LAS VEGAS — Becky Hammon waited and believed in this version of the Las Vegas Aces. The two-time champion guard trio is at their best when they’re clicking on all cylinders, led by three-time MVP A’ja Wilson. This has been the missing version for most of the season, and it certainly didn’t appear in Brooklyn in the first two semifinals.
“Oh, we were waiting for that too.” Chelsea Gray said after deftly leading the Aces attack back to that version.
The Aces didn’t just survive elimination, they went full steam ahead with a resounding 95-81 win at home on Friday to keep their season and hopes of a third straight title alive. It was a close game from the third quarter, and the Aces won 21-6. Liberty leads the series 2-1 and is looking to advance to the finals on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC).
Jackie Young led all scorers with 24 points and four 3-pointers. Kelsey Plum placed 20th, scoring 63.6% overall. Wilson scored 19 points and 14 rebounds. Gray came close to his double-double with 10 points and 7 assists, threading a needle that was invisible to others. And Tiffany Hayes, the newly crowned sixth player of the year, scored 11 points off the bench.
These are aces who have won two championships, and two hours before tip-off, Hammon said he expects them to show up “any day now.” On cue, they made their full appearance by jumping in the sold-out crowd at the Michelob Ultra Arena for the 25th consecutive performance.
Hammon later said, “Everything was just right for everyone.” “I thought it was probably our most perfect game of the season.”
For the first time in the series, Wilson established his presence early with a turnaround jumper after Gray’s game-opening block. She added a pull-up bucket and a 3-pointer within the first three minutes of the game. Young took over and answered the Liberty 3 and handed the keys to Gray, who scored seven of his 10 points in the first half.
Hammon privately and publicly messaged Gray after Game 1, saying the point guard should “take her matchup personally” and not let Betnijah Laney-Hamilton “get up and funk you.” Gray was limited to four points and one assist in Game 1 and had 14 points and seven assists in Game 2. She scampered past the Liberty’s All-Defensive star and passed to Rolling Wilson midway through the second period of Game 3. Accumulate paint points that were previously difficult to find.
Nonetheless, the Aces and Liberty continued to push back and forth throughout the first half, with 18 lead changes and eight ties by 2:55. The Aces held space and led 52-49 at halftime. No team was led by more than four people, and almost every category was almost deadlocked.
But it was all ace.
“We were only down by three points in the first half, but it didn’t feel good,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “This didn’t seem like the way we were supposed to play.”
Things didn’t get any better for the sea foam stalwarts in the third quarter. Wilson hit a jumper off a feed from Young, Young drained a 3, Plum finger-rolled a layup and Gray fired a 3 of her own to speed the pace to a 21-6 frame, closing the door on a potential sweep. Liberty didn’t score from 8:02 (the Aces led 57-54) until 26.2 seconds remained (73-55).
“We were so locked in defensively (and) on rebounds,” Gray said. “We were intentionally at the end of the floor. If we can do that and hold a team like that to six points in the third quarter. Being able to do that was key because we had a scorer there.”
Liberty’s biggest scorer almost ended the night without a bucket. Sabrina Ionescu didn’t score until a technical free throw nine minutes into the fourth quarter. Her only goal in seven attempts was a 3-pointer with 8:08 to play. Hammon wanted her team to get at least a C-plus to protect the Liberty’s most developed superstar.
The team gave us an A+ when we needed it most. Brondello acknowledged their urgency and gave Ionescu little space to operate. Gray credited his success to attention to detail after giving up too many layups in each of the first two games. The Aces won the paint 42-28, including 20-10 in the second half.
Ionescu has scored fewer than 10 points in limited time both times this season. Breanna Stewart didn’t have much going for her with 19 points. She and Brondello each said ahead of the game that finishing against a team ready to throw everything to stay alive at Liberty will be their toughest game.
“They’re going to be aggressive, they’re going to use the fans, they’re going to use the momentum behind them,” Stewart said after the game. “And I don’t think we’re ready for all of that. We didn’t come and accept the hard work. Because this is not an easy task. And we saw it tonight.”
Jonquel Jones was benched in the final four minutes of the first half with three fouls and was unable to score the double-double the team always gave her. She had 11 points and 6 rebounds. Leonie Fiebich had 10 points and Courtney Vandersloot, who gave an uncharacteristic technical yelling at a referee after a trip call during a Liberty drought in the third quarter, had nine points off the bench.
“They came out and did what they had to do,” Brondello said. “Now we come back like this on Sunday.”
