In-Season Tourney Cup Championship On Line: Las Vegas Aces Lose Again To New York As Fans Hoped To See Game On ESPN
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Story by Cassandra Cousineau and Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
If you don’t have Amazon Prime membership on TV for $139 per year, you were out of luck about watching Tuesday’s much-hyped Las Vegas Aces vs New York Liberty game matching the WNBA defending champs against a team from the country’s biggest media market.
The Aces-Liberty “Commissioner’s Cup” battle was not on ESPN or any local Las Vegas station. There was $500,000 of prize money on the line.
And the WNBA lost a great chance to hype its two top teams to casual basketball fans who would have watched some of the world’s greatest women players like the Aces’ A’ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray and the Liberty’s Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones.
The Aces came into the game with a sparkling 27-3 record, but sunk less than 30 percent of their shots in the first half and struggled in the second half as the New York squad surged to a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter.
Las Vegas ended up losing, 82-63, snapping the Aces’ 20-game home winning streak that dates back to last season. Two of the Aces’ four losses this season have been to the “super team” Liberty.
Each member of the Liberty squad received $30,000, while each player on the losing Aces received $10,000.
WNBA Commissioner Englelbert said the game was on Prime Video because the WNBA has a broadcast deal with Amazon Studios. In May 2023, Prime Video and the WNBA extended their existing multi-year agreement , giving Prime Video exclusive, global streaming rights to 20 WNBA games for the 2023 season, including tonight’s Commissioner’s Cup championship game.
The first half did not exactly feature stellar shooting from the league’s top two offenses.
The Aces led, 34-32, at the half.
But in the second half, the Aces, averaging 94 points a game, could muster only 29 points in the second half.
Before the game, Aces owner Mark Davis was enjoying himself.
Jackie Young led the Aces with 16 points, while Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray each scored 15 to lead the Las Vegas scoring.
The team’s two-time MVP, A’ja Wilson, scored only nine points.
Raiders team president Sandra Douglass Morgan was also on hand tonight.
