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Story by Alan Snel Photos by Hugh Byrne
On Sunday, Raiders and Aces owner Mark Davis will be in Las Vegas to watch the Raiders host the Cleveland Browns at Allegiant Stadium and not in Brooklyn to see the Aces play the New York Liberty in Game 1 of the WNBA Best-of-5 semifinals.
“The Raiders need me,” Davis told LVSportsBiz.com after the Aces defeated the Seattle Storm, 83-76, Tuesday to advance to play the Liberty. The Raiders are coming off an embarrassing loss to the Carolina Panthers Sunday.
With the fourth-seeded Aces knocking out the fifth seed, Seattle, now it’s time for the Main Event in the WNBA. Aces guard Kelsey Plum scored 29, bouncing back from an off night in Game 1, and MVP A’ja Wilson supplied 24 points. The Plum-Wilson duo scored 53 of the Aces’ 83 points tonight.
Now it’s the two-time defending champion Aces against the team with the best record this season, the top-seeded New York Liberty. Game 1 is Sunday in Brooklyn.
Both the Aces and the Liberty took care of business Tuesday night to advance to the WNBA semifinals.
The Aces knocked out New York in the WNBA Final in four games in 2023, winning three games to one.
After the Aces win, Plum said the New York players have all improved, while Aces coach Becky Hammon said New York is playing with “an edge.”
The Liberty will get their chance against the Aces in 2024.
Tonight, the Aces bolted to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and the Seattle Storm had no answer for league MVP A’ja Wilson, hot-shooting Kelsey Plum, assist-dishing Chelsea Gray and bench sparkplug Tiffany Hayes.
The place was packed. There were 10,369 crammed into Mandalay Bay’s Michelob Ultra Arena Sunday and another 10,370 here tonight.
Seattle’s All-Star shooter Jewell Loyd nailed a three-pointer in the second quarter to shave the Aces lead down to 39-36. And Seattle kept the game competitive in the third quarter. After the Aces led, 45-38, at the half they took a 62-57 lead into the final quarter.
Seattle hung in there. In fact, the Storm actually took a one-point lead midway through the final quarter.
But Wilson and company retook the lead and never gave it up. The team is now a veteran club that knew how to close the deal Tuesday.
The New York vs Las Vegas semifinal is a best-of-five showdown that will start in Brooklyn for the first two games. Game 3 will be back in Las Vegas on Oct. 4.