Miles mixes Aces again as Las Vegas falls to .500 on road trip

Las Vegas got mixed up again by sensational rookie Olivia Miles in another meeting of the WNBA’s top two teams in the league’s standings.

After having claimed the first meeting of the season by three points in mid-June, the Aces were beaten by the Minnesota Lynx, 98-87, Saturday, Aug. 8 from the Target Center. As a result, the team fell to 13-5 on the road this year.

“Everybody [was feeling] real comfortable after that first quarter,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “We did not do a good job of making them uncomfortable.”

Overall, Las Vegas sits at 22-10 this season while preparing to conclude its five-game road trip tomorrow. That stretch ends with a Sunday, Aug. 9 meeting against New York from Barclays Center with tip-off set for 10 a.m.

“There’s going to be some rotation tweaks for sure,” Hammon said. “It’s just too many minutes on our players. So I’ll meet with my staff and we’ll see who it’s going to be.”

Miles scored a game-high 26 points after posting 29 points in the first meeting between the two Western Conference powerhouses.

Minnesota scored no less than 21 points in all four quarters of the eventual win while the team shot 49% from the field as a collective while making 15 of its 29 three-point attempts for a 52% mark from downtown. In the game’s opening quarter, the home team shot 6-of-10 from three including an 11-0 run in the frame with three made longballs.

“They shot the crap out of it from three,” Hammon said. “But also, they were like wide-open shots.”

Through the first half, no team had a lead larger than six points while five lead changes occurred. Las Vegas didn’t go away clean in the second half without a fight. It went on a 7-0 run late in the third quarter to trim the deficit to four.

Before the final buzzer, the Aces cut the deficit to seven points before hopping into a fullcourt press in order to salvage their comeback effort after trailing by as many as 14 points in the final quarter.

Forward A’ja Wilson had a cold first half to the tune of five points on 2-of-6 shooting. She’d be limited to 16 points on 5-of-17 from the floor which ties a season-low scoring output for the first-ever four-time league MVP.

“It was like swarmball,” Hammon said. “I thought our spacing didn’t help us at times. Just the sense of urgency – this team is going to make you pass. I thought they dared us to pass today and we just didn’t pass the ball well enough to beat a good defensive team.”

Wilson matched up with perennial MVP candidate Napheesa Collier, who missed the team’s first meeting of the year as she recovered from offseason surgery. Collier got the nod in this one finishing with 22 points on 7-for-14 from the field including five made threes to go along with six rebounds and three blocks.

“She’s an MVP candidate,” Hammon said. “You have to try and make her looks difficult and tough. Our first quarter defender was atrocious – You had [guard Kayla McBride] feeling good, you had Phee feeling good.”

Guard Jackie Young led all Aces players with 23 points in the loss with five turnovers to just one assist. As a team, it racked up just 17 assists on 30 made field goals.

“Just what I said ‘Swarmball,’” Hammon said. “Instead of anticipating those double and triple teams coming, we ran to them, let them double and triple team and then tried to pass it out. Just really poor execution on how to attack a defense that’s going to that kind of pressure and multiple defenders on the ball.”

Forward NaLyssa Smith was the final starter in double-figures with 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting coupled with 11 rebounds for her second double-double of the season.

Reserve guards Dana Evans and Jewell Loyd added 11 points and 10 points respectively with five made three-pointers combined. Loyd is now top-15 on the all-time scoring list in league history.

“Just making quick decisions,” Loyd said. “They like to load up so trying to move the ball as quick as possible. The ball will find the energy and rhythm so we’re just trying to attack and be the difference.”