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The Las Vegas Aces picked up their third consecutive win Friday night in Atlanta, defeating the Atlanta Dream 84-70 and improving to 15-7 behind another stellar performance from two-time MVP A’ja Wilson.
Wilson scored a team-high 33 points and added 18 rebounds coming off the first 20-20 performance of her career.
Guards Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum combined for another 34 points while rookie Kate Martin led Las Vegas’ bench players with six points.
Despite the scoring effort and the win, Wilson pointed to her performance on the defensive side of the ball.
“I felt like I stunk today,” Wilson said. “I felt like on the defensive end I was not the greatest so I kind of had a lull this game. But I'm getting a lot more comfortable [...] there’s a lot more thought going into my defensive process.”
Head coach Becky Hammon shot the former MVP a look of disbelief after her comments and later offered her thoughts on what she felt was a strong defensive showing from both Wilson and the team.
“It’s just funny that she sits there and thinks her defense sucks,” Hammon said. “I think she’s probably more mad about the offensive rebounds that [Atlanta] got, but her initial defense was pretty good.”
The Dream collected 12 offensive rebounds, with Wilson frustrated at her main defensive responsibility Tina Charles grabbing a team-leading four herself. The effort on the offensive glass helped Atlanta out-rebound Las Vegas 47-35.
No matter how Wilson evaluates herself, the numbers still remain heavily in her favor. In addition achieving her double-double by halftime, she logged 20 points and 10 rebounds in a game for the 13th time this season and managed the second-most rebounds in WNBA history.
She also tied the league record for most 25-plus point, 10-plus rebound outings in a single season with 10 according to ESPN.
“I’m on to the next thing immediately,” Wilson said. “I’m appreciative and I’m blessed but it’s something that I don’t really think about because I’m just doing my job.”
That next thing comes on Sunday for the Aces as they face the Washington Mystics in their penultimate game before the Olympic break.
Young expressed the team’s goals for the final two games before the break begins.
“Just ending on a high note,” Young said. “I think the biggest thing for us is just executing the defensive schemes, being locked in on the defensive end, and trying to put together a full 40 minutes. We know we can score the ball, so I think the biggest thing is just playing defense.”
The win gives the Aces a record of 9-1 in their last 10 games and a 15-7 mark overall, and puts them within a half game back of third-place Minnesota in the playoff picture.
With all nine of those wins coming since the return of guard Chelsea Gray and the continued dominance of Wilson, the two-time defending champions may be beginning to resemble the best version of themselves at just the right time.
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