PHOENIX – The Las Vegas Aces defended their home court to take an early lead in the WNBA Finals. To remain viable, the Mercury must do the same as the series moves to Phoenix.
Four-time WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson and the Aces take a 2-0 advantage to Arizona for Game 3 on Wednesday. The fourth game of the league’s first best-of-seven series will take place on Friday.
“That’s the goal, not to let up,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said. “You just don’t want to have a satisfied locker room, because we’re not there yet. All we’ve been doing is doing what we’re supposed to do. We’re supposed to take care of our field.
“The process always prepares you for what’s next, and I think the (As) are really embracing that. Traveling together, being resilient together. It takes a special group to kiss ‘tough,’ and they’ve really been doing that all year.”
Wilson had 28 points and 14 rebounds in the Aces’ 91-78 Game 2 victory Sunday, his 25th career playoff double-double.
Jackie Young scored 32 points for the second time in three games, and the Aces — often playing four shorts around Wilson — used a 19-4 spurt in the second quarter and a 10-4 run in the third to open a 14-point lead that was unthreatened. The Aces led by 22 points in the fourth.
Kahleah Copper scored 23 points and Satou Sabally had 22 for the Mercury, who shot just 40.8 percent from the floor in the second game. They were 5 of 28 from 3-point range.
Mercury star Alyssa Thomas, hampered by foul trouble, had 10 points, six rebounds and five assists. She committed three fouls in the first half and committed her fourth less than three minutes into the third, which changed the Mercury’s defensive plan on Wilson.
“We’d like to keep her on A’ja as much as possible,” Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said.
Thomas has a league record with 29 double-doubles in the postseason.
“We’re here because of our defense,” Tibbetts said. “We know they’re a very good offensive team. They have great players. But we have to be better on the defensive side. Our commitment, our tenacity and our tenacity, we have to find it.”
Las Vegas is 23-3 in their last 26 games. The Aces finished the regular season on a 16-game winning streak and posted game-winning victories over Seattle and Indiana in the final games of the first round and semifinals.
The Mercury showed resilience in their run to the final, winning on the road in New York and Minnesota.
“What gives me confidence is we’ve been down before,” Tibbetts said. “We’ve been overlooked. Obviously people are going to start bragging about how great Las Vegas is, and they should. We’ve always kind of bounced back.”
Copper won a WNBA title with the Chicago Sky in 2021, when she was crowned WNBA Finals MVP.
“Our playoff run,” Copper said to explain his optimism. “Being able to fight back and knowing that that’s part of our identity. We really have to lock in defensively because that’s what we hang our hat on. We have to be more connected defensively and trust that the next person has your back.”
–Jack Magruder, Field Media
