Even a defending champion and “super” team like the Las Vegas Aces must execute the little things correctly.

“Some of the attention to detail was missing,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said after an 80-78 setback at Dallas ended her team’s nine-game winning streak. “We were hesitant and tentative and that’s really not us offensively.”

The Aces (16-2) will try to return to their winning ways on Sunday night when they visit the Minnesota Lynx for a matchup with one of the WNBA’s hottest teams.

Las Vegas committed 18 turnovers and received no points off its bench in the loss the Wings. The Aces also lost the rebounding battle 36-25, allowing four shots on Dallas’ final possession that ended in a foul that resulted in Natasha Howard’s winning free throws with 0.4 seconds left.

Wasted in the rare defeat was a 21-point, six-assist performance by Kelsey Plum, who returned to the lineup after missing Wednesday night’s 89-82 win over Dallas with a non-COVID illness.

“It doesn’t really matter how you play if you don’t win, to be honest,” Plum said.

Meanwhile, Minnesota (9-9) squared its record at .500 on Thursday with a 75-64 home win over Phoenix. It was the fifth straight win for the Lynx and their ninth in 12 games since an 0-6 start. They held the Mercury to 37.7 percent shooting to make up for some inconsistency on the offensive end.

Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve was glad to see her team find another way to win a game aside from simply outscoring an opponent.

“We know we didn’t bring our best,” she said. “We were happy to win the game … let’s try to bounce back and be physically more ready to play that game on Sunday because Vegas is coming off their loss.”

Napheesa Collier, who will play in next weekend’s All-Star Game, led the Lynx with 12 points, 12 rebounds and five assists. She’s averaging 22.0 points and 8.1 rebounds per game this season.

The Aces cruised to a pair of convincing victories over the Lynx this season. Las Vegas won 94-73 on May 28 and 93-62 on June 17.

–Field Level Media

Breanna Stewart scored 25 points against her former team and the New York Liberty defeated the Seattle Storm for the third time this season, winning 80-76 on Saturday afternoon in New York.

Sabrina Ionescu added 20 points and aided with key plays down the stretch as the Liberty (13-4) won its third game in a row.

Sami Whitcomb poured in 19 points and Jewell Loyd tacked on 14 points for the Storm (4-14). Seattle has lost five straight games. Dulcy Fankam Mendjiadeu added 12 points and 14 rebounds and Ezi Magbegor had 10 points.

Loyd, the WNBA’s leading scorer (24.9 ppg), left with 7:01 remaining in the game with an ankle injury. Her status for this week and the All-Star Game is now in question. Seattle has games at Washington and Atlanta this week and the All-Star Game is next Saturday in Las Vegas.

Ionescu hit a 3-point shot for a 78-68 lead before Seattle rattled off the next eight points, capped by Sami Whitcomb’s basket with 1:39 left.

From there, the Storm had three shots to either tie or take the lead, but all of those were missed. Ionescu’s two free throws with 17.1 seconds left helped clinch the outcome. Seattle missed another shot to go 0-for-4 after its final basket.

Stewart shot 8-for-17 from the field with four 3s while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. Nyara Sabally had eight points off the bench for the Liberty.

Stewart’s 3-pointer and a three-point play in a span of about 30 seconds late in the third quarter helped the Liberty creep out to a 56-52 lead, which expanded to 60-54 headed into the fourth.

Stewart entered the fourth quarter with 20 points, while no other New York player had reached double figures.

The Storm was aided by a huge rebounding advantage for the first three quarters. The margin on the boards ended up at 48-30.

In the first three quarters, neither team scored more than 20 points in a quarter other than the Liberty’s 25-point burst in the third that was boosted by the late scoring.

Seattle led 36-35 at halftime despite shooting 33.3 percent from the field and committing 10 turnovers.

New York scored the game’s first eight points and led 16-7 with less than three minutes remaining in the first quarter.

–Field Level Media

WNBA All-Star Game captains A’ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart drafted their rosters on Saturday for the July 15 showcase in Las Vegas.

Wilson selected Las Vegas Aces teammate Chelsea Gray with the first overall pick.

“I mean, listen, you need to have a great point guard when it comes to games like this and I feel like she is going to be great,” Wilson said of Gray. “She’s going to be dropping dimes everywhere, going to get us in the flow. And that’s what makes a good team great, is a great point guard, so I had to go with Chelsea.”

Stewart selected Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner with the second pick.

“BG is my pick just because the way that she’s continuing to carry herself on and off the court,” the New York Liberty forward said during the ESPN telecast. “I think we can all say it’s impressive what she’s doing and she’s a dominant presence inside. We need her dunks, we need her energy, we need her everything.”

Wilson and Stewart selected from a pool of players voted as starters and reserves. After choosing from the eight remaining All-Star starters in the first round, the 12 reserves were picked in the second round.

As the top overall finisher in fan voting, Wilson got the first pick. The order was reversed for the second round.

In addition to Wilson and Gray, the starters for Team Wilson, coached by the Aces’ Becky Hammon, include Las Vegas teammate Jackie Young, Indiana Fever rookie Aliyah Boston and Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale. Reserves for Team Wilson are: Kelsey Plum (Aces), Allisha Gray (Atlanta Dream), Alyssa Thomas (Connecticut Sun), Cheyenne Parker (Dream), DeWanna Bonner (Sun) and Elena Delle Donne (Washington Mystics).

Joining Stewart and Griner as starters for Team Stewart, coached by the Sun’s Stephanie White, are Seattle Storm guard Jewell Loyd, Wings forward Satou Sabally and Los Angeles Sparks forward Nneka Ogwumike. Reserves for Team Stewart include Liberty teammates Courtney Vandersloot and Sabrina Ionescu along with Ezi Magbegor (Storm), Napheesa Collier (Minnesota Lynx), Kelsey Mitchell (Fever) and Kahleah Copper (Chicago Sky).

–Field Level Media

With their biggest win of the season under their belts, the Dallas Wings aim to carry that momentum into Sunday’s road game against the Indiana Fever in Indianapolis.

Dallas edged Las Vegas, the reigning champ and owner of the WNBA’s best record, on Friday night with an 80-78 last-second win. The Wings are feeling confident after snapping the Aces’ nine-game winning streak.

Natasha Howard, who hit the game-winning free throws and recorded a double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds), talked about that confidence after the game.

“I told the girls in the locker room, ‘We can beat anybody in this league,'” Howard said. “Nobody can stop us when we play like this.”

While the Wings (9-9) have something to build on in what has been an up and down year, the Fever (5-13) are searching for answers, caught in the grip of a six-game losing streak.

They lost 96-88 at Washington on Friday and haven’t won a game since June 22 when they defeated Seattle 80-68. Four of Indiana’s losses have been by single digits.

A tough start doomed the Fever against the Mystics, who were down three starters but still led 55-40 at the half before Indiana attempted to rally in the second half.

Finding consistency is key for Indiana to be successful going forward.

“We are a team of two halves,” Fever star Kelsey Mitchell told the Indianapolis Star. “There’s one half where it’s not going so well and we’re not where we need to be, and then there’s the second half where you see who the Indiana Fever is. In order for us to win in this league, we know that we have to put two halves together.”

This will be the first meeting between the two teams this season, and something will have to give. Dallas is 2-7 on the road and Indiana is 1-5 at home. The Fever have no injuries listed while both Lou Lopez Senechal and Diamond DeShields of the Wings are out with knee injuries.

–Field Level Media