Las Vegas, without Big 3, runs into New York buzzsaw

Playing in the second game of a back-to-back after losing to the league’s top team yesterday, the Las Vegas Aces sank under .500 as part of this five-game road trip.

Las Vegas’ fifth game in the last nine days as well as a third in the last 65 hours was a, 111-71, loss to New York Sunday, Aug. 9 from Barclays Center. This year’s club is now 1-3 against the Liberty including this season’s Commissioner’s Cup championship game.

The Aces are now 13-6 on the road following this 2-3 excursion.

“That’s going to happen with the way that the schedule is,” rookie forward Justine Pissott said. “The biggest thing is making sure that we’re ready [if starters are resting].”

As a result of the rigorous schedule, head coach Becky Hammon opted to sit stars A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray while citing rest.

“Not much [thinking about playoff seeding] when my players’ health are the most important [thing],” Hammon said. “So I don’t care what seed you are, you’ve got to be healthy and fresh as much as possible obviously after going through a season. The health and safety of the players comes first, wherever we end up, we end up [...] For me, this was a bigger picture type scenario.”

As a collective, Las Vegas is now 22-11 on the year while sliding further behind Golden State for the second spot in the league standings.

In turn, the Aces will now head home for a five-game stretch which begins Tuesday, Aug. 11 from Michelob Ultra Arena with the Washington Mystics in town. That game is scheduled for 7 p.m. and may include Washington’s recent signee Betnijah Laney-Hamilton.

While the team’s three leading scorers sat on the bench in street clothes, forward Cheyenne Parker-Tyus is still away from the team as she continues to recover from a concussion. That resulted in Hammon sending out a starting lineup that had played zero minutes together as a unit this season.

New York jumped all over the unfamiliar lineup by going up double-digits in the first four minutes and 40 seconds. As a result, nine different players played in the first quarter as Hammon and company looked for an answer from anywhere.

To make matters worse, forward NaLyssa Smith picked up her third foul of the first half with 8:38 to play in the second quarter. She’d finish the game with seven points on 3-of-8 from the field and six rebounds in 20 minutes.

Las Vegas went down by as many as 15 points before halftime behind a 7-0 second quarter run by the home team. Things got much worse in the second half with the team falling behind by 23 points in the third quarter and was looking up by as many as 40 points before the final buzzer.

The Aces lost the second half, 61-32, while the 111 points given up is a season-high for the reigning champions.

Pissott scored all 11 of her points in the first half as she crossed the double-figure threshold on back-to-back threes.

Rookie guard Ta'Niya Latson had a career day beginning with eight points in her first six minutes on the floor. She closed the night with a team-high 20 points on 6-of-9 shooting.

“You have to stay ready at all times,” she said. “Because you never know when your name is going to be called and you have to step up to the plate.”

Yamamoto was the third rookie to tally a career-best 16 points on 6-of-11 from the floor to go along with a team-high six assists.

“The bench came in and I thought played great,” Hammon said. “Mai and Ta’Niya had great minutes tonight. You could feel their energy out there and I think that’s a big thing with the bench is just feeling their energy and their presence.”

Las Vegas’ bench recorded 52 of the team’s 71 points in the loss. While no starter reached double-figure points, guard Jewell Loyd and Dana Evans were limited to just two points apiece on a combined 1-for-8 shooting with four turnovers.

“This was a great opportunity for our bench to get some minutes,” Latson said. “I feel like it’s going to give us a lot of experience and hopefully when our names are called, we’re ready.”