Las Vegas Aces Beat Connecticut At Sun’s Own Game, Grinding Out Physical 67-64 Win Before Record Crowd Of 10,135 In WNBA Finals Game 1 Sunday
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By Cassandra Cousineau and Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Aces showed the Connecticut Sun they know how to play physical, too.
The Las Vegas Aces scored 23 points less than their average 90 points a game, but still squeezed out a rough-and-tumble 67-64 victory over the Connecticut Sun at Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena in Game 1 of the WNBA Finals Sunday.
The Best-of-5 championship series has been billed as a showdown of contrasting styles between the high-scoring Aces’ finesse and up-tempo play and the Sun’s rugged inside and physical play.
The Aces were able to absorb the Sun’s best contact and physical play and came away with the three-point win in Game 1.
The Aces announced a record ticket distribution of 10,135.
Aces coach Becky Hammon pulled out her ace up her defensive and physical sleeve: Dearica Hamby. And Hammon offered quite the quip about Hamby, who is rounding back into shape after injuring her knee late in the regular season.
She was phenomenal. She was ready to go. I just got to the point where I was like, my biggest, baddest beast is sitting over there. I’ve just got to throw her in. They want to play a rough game; she’s my girl. — Aces coach Becky Hammon
League MVP A’ja Wilson led Las Vegas with 24 points with 11 rebounds, while red-hot Chelsea Gray added 21 points.
Yeah, she got beast skills. She’s a beast human. — Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon on A’ja Wilson
The Sun’s coach had an interesting take on Gray.
“I was really pleased nothing came easy for Chelsea tonight. She had six turnovers,” Connecticut coach Curt Miller said at the post-game presser.
Wilson and Gray combined for 45 of the Aces’ 67 points.
“Big stat line difference was their ability to get through the foul line and play though contact,” Miller said.
Game 2 is Tuesday back at Mandalay Bay at 6 PM.
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The Aces got off to a hot start, leading, 21-9, on a Chelsea Gray moonshot three-point ball.
But in the second quarter, Connecticut’s heralded bruising inside game began to take its toll on the Aces.
And with two minutes to go in the second quarter, the Sun had a 34-32 lead. The Aces struggled in the quarter, mustering a mere seven points in the first eight minutes of the period.
Janquel Jones, the Sun’s powerful center and last season’s MVP, scored an easy basket at the hoop and the Sun took a 38-34 lead into halftime.
It was clear that Connecticut’s physical inside play was wearing down the Aces.
Meanwhile, the Aces turned cold, scoring only nine points in the 10-minute quarter. The Sun outscored the Aces, 21-9, in the second stanza.
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NBA players like Kyle Lowry and Ja Morant joined Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore in the big crowd.
The Aces made only a dozen baskets out of 31 attempts, shooting 38.7 percent. A’ja Wilson has 12 points and Chelsea Gray added 11 at the half. Jackie Young had nine points, while Kelsey Plum, who finished third in the MVP voting, had only two points.
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Wilson the MVP has repeated multiple times, “This is a business trip. We’re professional basketball players.”
This year, it’s a different mentality from their first trip to the Finals in 2020, and opposite of the “just happy to be there rookie mentality” she said the team possessed in the western Florida COVID-19 pandemic bubble.
One of the biggest difference makers is how the team behaved well before tipoff.
“We got real competitive in everything we do,” Hammon said on a media call. “We compete hard in practice. I want every player on the roster to want to win every possession.”
When whether she wanted her team to enjoy the moment more, instead of maintaining a strictly business mentality. “Being about business is being in the moment. Being competitive is this moment. That’s where we need to be.”
The Aces won the season series against Connecticut, two games to one, with all three games decided by eight points or less. After taking the first game in Las Vegas, the Aces lost the second against the Sun and won the rubber match in Connecticut.
In the third game in Connecticut, Las Vegas had three players score 20 points or more – Kelsey Plum with 22, Chelsea Gray with 21 to go with nine assists, and Wilson with 20 – while the Sun had none as they played without reigning league MVP Jonquel Jones, out with COVID-19.
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In the third quarter, Jones hit a 3-ball and the Sun led by seven points.
But the Aces, behind Wilson and Gray, cut into the Sun lead and Las Vegas eventually took a 55-53 lead into the fourth quarter.
Wilson and Gray had 39 of the Aces’ 55 points.
Gray told LVSportsBiz.com Saturday that the Aces would need to match the Sun’s defensive intensity and guard the paint. The Aces forced the Sun into at least three shot-clock violations.
When Wilson finished a layup with 6:26 left in the Q4, the Aces led, 59-55. Plum nailed a three-pointer and Gray hit a bucket and the Aces forged ahead, 64-58, with 3:52 to go.
The Aces built up a 67-60 lead, but the Sun made a run to cut the lead to 67-64.
Connecticut had a final possession to potentially tie the score, but no dice.
Final: Aces 67 Sun 64.
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Why did the WNBA have its Finals Game 1 against the NFL’s first Sunday of games? Here is WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert’s explanation:
