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A familiar face saved the undefeated start for the Las Vegas Aces with a late basket to stave off the Atlanta Dream, 92-87, Friday, June 2 from the Gateway Center Arena.
“I felt like our defense kind of fell apart in the second half,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “Just too many mistakes, wasn’t sturdy enough and [I’m] glad it didn’t go into overtime because I think they would’ve caught us.”
With the win, Las Vegas improves to 5-0 which is the best start in franchise history. The team had four days off after playing three games in a four-day span.
Prior to this outcome, the Aces had beaten teams by an average of nearly 25 points per game.
“[Becky] trusts us and that’s key,” forward A’ja Wilson said. “This league is elite, hard. Every single night you’re going to get a great team so for us to come out and weather that storm, I’ll take that any day.”
Las Vegas’ game against Atlanta marked the start of a four-game road trip which takes the team to Indiana next. The Aces and Fever will meet Sunday, June 4 at 1 p.m. from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
“Atlanta came out and punched us in the mouth,” Wilson said. “We can’t be caught off guard in these situations, we’re going to get everybody’s best night-in and night-out.”
A once 19-point lead for Las Vegas was trimmed to two points with under 30 seconds left in regulation when guard Chelsea Gray pulled up and drained her patented midrange jumper to extend the lead to four.
“She’s been in this league for a long time and we trust her,” guard Jackie Young said. “We know she’s going to make smart decisions – the right decisions. I think we all saw how clutch she was last year so when she has the ball at the end of the game we know she’s going to make the right read.”
The Aces turned a 15-point halftime lead into that game-high 19-point advantage before the Dream began to storm back midway through the third quarter. After making just four three-pointers in the first half, Atlanta drained five in the third 10-minute session including four straight at one point.
Overall, Las Vegas was outscored by 10 in the second half.
“We held them to 30 points in the first half,” Hammon said. “And we gave up 57 in the second half so it was really more about the defensive end. When we get stops and stuff, we’re hard to score.”
As the Aces built a double-digit first quarter lead for the third time in the first five game, the Dream had a stretch of eight straight missed field goals as star Rhyne Howard was held without a point in the opening frame.
Howard’s first field goal came at the 4:46-mark of the second quarter. She’d finish with 15 points on 5-of-15 from the field.
“Just watching her grow in the SEC and now the league is a lot of fun,” Wilson said. “We always go at it, we always talk a little on the court.”
Aces center Kiah Stokes blocked a Howard three-point attempt with 20.1 seconds left in regulation and the visitors up four.
“If you want to learn how to move like a professional in our league, I would take Kiah Stokes any day,” Wilson said. “She’s someone that’s ready when her name is called. Kiah starts, sometimes she doesn’t but she’s always ready and she’s a defensive threat that we need.”
Forward Cheyenne Parker led the team with 25 points and 11 rebounds as Atlanta outrebounded Las Vegas by five. The Aces have been outrebounded in back-to-back games.
Wilson led all Las Vegas scorers with 21 points on 9-of-16 shooting to go along with five rebounds and three blocks.
Young added 20 points on 6-of-10 from the floor continuing her hot scoring stretch to start the year. She has scored 20 or more points in four of the five Aces games to open the year.
“She’s put in a lot of work in the offseason,” Hammon said. “She knows I have the most faith in her so now it’s just about going out there and executing. I think teams have been very, very committed to trying to take away [guards Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray] She’s important for us because defenses can take away one or two or three things but it’s hard to take away four, five and six.”
Plum added 15 points while forward Candace Parker poured in 13 points as she moved into the eighth spot all-time in scoring in WNBA history.
Forward Alysha Clark chipped in with 11 points off-the-bench, scoring in double-figures for the three times already this season. She scored 10 or more in two games over the final 15 games of last year’s schedule.
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