Despite what you may have read elsewhere, the WNBA playoffs are still indeed ongoing without Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark. After being locked down by DeWanna Bonner of the Connecticut Sun, Clark’s Indiana Fever were swept in the first round.
But there are still many reasons to watch as Game 3 of the semifinals begins on Friday night for both the Minnesota Lynx and Sun — tied 1-1 — and the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces.
Chief among them is that this could be the last stand for A’ja Wilson and the Aces and their quest for a three-peat.
No team in the WNBA has won three championships in a row since the now-defunct Houston Comets won the first four Finals behind the play of a historic, all-time great trio in Cynthia Cooper, Tina Thompson and Sheryl Swoopes. One of the players on that New York Liberty team that the Comets beat for their fourth consecutive title in 2000 was Becky Hammon, who is now the coach of the Las Vegas Aces, and one that is incredibly frustrated with the way her team has come up short in its last two games.
During a timeout in Tuesday’s 88-84 loss to the Liberty in Brooklyn, New York, Hammon could easily be seen tearing into guard Kelsey Plum during a timeout.
“This is why three-peating is hard. Let’s be real,” Hammon said. “The whole league has been pissed off for the last eight months and my players are in commercials and this and that and being freaking celebrities and you get distracted. That’s why it’s hard. Because human nature is distracting.”
The Aces are now down 2-0 in a five-game series and facing elimination as they return to Las Vegas for Friday’s Game 3. In the history of the WNBA, no team has come back from a 2-0 deficit to win a five-game series.
Indeed, the odds are stacked against the Aces. They are trying to chase history, but history is not on their side.
The good news is they are the team that has A’ja Wilson, and the New York Liberty do not.
And that might be just enough.
Consider that Wilson was unanimously voted the league’s MVP this season, the first to do so since Cooper in the WNBA’s first campaign in 1997.
Also consider that the South Carolina product—now a three-time MVP and two-time Olympic gold medalist—is putting up numbers this season that simply haven’t been seen before in the sport. Wilson leads the WNBA in points (26.9), blocks (2.6), field goals made (10.1), free throws made (6.1) and defensive rebounds (9.8) per game. The 6-foot-4 seventh-year forward also leads the WNBA in win shares (10) and PER (34.9).
And Wilson is the only player in the history of the WNBA to average at least 26 points and 11 rebounds per game. Other players got a lot of attention this season, but Wilson is the transcendent talent doing things in the WNBA that no one else ever has.
But also, Wilson needs help. She got some in last Sunday’s Game 1 loss from Plum, who led the Aces with 24 points in an 87-77 loss, and Jackie Young added 17 points too. In Game 2’s defeat, Wilson had 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists, while no other Las Vegas player shot better than 50 percent from the floor. Plum really struggled, shooting 2-of-9 from the floor with three turnovers.
More than anything, the Aces need to improve their defense. The 175 combined points they’ve given up to the Liberty are the most they’ve allowed in back-to-back games since losing two in a row to the Lynx in late August.
With their backs against the wall, whatever happens to the Aces on Friday night will be a must-watch.
