The Las Vegas Aces haven’t lost in more than six weeks, and next on the agenda is wrapping up their first-round playoff series against the host Seattle Storm on Tuesday night.
Second-seeded Las Vegas rolled to a 102-77 result in Sunday’s Game 1 of the best-of-three series. That was the team’s 17th straight victory, which includes the last 16 games of the regular season.
But don’t mention that streak to A’ja Wilson, who could be closing in on winning her fourth MVP award.
“We’re not going to continue to look at the streak,” Wilson said. “In my eyes, the streak was over at the end of the regular season.”
Wilson recorded 29 points, eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks in a Game 1 that Las Vegas led by as many as 32 points.
The Aces are 7-0 in first-round games under Becky Hammon, but the Las Vegas coach isn’t interested in that discussion either.
“It’s the first to nine wins,” Hammon said of this season’s tournament. “That’s how we want to approach it. I talk to them about win the moment, be present in the moment. The next play doesn’t care about the last play.”
Jackie Young put together a solid all-around Game 1 with 18 points, seven assists, five rebounds and four steals. She knocked down four of Las Vegas’ 14 3-pointers.
“We came out locked in on the defensive end, that’s the biggest thing for us,” Young said. “Whenever we’re locked in on the defensive end, we can play at the pace we want to play at.”
The seventh-seeded Storm were never in the game Sunday and trailed 45-25 by halftime.
“You can’t score 12 and 13 points in the first half on the road against a team that’s red-hot,” said Seattle coach Noelle Quinn, quoting her team’s point totals in the first and second quarters.
Storm star Nneka Ogwumike didn’t like what she witnessed from the outset.
“They were ready. I felt they were more ready than we were when we started the game,” said Ogwumike, who had 11 points and eight rebounds. “We had an idea of what we wanted to do but they did what they wanted to do to start the game off.”
Gabby Williams led Seattle with 16 points. She’s well aware another loss ends her team’s season.
“It’s one game,” Williams said of the rough performance. “We have another day to live.”
–Field Level Media
