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Six days off couldn’t stop Las Vegas from beating Los Angeles by more than 15 points for the second time in the four weeks.
The Aces beat the Sparks, 89-72, Saturday, June 11 from the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
Late last month, Las Vegas beat Los Angeles by 28 points from the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.
“I don’t know if it means much to be honest,” guard Kelsey Plum said. “I felt like we didn’t come out with a great start but we got better as we went along.”
With the win, the Aces improved to 11-2 on the season, still good for first place in the Western Conference. The closest team in the standings is the Seattle Storm, who sit at 7-5, currently three and a half games out.
The trip to LA marked just the fifth road game of the year for Las Vegas as it sports a 4-1 record in those games.
It also marked the first of two straight road games as a matchup against the Dallas Wings is on the horizon.
“Mentally, it’s a game at a time,” Plum said. “I feel like you have to be present. I feel like you just have to be really focused on the next game.”
Forward A’ja Wilson scored a season-high 35 points, four points away from tying her career-high, to go along with 11 rebounds.
She got it going early, scoring 13 points in the first 10 minutes.
“Everytime I shoot the basketball, I want it to be one of those nights,” Wilson said. “That’s just my mindset but the ball was going through the hoop. I had a rough couple of games, I wasn’t performing well for my team so I definitely needed to show up for this game.”
Wilson scored 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting in the first half as Las Vegas built its largest lead of the game to that point, 17 points.
“I don’t even think it was honestly about the numbers,” she said. “On both sides of the basketball, I felt good.” The third quarter brought along more dominance for Wilson, who finished the frame with 33 points, the most she’s scored since 2019.
About midway through the third quarter, she picked up her third of an eventual four blocks of the game just after putting the Aces up 20.
“It doesn’t really bother me,” Wilson said when asked about her defense being a second-hand story. “I’m just trying to be there for my teammates so I make sure I communicate with them and [make sure they know] I’m going to be there regardless.”
Before the end of the night, Wilson had a positive plus/minus as high as +31.
Las Vegas, led by Wilson’s defense, held Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike to 16 points on 5-of-13 from the field. “Her offense was her offense but her defense was exceptional tonight,” Hammon said. “Taking care of those bigs in the paint and on a team that really gets downhill on people.”
Four other Aces scored in double figures including 20 points from forward Dearica Hamby on 8-of-10 from the field including going a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range.
“I’ve had a mental roadblock the past few weeks,” she said. “So it was nice to feel like I could get my confidence back tonight. I really just been waiting to see a few go in so hopefully this can be the jumpstart of me shooting the ball well.” Hamby added that she worked on three-point shooting the entire off-season after learning of the hiring of Hammon as head coach.
Early in the first quarter, Hamby blocked Ogwumike in the post and defended her perfectly a second time after allowing the offensive rebound. She finished the highlight by knocking down a three in transition on the other end.
“She’s somebody who can impact the game in so many ways when she scores the ball,” Hammon said. “She scores 20 points and I don’t call one play for her all night. She just finds ways to interject herself.” This was the second straight game played without guard Jackie Young as she nurses a right ankle sprain suffered against Connecticut three games ago.
“I think everybody just comes locked in,” Hammon said. “In ways, our offense is very equal-opportunity, that’s why some nights A’ja only gets 14 or 15 shots, tonight she got 23.”
Plum and fellow guard Chelsea Gray were the last two in double figures with 17 and 10 points respectively.
The duo did struggle protecting the ball early, accounting for all four of the team’s turnovers at the first media timeout nearly five minutes into the game.
Immediately after that timeout, the team came out and committed a fifth turnover.
“I didn’t like our defensive focus coming out,” Hammon said. “We did some no-nos very early on in that first three or four minutes so I just let them know about it and they adjusted.”
By the final buzzer, the Plum/Gray pair recorded 10 of the team’s 19 turnovers.
Despite being up 20 points late in the fourth quarter, Plum and Hammon were assessed technical fouls for arguing a no-call.
“I’m trying to establish culture here,” Hammon said. “So whether we’re up 20 or we’re down 20, I’m coaching them hard and I’m coaching them the right way.”
Plum and Gray did combine for 15 of the team’s 19 assists.
“She’s the brain,” Plum said of Gray. “I lean on her heavily to make a lot of the reads. I’m a beneficiary of that.”
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