Sweep secured as Aces set up semifinal matchup with Liberty

Two up, two down in the opening round of the WNBA Playoffs for the Las Vegas Aces as it put the finishing touches on a sweep Tuesday night.

Las Vegas finished off a two-game sweep of Seattle, 83-76, Tuesday, Sept. 24 from the Michelob Ultra Arena. As a result, the fourth seeded Aces eliminated the fifth-seeded Storm as they picked up their 11th win in their last 12 outings.

“It’s never easy,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “That’s a locker room that has multiple champions in it, they know how hard it is to win it. When you’re facing a desperate team anything can happen.”

Securing the sweep sets up a semifinals matchup with the New York Liberty that will serve as a rematch of last year’s WNBA Finals. A final series that was won by Las Vegas in four games.

This year’s scenario presents a setting where the winner this time around will punch its ticket to the Finals while denying its recent rival the opportunity to do so. Game 1 is slated for Sunday, Sept. 29 with the tip-off time yet to be determined.

“First of all, New Yorkis a lot better than they were last year,” guard Kelsey Plum said. “Plain and simple. They’re bigger, they shoot the ball at a better clip. If you go down the line, pound-for-pound, individually all of them are better basketball players.”

It was a polar opposite start for the Aces in their Game 2 win from its Game 1 victory. They opened the contest with makes on six of their first seven attempts from the field including two from three-point range.

By the conclusion of the first quarter, Las Vegas had shot 12-for-18 from the field with makes on their first five three-point attempts.

The lead grew to as large as 16 points in the opening quarter before Seattle cut the lead down to a point in each of the next three quarters. After tying the game in the third quarter, the visitors took their first lead of the game in the fourth frame.

“I feel like we’re just resilient,” forward A’ja Wilson said. “The Core Four of us, we know what it takes, we know that we can’t let the games slip through our hands because we felt the other side of it.”

Plum led all scorers with 29 points, which ties a playoff career-high, on a very efficient 11-of-15 shooting. It was a fast start for her after she raced out to 12 points in the first 10 minutes after being held to just two points in all of Game 1.

In that back-and-forth portion of the fourth quarter, Plum converted an and-one with Las Vegas up a point.

“I think I’m working on giving myself a little more grace,” she said. “One of the best things about being on a team with great players is that you just have confidence that any player is going to step up any time and any place.”

Wilson recorded a double-double with 24 points and 13 rebounds in nearly 37 minutes. As a team, the back-to-back defending champs won the rebounding battle by 15.

“I just really feel like we have to win the battle of the boards every night from here on out,” Hammon said. “Because our defense is great, like we’ve got to reward ourselves with securing the ball.”

Guard Chelsea Gray was the final player in double-figures for the home team with 12 points.

“She’s just a big shot player,” Plum said. “We have this narrative that she’s starting to get her form back — she’s in her form.”

Fellow guard Jackie Young closed the game with nine points, nine rebounds and five assists. All five of her dimes came in the first four minutes and 45 seconds of the game.

Late in regulation, she drilled a three with the team up a point to set up a 12-6 run to close the game.

“She’s slowly learning that she can be productive [without] necessarily putting the ball in the hoop,” Wilson said. “That is where you get growth and I think that’s what we saw today with her. I know she was frustrated shots weren’t going in but she was still finding people in the right spots at the right time.”

Young was a part of the defensive effort that held Storm star Jewell Loyd to nine points on 3-of-11 shooting. Moreover, Seattle shot just under 39% from the field including a 35% mark from deep.

Over the two-game series, Las Vegas held its opponent to under 40% shooting overall.