Las Vegas’ repeat hopes vanquished as Valkyries finish off sweep

Las Vegas hadn’t lost three straight games all season until it mattered most.

Hopes of a second repeat in the last five years came to a crashing halt when the Aces were defeated, 87-77, in overtime from Michelob Ultra Arena Friday, Oct. 9 by the Golden State Valkyries. The win secures a sweep by the two-year-old franchise means it will be headed to its first WNBA Finals where it will meet the Atlanta Dream.

On the other hand, Las Vegas’ offseason begins now after suffering its first sweep since 2020.

“We had moments where we were pretty good [on defense this year],” head coach Becky Hammon said. “We weren’t good enough to be at a championship level. You’ve got to be clicking on all cylinders on both ends and we were not.”

Former protege of Hammon, Natalie Nakase will hope to lead Golden State to what would be the fastest championship in league history for an expansion franchise.

“I think it’s great for her,” Hammon said. “Super happy for her, she had her club playing at a really high level all year. That’s a No. 1 defense in the league all year pretty much. If you want to win championships you need to be a top-3, top-4 defense and we weren’t this year.”

In the extra session, the Aces found themselves looking up at a double-digit deficit as the five-minute period proved disastrous for the defending champions. Golden State won the overtime period, 16-6.

Before the extra time, forward A’ja Wilson missed three free throws in the fourth quarter en route to the eventual loss. Having previously vocalized having a 24-hour rule to decompress from games, Wilson admitted this one may be a little different.

“I’m definitely going to think about those free throws,” she said. “At the same time, I’m very proud of this team and what we were able to do this year. I’m going to harp on all my missed shots in the second half.

“I feel like every year is ‘Championship or Bust’ for us. So, it’s a bust year for us but at the same time, I’m never going to lose sight of what we’ve done in this league and how we continue to uplift it.”

Golden State’s continued prowess in the rebounding category persisted in overtime beginning with two offensive boards on the first possession of the frame. The next time down, Las Vegas fumbled a defensive rebound out of bounds, granting the visitors another possession.

By the final buzzer, the Valkyries won the rebounding battle by eight including a +4 advantage on the offensive glass.

“There’s people that have a knack for the glass,” Hammon said. “It’s kind of just in their DNA like passing is in [guard Chelsea Gray’s] DNA. There’s a knack for offensive rebounding – like [forward] Kayla Thornton, she has a knack for that. She’s relentless in that area and came up big in all those games just by hitting the glass and getting her team extra possessions.”

Not having forward NaLyssa Smith, who's been out of action since late August with a left knee injury. Before her season-ending injury, the one-time champion was averaging nearly 12 points per game and six and a half rebounds per contest.

“We had a lot of variables that didn’t lean in our favor down the stretch,” Hammon said. “Losing Lyss, there’s health. You just have to be firing on all cylinders and we just weren’t. You’ve got to have your best players playing their best basketball – and you have to have role players coming in and playing their best. It was just a really tough juggle with a lot of injuries.

“This is why repeating is hard, there has to be some things that go your way. You have to get some lucky breaks and we’ve been pretty lucky around here. We’ve done some good things and made our own breaks at times.”

Las Vegas led by as many as 11 points in the third quarter but would soon have the game flipped upside down. Not long after, Golden State erupted on a 17-0 run to snatch the lead.

Ultimately, the Valks won the third quarter, 17-7.

“What I saw from us was the ball not moving,” Hammon said. “More importantly,  we weren’t scoring, the ball quit moving. You have to have ball movement against that team.”

Wilson led Las Vegas with 21 points on 6-of-19 shooting as part of her double-double effort coupled with 10 rebounds. Yesterday, she was named as the league’s MVP for the fifth time, extending her record while also becoming the first in league history to win three in a row.

“Legendary,” Gray said. “I get to play with the best every single day. It’s the player and  it’s the person. We have our own dynamic and relationship that I don’t even know how to describe.”

Guard Jackie Young didn’t score her first points until late in the second quarter as she went into halftime with just two points on 1-of-5 shooting. She rattled off five straight points in the third quarter on the heels of that big Golden State run on her way to 18 points in the loss.

Young also made the game-tying layup late in regulation to send the game into overtime. Coming off of a loss, she heads into an offseason where she’ll be an unrestricted free agent.

“Jackie’s been awesome,” Hammon said. “I think she had a career year this year. Had some unbelievable performances throughout the season so obviously it’s a big priority that we retain her services. We’ll see what those talks look like but I know what it looks like from our end but ultimately, it’s going to come down to her decision.”

Gray missed the field goal that would’ve won the game in regulation for the Aces as she finished with 17 points, 15 of which came in the first half. The trio of Wilson, Young and Gray combined to score 56 of the team’s 77 points while being the only players to reach double-figure point totals.

“Should’ve hit it,” she said. “We set it, there was a look before then, I’ve hit that shot a thousand times, it just didn’t go my way. A lot of these opportunities or game-winners or crunch time are shots I made in the first half. So we’re living with that and it went in and out.”