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The 34-day sprint to the end of the WNBA’s regular season has begun and it starts the same way the first half ended for the Las Vegas Aces, with a loss.
Las Vegas was stumped in its return to action, 79-67, by New York Saturday, Aug. 17 from the Michelob Ultra Arena. The league-leading Liberty picked up their second win in as many tries against the reigning two-time league champs.
Entering play, the Aces were favored by three and a half points.
“At this point, we’re not going to harbor on the break,” forward A’ja Wilson said. “It’s over, it’s done, it’s behind us – it does not matter. We took care of that business and now we’re here.
“Our want-to-factor wasn’t there for 40 minutes and that doesn’t matter if we had a break or we didn’t. I feel like we looked the same way in Chicago.”
Already having lost the first half finale before the Olympic and All-Star breaks, Las Vegas is currently amidst a two-game losing streak as it attempts to snap out of it during this three-game homestand.
Tomorrow the team will return to The House for a 3 p.m. matchup with the Los Angeles Sparks. This contest will be played __ days following the report that former Las Vegas turned Los Angeles forward Dearica Hamby had been granted the right to sue the league and the Aces following her departure from the franchise.
“It’s just one game at a time,” guard Chelsea Gray said. “You look at the whole season, it’s a little overwhelming. We just have to take it one day at a time.”
Las Vegas went from up 11 in the first quarter to down 11 in the fourth.
At one point of the game’s opening quarter, Wilson and teammate Kelsey Plum’s 16 points surpassed the 15 scored by the Liberty as a collective.
Guard Sabrina Ionescu shouldered the weight for the visitors, scoring half of her team’s first quarter points with her 12. A three from the Olympian early in the second quarter gave the Liberty the lead on her way to 17 first half points.
“You hold that team under 80 points, you need to win,” Hammon said. “Tonight, the problem was more on the offensive end than the defensive end. We were 3-for-22 after the first quarter, that’s not going to get it done against the best team in the league.”
Following a 28-point opening quarter, Las Vegas was limited to just 23 points over the next 20 minutes of game action. Early in the fourth quarter, the team found itself down by 11 on the scoreboard.
Back-to-back threes close to midway through the final frame trimmed it down to four. On several occasions the big New York lead was cut to as little as three points but never anything less in the second half.
Las Vegas would trail by as many as 16 points before the final buzzer in this one.
Wilson led all Aces with 24 points and 11 rebounds and had multiple defensive highlights that included a steal and layup finish after a coast-to-coast path to get there.
Plum scored 11 of her 13 points in the first quarter on her way to 5-for-13 from the field. Gray added 13 points of her own including the latter of those back-to-back fourth quarter three-pointers to cut the Liberty lead to four.
“That’s why we scored 28 [in the first quarter] because the ball was moving,” Hammon said. “Going rogue is if I just hang on to it and dribble in place for 20 dribbles. That’s not how we play and we’re not going anywhere with that. It was multiple people just dribbling and us standing, staring at the person dribbling in place.”
Finishing just two points better than its season-low, the Aces were additionally outrebounded by 16. New York center Jonquel Jones added a game-high 17 of her own.
“They have to bring [the want-to factor],” Hammon said. “If I could give it to them, believe me I would give it to them. They have to bring that aspect because that’s internal.”
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