Kelsey Plum of the Las Vegas Aces drives to the basket past Skylar Diggins-Smith of the Seattle Storm during the third quarter of Game 2 at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas on September 24, 2024. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty are set for a rematch.
Last year, the two teams met in the WNBA Finals, with Las Vegas beating New York 3-1 in the series to win its second consecutive championship. This season, the two teams will meet in the second round, with the No. 1 Liberty sweeping the No. 8 Dream and the No. 4 Aces beating the No. 5 Storm 83-76 in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
Though it will be a different time in the playoffs, the Aces are expecting the same intensity and an even better Liberty team.
“New York is a lot better than they were last year,” Kelsey Plum said. “Just because they’re bigger and they’re shooting higher. Individually, everybody is a better player.”
They have beaten Las Vegas three times this season.
“They played like an angry team,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said of the Liberty, 32-8. “They played with an edge, and we got there. I feel like we’ve regained that edge over the last three or four weeks.”
Despite the ups and downs of the season, the defending champion Aces are content with the status quo. Las Vegas has earned the No. 1 seed in both 2022 and 2023, making the road to a third straight championship that much tougher — a feat not achieved since the Houston Comets won four straight titles from 1997-2000.
Las Vegas looked like a favorite in every respect against Seattle. In Game 1, the Aces won with strong defense, holding the Storm to just two points in the fourth quarter. In Game 2, it was a strong shooting start that laid the foundation for the win. The Aces led by as many as 16 points in the first quarter, shooting 5 of 6 from the 3-point line. The Storm made a comeback, but the deficit was too big to overcome.
“We know what it takes to win,” A’ja Wilson said. “We know we can’t miss games because we’ve been through it. We know what it feels like. It’s just a matter of battling through, staying in the same frame of mind and staying focused on what matters most.”
Wilson was a big part of the win over Seattle, as he has been in every Aces game this season. The Aces’ offense has been shaky in many ways, but Wilson has been a constant. With averages of 26.9 points, 11.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game, Wilson was named MVP for the third time, and on Tuesday he had 24 points and 13 rebounds to help Las Vegas advance to the semifinals.
Las Vegas also drew encouragement from Plum, who bounced back from a poor Game 1 performance. On Sunday, Plum made just 1 of 8 field goals and scored just two points. But between Games 1 and 2, Plum sat at a sushi restaurant and gave himself a mental pep talk.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to throw this whole game out the window,'” Plumb said. “And it worked.”
Plumb led Las Vegas in scoring in Game 2 with 29 points on 11-of-15 shooting.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the Aces who struggled during the regular season and the Aces who beat the Storm was Chelsea Gray.
Gray suffered a foot injury in the 2023 WNBA Finals and missed the first 12 games of the season. She returned before the Olympic break and then helped Team USA win a gold medal, but it took most of the season for Gray to start looking like the player who could be named 2022 Finals MVP.
Against Seattle, the Aces got Gray at her best. In Game 1, the veteran point guard had 16 points and seven assists, and in Game 2, the veteran point guard had 12 points and nine assists. But most importantly, she’s making and taking the kind of high-difficult shots that have led Las Vegas in the past two playoff appearances.
“Chelsea is a big factor in winning,” Plumb said. “Ask any player at the top level in the league and they’ll want Chelsea Gray on their team when the game is tied and there’s five minutes left. They’ll pick her any day. That’s what I would do.”
New York knows what’s in store when Gray returns to full health. Before suffering a foot injury last season, Gray led Las Vegas to two wins over the Liberty, recording 20 points and nine assists and 14 points and 11 assists in the process.
The Liberty knows Wilson, Plum and Jackie Young, but they have their own star powerhouse with two former MVPs in Jonquel Jones and Breanna Stewart and one of the brightest young stars in the league in Sabrina Ionescu.
Both teams are playing their best basketball, and while it’s a second-round matchup, the semifinal series between Las Vegas and New York could quickly become a classic.
