Las Vegas pushed to brink of elimination after second straight loss in Golden State

Las Vegas picked perhaps the worst time to lose back-to-back games for the first time since August.

After advancing to the WNBA Finals in five games last year, the Aces will need to do it again. They lost a second straight game to the Golden State Valkyries Wednesday, Oct. 7 by a final score of 83-81 from Chase Center in Game 2 of the WNBA Semifinals. Las Vegas lost Game 1 by 11 points after winning all three meetings during the regular season including one from The Bay.

“Better,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “But not good enough.”

While having lost the first of the semifinals five times since 2020, the Aces have only lost the first two games one time and that was against the New York Liberty in 2024, a series the team lost in four games.

Facing an 0-2 deficit, Las Vegas looks to extend the series to a fourth game Friday, Oct. 9 from Michelob Ultra Arena when the team hosts Golden State for Game 3. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. from The House.

“Obviously, we’re not where we want to be down 0-2,” forward Stephanie Talbot said. “0-2 in a series is a tough spot but not impossible so we’ll go back, watch the film, make some adjustments. We’re going home so get two wins at home and give ourselves a chance.”

An offensive rebound by Chelsea Gray off an intentional miss at the free throw line by teammate Jackie Young could’ve tied the game or won it late in regulation for Las Vegas. However, a blocked shot by former all-star Kayla Thoronton ended any chances of another make.

“There’s probably three or four plays where I wish we could have a do over,” Hammon said. “It doesn’t work like that.”

The Aces grabbed the final five offensive rebounds of the game after trailing 10-1 in that department through three quarters. In total, the Valkyries won the rebounding battle by five while leading by close to 10 for the vast majority of the game.

Las Vegas went down double-digits in the first half for the second straight game. This time it happened in the opening frame. Golden State would stretch that lead to 16 points in the second quarter before leading by as many as 17 points in the win.

“They won that battle,” Talbot said. “We scored 11 points in the first quarter which is probably not going to cut it. I think they did just that, took away what we wanted and made us do things that we weren’t comfortable with and made us take tough shots. Just made our lives tough and we didn’t do that to them on the other end.”

Former Las Vegas guard Tiffany Hayes led the home team in scoring with 21 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

“Tip Hayes being Tip Hayes,” Hammon said. “I knew she wasn’t going to come out and play like she did the other night. We got away with one from her.”

Sensing a final gasp of hope, the Aces went on an 18-6 run in the fourth quarter to snag their first lead since the first quarter of Game 1.

“I think we discovered we weren’t a bit more aggressive,” Talbot said. “We took it to them, we found some shots and we went a bit bigger.”

Though still without the likes of champions NaLyssa Smith and Jewell Loyd, Hammon did get guard Dana Evans and Talbot back in the lineup after having missed various amounts of time due to injury.

With that, 10 different players played in the first 11-plus minutes of Game 2 for Hammon’s squad. In total, all 11 players had played by the 6:21-mark of the third quarter when rookie forward Justine Pissott checked into the game.

“I was just trying to see the ball go in the basket,” Hammon said.

At halftime, the Aces were led in scoring by seven points apiece from Gray and reserve center Kalani Brown. The latter posted nine points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes on the floor in the loss.

Brown accounted for nine of the team’s 14 bench points while Golden State recorded 34 bench points of its own.

“Kalani’s a big target,” Hammon said. “They started to run low on bigs and that was good for us. We got them into some foul trouble trying to handle those bigs.”

Young’s first field goal of the game came with just under five minutes to play in the first half of a game where she battled foul trouble for most of it. She posted 14 points on 2-of-7 shooting while accumulating five fouls.

Forward A’ja Wilson led all players in scoring with 24 points on 9-of-16 from the field to go along with seven rebounds, a block and a steal. Eighteen of those points came in the second half highlighted by 13 in the third quarter.

Gray added 19 points and six assists with three made three-pointers. Talbot chipped in with 10 points in her return to the lineup.