.png)
Playing without their two-time WNBA MVP for the first time since 2019, Las Vegas couldn’t hold a late lead in a losing effort against New York.
The Aces fell short, 75-71, to the Liberty Sunday, Sept. 8 from the Barclays Center. While entering play as the current No. 4 and No. 1 seeds for this year’s playoffs, New York claims the season series in a sweep, something the franchise hasn’t done against Las Vegas since 2016.
Prior to Sunday’s outcome, the two clubs had split each of its last 12 meetings including last year’s WNBA Finals.
“They got stops,” head coach Becky Hammon said. “I mean they really gave us a chance to crawl back in there and stick our nose in where people didn’t think it was going to be today.”
Star forward A’ja Wilson missed the game as she nurses a lower right leg injury. She was seen on the team’s bench in a vintage Dawn Staley t-shirt and black skirt complimented by a silver walking boot on her right leg.
Wilson has previously owned the current league streak at 172 consecutive games played.
“We’ve got a resilient group,” Hammon said. “We know how to take a hit.I was proud of the way they battled. You have opportunities throughout the game to fall apart and they didn’t. So I give my team a lot of credit with the fight.”
The loss brings an end to the four-game win streak for the back-to-back defending champions. Moreover, they fall to 22-13 on the year with five more games to play.
This year’s playoffs are set to begin Sunday, Sept. 25.
Still in the midst of this four-game road trip, Las Vegas will now head south from New York and into Indiana for a matchup with the Fever. That game is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 11 with tip-off slated for 4 p.m.
Wednesday’s contest will be the first of back-to-back games in the Hoosier State for the Aces.
Guard Jackie Young was blocked by Liberty forward Breanna Stewart on a last-second field goal inside the paint. Hammon and company were livid on the sideline as it yelled out for a foul call with the team then trailing by two.
“Jackie Young got stood up like a football block,” Hammon said.”Completely stopped all her momentum, she should be shooting [free throws].”
Las Vegas had trouble getting shots to go at the rim in this one especially down-the-stretch. Plum missed a layup with a chance to tie the game at 70 apiece. Moments before that, teammate Sydney Colson had a breakaway chance after a steal in the passing lane but would also misfire on her layup chance to go up by a point.
In totality, the Aces shot 8-for-31 on two-point field goals.
“I was talking to the refs all night,” Hammon said. “We shot 10 free throws for the game, they had 10 at the half. It’s 38 to 60 in our series with fouls called.”
Colson did cash in on a three-pointer with just under two minutes left in regulation to give Las Vegas the lead. At that point, it was the team’s first lead since being on top, 24-22, in the first quarter.
In the third quarter, New York had climbed on top by 20 points; the largest deficit of the game for the visitors. That came on the heels of heading into halftime already down 12 on the scoreboard.
The Liberty are now 21-0 this season when leading at halftime.
”I’ve had a lot of questions tonight about last year and to be honest, we’re so past that,” guard Kelsey Plum said. “They have a great environment at home, they’ve been the best team in the league all year. Extremely consistent, no one is like super — I don’t want to speak for everyone but I guess I am when I say our team has moved on from last year.”
At one point of that second quarter, Las Vegas went without a field goal for more than four minutes. Additionally, the team went 1-for-12 shooting during a stretch on top of going scoreless for the final 1:51 of the first half.
However, the Aces jump started an 8-1 run to close the third quarter. That set the stage for an eventual 16-1 run by them following a 8-0 start to the final frame.
“They got stops,” Hammon said. “When you’re down 20, you better get some stops. They had a lot of — they just started moving the ball and we know when we move the ball good things happen for us.”
The once 20-point deficit was cut down to a point as the run progressed to 20-3 and it would eventually be tied on a three from Plum who led the team in scoring.
Plum scored 10 of her game-high 25 points in the first half. Her 25 points was scored on 7-of-17 shooting with five threes and six assists that shared with teammate Chelsea Gray for the game-high.
”We’re professional athletes,” Plum said. “There’s no moral victories here personally. We had multiple opportunities to win it, I mean I’m frustrated at myself. Had two great looks and missed them.”
Young added 12 points on 4-for-11 from the field with two made threes.
Forward Alysha Clark was the final player in double-figures with 11 points to go along with six rebounds. She was one of the players at the forefront of a three-point barrage by Las Vegas to open the game.
The first six made field goals of the game all came from deep for the Aces including at least one by four of the starters. As a team, the group shot 15-old-33 from beyond the arc, good for nearly 46%.
“No lead is safe in this league,” Clark said. “I think if anything, this league is too good. The moment you think that is the moment trouble sets in.”
Opmerkingen