Despite what you may have read elsewhere, the WNBA playoffs are still going on without Rookie of the Year Caitlin Clark. After being shut out by DeWanna Bonner of the Connecticut Sun, Clark’s Indiana Fever were swept in the first round.
But there are still plenty of reasons to watch as Game 3 of the semifinals begins Friday night with both the Minnesota Lynx and Suns — tied 1-1 — and the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces.
Chief among them is that this could be the last stand for A’ja Wilson and the Aces and their quest for a three-peat.
No team in the WNBA has won three consecutive championships since the now-defunct Houston Comets won their first four Finals after a historic, all-time trio of Cynthia Cooper, Tina Thompson and Sheryl Swoopes. One of the players on that New York Liberty team that was beaten by the Comets for their fourth straight title in 2000 was Becky Hammon, who is now the coach of the Las Vegas Aces, and is incredibly frustrated with the way his team has turned out. short of its last two games.
During Tuesday’s shutout 88-84 loss to the Liberty in Brooklyn, New York, Hammon could easily be seen guarding Kelsey Plum during the shutout.
“That’s why the triple is difficult. Let’s be real,” Hammon said. “The whole league has been disgusted in the last eight months, my players are in advertisements and this and that and being weird celebrities and you get distracted. That’s why it’s difficult. Because human nature interferes.”
The Aces are now down 2-0 in the five-game series and face elimination as they return to Las Vegas on Friday for Game 3. In WNBA history, no team has ever come back from a 2-0 deficit to win five. -game series.
Indeed, the odds are stacked against Aces. They try to chase history, but history is not on their side.
The good news is that they are the team with A’ja Wilson, and the New York Liberty are.
And that might be enough.
Consider that Wilson was voted unanimously as the league’s MVP this season, the first to do so since Cooper’s inaugural WNBA campaign in 1997.
And consider that the South Carolina product—now a three-time MVP winner and two-time Olympic gold medalist—is putting up numbers this season that have never been seen before in the sport. Wilson leads the WNBA in points (26.9), blocks (2.6), field goals made (10.1), free throws made (6.1) and defensive rebounds (9.8) per game. The 6-foot-4 seventh-year forward also leads the WNBA in win shares (10) and PER (34.9).
And Wilson is the only player in WNBA history to average at least 26 points and 11 rebounds per game. Other players have gotten a lot of attention this season, but Wilson is an extreme talent who is doing things in the WNBA that no one else has.
But again, Wilson needs help. He got something in last Sunday’s loss to Plum, who led the Aces with 24 points in an 87-77 loss, while Jackie Young added 17 points. In the Game 2 loss, Wilson had 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists, and no other Las Vegas player shot better than 50 percent from the floor. Plum really struggled, shooting 2-of-9 from the floor with three turnovers.
Above all, the Aces need to improve their defense. The combined 175 points they gave up to the Liberty were the most they’ve allowed in back-to-back games since a two-game losing streak to the Lynx in late August.
With their backs against the wall, whatever happens to the Aces on Friday night will have to be watched.