The Las Vegas Aces did not let Dallas become the start of a slide.
They turned it into a response.
Las Vegas trailed Phoenix by four at halftime Wednesday, then tightened the game with defense and leaned on A’ja Wilson to close an 86-76 win at Mortgage Matchup Center.
The win clinched the Aces’ spot in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship Game against the New York Liberty on June 30.
Before the game, Becky Hammon said the Aces had “laid a real stinker” in Monday’s 96-66 loss at Dallas. She wanted a bounce-back response.
Wilson and the defense gave her one.
Hot start, hard reset
Phoenix opened the game like it wanted to repeat opening night.
The Mercury shot 71 percent in the first quarter and went 4-for-5 from three to take a 28-24 lead. DeWanna Bonner scored 10 points off the bench, Kahleah Copper added eight and Alyssa Thomas kept the ball moving.
Hammon had already called the Aces’ opening-night loss to Phoenix “a good old thumping.” Early, this one carried some of the same warning signs.
But Las Vegas stayed close because Wilson, Jackie Young and NaLyssa Smith gave the offense enough early answers. Then the Aces started to correct the game.
Wilson everywhere
Wilson changed the game by staying in the middle of everything.
She finished with 33 points, 11 rebounds, five steals, three assists and two blocks. She also made franchise history on the glass, passing Sophia Young-Malcolm for the most offensive rebounds in Aces history.
Hammon said before the game that Wilson is “a luxury” and has “a pretty good bounce-back factor.”
That showed up in every part of the box score.
Wilson scored through contact, lived at the free throw line and gave Las Vegas the defensive plays it needed after Phoenix’s hot start cooled.
Defense finally travels
The Aces did not win because their own shooting caught fire.
They shot 5-for-21 from three and got no points from Jewell Loyd. Instead, they won because their defense finally bent the game.
Phoenix scored 49 points in the first half, then only 27 after halftime. The Mercury committed 22 turnovers, and Las Vegas turned those mistakes into 28 points.
That was the correction Hammon had been asking for.
Before the game, Hammon said she had not liked the Aces’ defense “pretty much the whole year.”
“I want to get back to beating people and not outscoring people,” Hammon said.
This looked closer to that.
Young and Smith fit
Young gave the Aces another stabilizer with 20 points, nine assists, five steals and four made 3-pointers. Her playmaking helped Las Vegas keep structure when Phoenix pressured the ball.
Smith was just as important inside. She scored 21 points on 8-for-10 shooting, added four rebounds and did not commit a turnover. Her fourth-quarter work helped the Aces hold off the Mercury after Phoenix tied the game at 69.
Chelsea Gray did not shoot well, but she still finished with nine assists. Her feeds to Wilson in the final minutes helped put the game away.
That part fit another Hammon theme. Before the game, she said the Aces’ core has built the kind of chemistry that cannot be forced.
“It’s why you can’t force chemistry, because it just takes time,” Hammon said.
Cup ticket punched
The Aces did not get a clean win. They got a needed one.
After two losses by at least 30 points this season, including the opener against Phoenix and Monday’s loss in Dallas, Las Vegas needed proof that it could still correct itself in real time.
Hammon said every team has to build its own identity each season.
“You don’t get to have bank rollover credits,” Hammon said. “You have to do it all again.”
Phoenix gave the Aces a hot start, a rematch test and a Cup-clinching stage.
Wilson and the defense gave them the answer.
Up next
The Aces return home Sunday to face the Golden State Valkyries at Michelob ULTRA Arena. Tipoff is set for 1 p.m. PT on CBS and Paramount+.
Golden State enters at 10-5 and has won four straight since losing 84-79 to Las Vegas on June 6. The Valkyries are averaging 84.6 points per game, while the Aces enter at 11-4 and still sit near the top of the league at 90.2 points per game.
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Dice City Sports editor Mark Hebert covers the Las Vegas Aces, 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.
