Valkyries lock-up Aces as defending champs open semifinals 0-1

Round one of the head coaching battle between former colleagues Becky Hammon and Natalie Nakase went to the latter as her team’s defensive performance was too much for the group led by the three-time champion.

Las Vegas lost Game 1 of its semifinal series against Golden State Sunday, Oct. 4, 71-60, from Chase Center. Including the playoffs, the Valkyries are 20-5 at home this season.

“It’s a good news-bad news [thing],” head coach Becky Hammon said. “The good news is we played like ass and only lost by 10 [points]. Dissect that however you want.”

Sunday went down as the first loss of the season to the two-year-old franchise after the Aces swept all three regular season meetings.

Being down 0-1 isn’t entirely unfamiliar for Las Vegas as it dropped the opening game of the same round last year before claiming the series in five games.

The Aces will try to even the series at one apiece Wednesday, Oct. 7 from Chase Center. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m.

After already having entered the game hampered by injuries, Las Vegas took another blow in the third quarter when guard Jewell Loyd went down with a left leg injury. She would not return to the eventual loss and an update on her status was not given.

Prior to tip-off, Hammon’s squad was already without guard Dana Evans and forward Stephanie Talbot while forwards Janiah Barker and NaLyssa Smith have already been ruled out for the remainder of the year.

Las Vegas fell behind by 11 points in the second quarter. While the team went on an 8-0 run to close the first half, it wouldn’t be enough to fully overcome the early deficit.

The third quarter saw the Aces fall behind by double-digits again before trailing by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter.

Las Vegas was held to a season-low 60 points as a result of the defensive effort by the home team. As a collective, the Aces shot 34% from the field, 33% from three-point range and 73% from the free throw line.

Forward A’ja Wilson led the team as she scored 40% of its points as part of her 24-point outing on 8-for-21 from the floor. In the loss, she hauled in just four rebounds which was one more than her season-low of three, posted two times during the regular season.

In total, Las Vegas was outrebounded by 27 as Golden State reeled in 52 boards. Former Aces forward Kiah Stokes recorded 14 rebounds in 27 minutes of action.

In addition to winning the rebounding battle, the Valkyries held the advantage in the offensive rebounding category as well, 17-2. Golden State scored 20 second chance points as a result while Las Vegas could only muster five in the other direction.

“More of a discipline issue,” Hammon said. “All we talked about for the last 48 hours was rebounding and blocking them out and we did not do it, period.”

Guard Chelsea Gray added 16 points while fellow guard Jackie Young chipped in with 11 points to go along with a team-high five assists. The backcourt pair combined to shoot 9-for-34 from the field in the loss.

In addition, Las Vegas’ bench contributed seven points to the 60-point outing.

“I can end this whole [presser] right now,” Hammon said. “Don’t ask me about the game, it’s rebounding. That was it.”