After the Las Vegas Aces beat the Golden State Valkyries 91-81 on Sunday at Chase Center, Hammon had her 150th win as Aces head coach. She reached the mark in 205 games, including playoffs, making her the second-fastest coach in WNBA history to get there. Only Van Chancellor, who reached 150 wins in 198 games while leading the Houston Comets dynasty, got there faster.
Process over the number
Hammon did not frame the day around the milestone. Instead, she pointed to the work behind it.
“I think what jumps off the page more than anything is not the wins, but how much I enjoy the process,” Hammon said. “We’re a process kind of team, and we believe that if you go through the right processes, you do it the right way, that the results will be there.”
That process had been tested. The Aces entered Sunday after back-to-back losses to Los Angeles and Dallas, and Hammon had been blunt after the Dallas loss, saying the defense “sucked” after the Aces gave up 50 second-half points.
Two days later, Las Vegas gave her the response she wanted.
Defense answers after Dallas
The Aces led Golden State by only two at halftime. Then they won the third quarter 29-13 and built a lead as large as 24.
“We’re still figuring it out,” Hammon said. “We’re still growing. We’re still figuring out how good we can be and really forming out our identity.”
Hammon said she wants the Aces to become a great defensive team, and Sunday showed what that could look like. Golden State made 16 threes, but Las Vegas held the Valkyries to 34% shooting overall and just 16 points in the paint.
“Today was a good start to hold this team for two quarters in the teens is really, really tough on somebody’s home court,” Hammon said.
Jackie being Jackie
Jackie Young helped turn the game after a difficult stretch.
After two scoreless games and a slow start in Dallas, Young opened the scoring Sunday and finished with 23 points, nine assists and seven rebounds. Hammon called it “Jackie just being Jackie.”
“I was hoping she got one more dime there so she could have had her double-double, but she was flirting with the triple-double,” Hammon said. “It was a typical Jackie game, honestly.”
A’ja Wilson said her confidence in Young never moved.
“Jackie is my little sister,” Wilson said. “She’s the little sister I never wanted.”
A’ja returns the loyalty
Wilson finished with 28 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and four blocks. It was the 93rd 20-point, 10-rebound game of her career. NaLyssa Smith also added 15 points and nine rebounds, continuing to grow into a role Hammon said she has earned.
“She’s really worked herself into a really important role with us,” Hammon said.
The win also carried a personal meaning for Wilson. Hammon said she would “run through a wall” for her players, and Wilson answered with the same loyalty.
“I’ll run through a brick wall for Becky as well,” Wilson said. “She instills so much power in us, so much confidence in us.”
That was the better measure of Hammon’s 150th win.
The milestone matters. So does the company she reached it with, the speed she reached it at and the way the Aces responded Sunday.
For Las Vegas, the bigger part was how it happened: with trust, defense, a third-quarter response and the kind of togetherness that has defined Hammon’s run.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Vegas Golden Knights, Las Vegas Raiders, Athletics, and UNLV baseball and softball. He has 24 years of journalism experience, is also a senior reporter at Exhibit City News, and previously covered the Dallas Stars and Texas Rangers. Follow him on X or connect on LinkedIn.
