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Las Vegas Aces’ forward A’Ja Wilson showed MVP numbers in their bounce back win against the New York Liberty Thursday on the road, 94-82.
Las Vegas (6-3) will square off against the Washington Mystic (2-4) in an away matchup on Saturday, June 5, at 10 a.m.
The Aces won their first game against the Liberty this season and the first of three on this road trip against Liberty.
Las Vegas led the whole duration of the game, but got lackadaisical towards the end of the game allowing Liberty to make it a close game. They were able to cut the lead to one point.
The game plan, which was succeeding, was to feed Wilson the ball in the post. The Aces went away from that game plan and almost cost them an important game.
A frustrated Aces coach Bill Laimbeer called a timeout with four minus left in the game. The team scored the next 14 points with the first four by the former MVP, Wilson.
“I called timeout to yell at them to ‘get the ball to A’ja Wilson’ and that was the end of the game,” Laimbeer said.
Laimbeer seemed to alternate games where he’s chosen the Aces ‘go to player’ for the game. For previous games, it was center Liz Cambage.
Wilson recorded another double-double on the season consisting of 30 points,13 rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Including Wilson, the Aces had four other players scoring in double figures.
The Aces started settling and got comfortable with the lead. Las Vegas is finding their image and that is playing tough defense, and running the fastbreak for the easy basket.
Against Liberty, guard Kelsey Plum made her return to the team after missing six games.
Plum was helping team U.S.A qualify for the Tokyo Olympics in 3x3, which will be the first time the Olympics hosts a 3x3 basketball contest.
Plum recorded four points, three rebounds and two assists.