First Ring Night, Now Banner Night

Aces fall to 0-2 at home after undefeated road trip

Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon glares up at the scoreboard during the team's second straight home loss to begin the new season. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

The Las Vegas Aces faced another set of distractions with another chance to exercise some opening night demons.

Playing in their first home game since losing by 33 points on opening night, Las Vegas was beaten by Los Angeles, 101-95, Saturday, May 23 from the Michelob Ultra Arena. Though more than five games into the season, the franchise finally lifted its championship banner that commemorates last year’s title run.

“Our defense was just non-existent today,” forward A’ja Wilson said. “We had sparks where we played it and it was good. But for the majority of the game, we were playing catch-up.”

Prior to the stumble at home, the Aces were coming off an undefeated four-game road trip. Overall, this year’s team is 4-2 with 40 more regular season games left to play.

Another road trip lies ahead with Las Vegas preparing to begin a three-game journey beginning with a contest against Dallas Thursday, May 29 with tip-off slated for 5 p.m.

Former Aces guard Kelsey Plum burned her former team in a big way and she did it on both ends. To cap a game-high 38-point night coupled with a game-high nine assists and four rebounds, the former two-time WNBA Champion sealed the win with a late steal in front of the Las Vegas bench.

The banner commemorating last year's championship run for the Aces is raised inside Michelob Ultra Arena. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

“We had multiple defenders [on her],” head coach Becky Hammon said. “It didn’t matter. She’s an elite scorer, she’s a world-class scorer. We know that very well. They’re whole entire team was just too comfortable from the jump.”

Plum was at the heart of a 12-0 run by the Sparks in the third quarter that saw guard Jackie Young pick up her fourth foul. Hammon opted to leave Young in the game but she’d pick up a fifth foul early in the fourth quarter amidst an 8-0 run by the visitors.

Young would sit for the final 9:02 of the eventual loss while posting a stat line of zero points on 0-for-2 shooting to go along with three turnovers.

“We know she’s playing with a heavy heart,” Hammon said. “Basketball-wise probably hasn’t gotten off to the start that she’d like. However, we’re going to give her every support system that we possibly can. The reason why she actually played a little less tonight is foul trouble, not anything else.”

Los Angeles outshot Las Vegas by 10 percentage points at 55% to 45% from the field. Additionally, the visitors cashed in on 48% of their three-point attempts while holding the home team to 34% from deep.

At halftime, both teams sported 7-for-15 marks from beyond the arc. For the remainder of the game, the Aces shot 3-for-14 from three-point territory.

Las Vegas guard Chennedy Carter attempts a floater during a six-point loss to Los Angeles. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

Reserve guard Chennedy Carter had her way with the Sparks defense in the first half to the tune of 10 points in the first quarter. She followed that up with another superb quarter on the way to heading into the halftime break with 16 points with four made threes on four attempts.

Carter finished with 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting in 26-plus minutes.

“It’s hard on the defense,” Wilson said. “They’ve got to pick their poison. There’s not just one person that you have to dial in on to make sure they don’t get to their spots. It’s multiple people that can go off.”

Wilson led Las Vegas with 24 points as well as a game-high 15 rebounds. Sixteen of those points came in the second half while those 15 boards are also a season-high for the first-ever four-time league MVP.

“On any given night, it can be anyone,” she said. “Yeah, we’re still learning, we’re still trying to get out the kinks on the offensive end. But as equally as we can be a threat on the offensive end, we have to be defensively – we have to lock in as well [...] We have to defend. None of this matters if we don’t defend.”

Aces forwards NaLyssa Smith (#3) and A'ja Wilson (#22) dap up during the team's home loss to the Sparks. Photo Credit: Las Vegas Aces

Forward NaLyssa Smith was the third Aces player to have a 20-point scoring night. She closed the night with 22 points on 8-of-12 shooting with nine rebounds.

“The growth that I see in Lyss doesn’t come by surprise to me,” Wilson said. “She worked her tail off in the offseason to make sure she was ready – not just for herself but for us. I think that’s the sign of a true professional.”

Guards Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd were the final players in double-figures for the home team with 12 and 10 points respectively. Gray also added a team-high seven assists while Loyd contributed with three made threes.

“We have multiple players with 20-plus [points],” Hammon said. “We should win the game. So that just tells you the job wasn’t getting done on the defensive end.”