LAS VEGAS -- There's a big difference between having a will to win and having a killer instinct.
There aren't many professional sports teams that don't have a will to win, a mindset that pushes them to succeed with a strong desire to reach the top.
But having a killer instinct, elevating to a level where a team adopts a ruthless approach to victory, that's different.
And right now, the Las Vegas Aces are nowhere close to being the ruthless team that won back-to-back titles just a few years ago.
Another bad third quarter saw the Aces blow an 11-point lead Friday night, as they dropped to 5-7 after a 90-83 loss to the Seattle Storm.
The killer instinct of 2022 and 2023? Gone.
Las Vegas came into the game below .500 at the 11-game mark for the first time since 2018.
It's getting worse, and their leader knows it.
"I think it's going to take for us to continue to get our ass beat, for us to wake up," said three-time MVP A'ja Wilson, who scored 20 points in her return after missing three games due to being in concussion protocol. "It's going to click, and when it does, that's when you're going to see Aces basketball.
"But right now, we're just going to continue to get our ass beat until we man up."
After her team's third straight loss, coach Becky Hammon called the Aces' defense "atrocious."
Put it this way, when the Aces won the championship in 2023, they allowed 90 or more points six times during the regular season.
They've allowed 90 or more in five of their first 12 games this season.
Much different than a Seattle team that just waltzed out of Mandalay Bay with its fifth win in six games, and that boasts the league's sixth-best scoring defense in allowing 78.4 points per game.
Conversely, Storm coach Noelle Quinn's team has that killer instinct.
"I think that that's something that we have been managing to find consistently," Storm veteran Nneka Ogwumike said. "That's kind of been our M.O. as a team. We know we have it, but keeping it consistent is what's important for us.
"We all have independent confidence, and we all have trust amongst each other. Just understanding how to manage the energy of the game, while maintaining that killer instinct, and I think we did a much better job of that tonight."
With every team making the turn past the quarter pole of the 2025 campaign, it's become a critical time for the Aces.
Sitting in eighth place, just one-half game in front of the Washington Mystics, the Aces better regroup quickly if they want to recapture the killer instinct they once had, each possession and every quarter, half by half and game by game.
It was an instinct that triggered sheer domination. The Aces weren't just satisfied with winning games; they wanted to crush opponents. They were cutthroat and competitive in a way that never left room for weakness or mercy.
Now, it's other teams who have the mental edge on the Aces. It's Wilson and company failing to perform under pressure while their opponents are asserting dominance and intimidating Hammon's bunch.
Not good, considering they have less than 48 hours to rekindle their passion and improve upon the league's fifth-worst scoring defense that is yielding 83.1 ppg., as Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever are in town for a nationally televised showdown on Sunday.
"I wouldn't necessarily say that it's not there," Wilson countered when asked what the Aces need to do to find their killer instinct. "Us as a team, we have it. We just got to find it within each other, and that takes time. But obviously, we spoiled a lot of people with our greatness, with our legendary basketball styles. We see people are running our stuff. So we spoiled our fan base, we spoiled a lot of people with that, and now they expect that out of us every single game - and it's hard.
"People have their building years. People have their championship years. Everybody has that type of year. And I think we're in unfamiliar territory. But, we're about to get real familiar with being uncomfortable and leaning on one another, and that's what we're gonna continue to do."
Yep, a big difference between a will to win and having a killer instinct.
The Aces need to find the latter, quickly.