as she had her string of consecutive 30-point playoff games snapped at three.
“They beat her up a lot,” Hammon said. “They hit her a lot, they beat her up a lot but they also just put another body in there.”
Early into the fourth quarter, Wilson had two makes on eight tries for eight points struggling to find her rhythm. She’d make her final two shot attempts of the night to close the night with 13 points, 13 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks.
Of the team’s 20 turnovers, Wilson had a playoff career-high nine turnovers.
“I would say maybe the points weren’t there but she’s a presence in the paint,” Gray said. “She had 13 rebounds so I wouldn’t necessarily say that she didn’t play well. We don’t win that game if she’s not in the paint.”
Plum and fellow guard Jackie Young added 11 points apiece in the win.