PHOENIX—Closing out the year with one rematch from last year’s playoff, the Las Vegas Aces now find themselves preparing for battle against another formerly vanquished foe.
On Thursday, the Aces closed out the regular season with a bang, with A’ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray hitting double-doubles in a 100-82 victory over the Phoenix Mercury.
The win puts the Aces at seven straight to end the year, pushing them into the playoffs with serious momentum by their side once again.
Wilson put an exclamation point on her case for her fifth MVP award, securing 34 points and 10 rebounds as well as four assists and a steal. The performance guarantees that Wilson secures over 26 points per game for the second time in her career, the only player in WNBA history to reach that mark even once. Gray would also end the regular season with a strong effort, putting up 12 points while adding ten assists and five steals to continue providing value on both ends of the court.
Even Jackie Young, despite having a cold scoring night with only five points, made her presence felt elsewhere with a game-high 11 assists, seven rebounds and three steals.
However, Young’s struggles to generate points made the other developments of the game so much more important for the Aces.
Stephanie Talbot, who has spent the season trying to find her fit in Las Vegas, appears to have turned the corner and is getting hot at the right time. The Aussie wing has returned from the World Cup with a vengeance, putting up 14 points, four rebounds and two steals.
“We’ve had 44 games to kind of work on our chemistry and figure each other out and hopefully it’s all coming together at the right time,” said Talbot. “Coming into playoffs, everyone’s feeling good, so it’s exciting.”
Meanwhile, Jewell Loyd appears to have flipped a switch at the right time, providing microwave scoring with 25 points in as many minutes. This includes a game-high five three-point shots, which was more than the rest of the Aces put together.
“I think we’ve been stacking games together,” said Loyd about the Aces’ depth coming through at the right time. “Whether it’s Steph coming in, Mai [Yamamoto], Cheyenne [Parker-Tyus], I think that’s the job is to try to find energy on both sides of the floor.
We want to use this momentum to hopefully push us to the end and, when we play together, remember when we’re excited for each other. I think that’s how we play. It’s just better basketball that way.”
It was an important game for solutions to be found, as the Aces find themselves looking at a stern test for the first round of the WNBA playoffs.
By virtue of the Minnesota Lynx blowing out the Indiana Fever and the Golden State Valkyries roaring back against the Los Angeles Sparks to secure the second seed, the Aces get a semifinals rematch against the Fever to kickstart the journey for their fourth title in five years. Making the matchup all the more compelling is the added element of Caitlin Clark, who missed last year’s playoffs due to injury. Needless to say, the Aces’ path towards cementing themselves as a dynasty will not be easy.
“Obviously, they have a high-powered offense, so that’s job number one is slowing them up a little bit. Easier said than done,” said Aces head coach Becky Hammon about the Fever. “It’s going to be a tall task for us but, coming in, we know that defense is a game changer and we’re going to need a lot of it against them.”
The series, as well as the WNBA playoffs, tip off on Sunday. Game One will take place at Michelob ULTRA Arena at a time to be determined.