PHOENIX — With 90 seconds remaining, the Mercury crowd roared loud enough to threaten fault lines. Phoenix forward Kahleah Copper orchestrated an epic takeover to get Phoenix back in the game and DeWanna Bonner tied the score with a step-back 3. Las Vegas, it seemed, was in trouble.
But Las Vegas Aces point guard Chelsea Gray had the ball at the top, a rookie defending her and A’ja Wilson setting a screen. And when the intensity hovers, and the footsteps of defeat get closer, that’s when Gray cooks. She curled off the pick and charged to the paint, leaned her weight into Mercury guard Monique Akoa Makani and slid in a layup off the glass. It was a monster bucket, a reminder of the Aces’ championship blood.
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This is what they do.
“We just need to win one,” Wilson said, explaining their mindset. “Just win one game. Win one possession. … And everything is going to pan out.”
Las Vegas took poetic license Wednesday, going up 3-0 in these best-of-seven WNBA Finals with a 90-88 win over host Phoenix. In a game the Aces controlled, they found themselves at the brink of collapse — then flaunted their efficacy. The valiance of Phoenix, which made it this far on its impressive resolve, proved to be a prop for Las Vegas’ excellence. An exhibit of why the Aces are one of the all-time great teams. Their talent gleams brighter. Their mettle proves sturdier. Their pedigree permeates pressure.
One more win and Las Vegas becomes the WNBA’s third dynasty. The league’s first since the Minnesota Lynx, who led by Maya Moore won four titles in eight years between 2011-2017. The Houston Comets, winners of the W’s first four titles, now have to sit like they’ve got a family.
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One more win and the Aces have their third title in four years.
One more win, and it’s time to start carving their likeness in the annals of legends.
This is the first WNBA Finals to use the best-of-seven format. (No team has ever come back from trailing 3-0 in the NBA playoffs). But enough has been revealed in this series to consider Phoenix beating Las Vegas four straight times a fantastical thought.
The Mercury have now lost Games 1 and 3 in heart-breaking fashion, by a combined five points. While this teases Phoenix enough to believe in the miraculous, it also underscores the reason the task seems so insurmountable. Because no matter what the Mercury do, eventually, the height and depth of Las Vegas will prevail. That’s the calling card of this Aces core. Of Wilson and Gray and guard Jackie Young. Of bench staples Kiersten Bell and Kiah Stokes. Of coach Becky Hammon and the culture she’s built. In a season that saw them wrestle with mediocrity, the Aces found a way.
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This is what they do.
“We’re facing a team that has been through this together,” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said. “It’s not a team that’s just figuring it out. They’re a well-oiled machine. All these situations, they’ve been in together. They’ve won together. They’ve lost together. As hard as it is, that stuff matters.”
After losing in the second round to eventual champion New York last season, the Aces underwent a bit of a remodel. They lost Alysha Clark, Tiffany Hayes and Sydney Colson, all critical in their own right. Las Vegas traded Kelsey Plum to Los Angeles for Seattle All-Star Jewell Loyd, reputed as one of the league’s best players for years.
Loyd — a three-time All-WNBA guard and two-time WNBA champ with the Storm — accentuates the ethos of the Aces perfectly. She’s highly skilled, versatile in impact, selfless in demeanor, and invests in winning earnestly.
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Wednesday, she made four 3-pointers in the first quarter. In doing so, Loyd alerted the Mercury’s fervent crowd, known for rattling opponents, its mojo wouldn’t work on this foe.
“I had a front-row seat to a sweep in the bubble (against) Jewell with gold Kobes on,” Wilson said of Las Vegas’ 2020 loss to the Seattle in the finals. “I’m glad she’s got on A’Ones now, though. To be able to play alongside Jewell and to see her work, it’s truly magical what she does. Her footwork. Her work ethic. … Sometimes my jaw is dropped because I’m like, ‘That’s that damn Jewell Loyd.’ Her record in the finals, it shows the work that she’s put in.”
Loyd is now 9-0 in WNBA Finals games. The reputation that followed her to Las Vegas shined in these finals. Her defense and shot-making have been clutch for Las Vegas. She represents the Aces’ embarrassment of riches, central to the overwhelming of Phoenix. The Mercury dethroned the defending champion Liberty and knocked off the top-seeded Lynx. But in these finals, the Mercury have mostly looked undermanned.
They’ve been game, though. Wednesday’s fourth quarter was a manifestation of their Cinderella story. The trademark desperation kicked in for Phoenix, trailing by as much as 17 to start the fourth quarter.
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The home team’s deficit was down to 10 points inside of five minutes remaining. Satou Sabally — the hot hand for Phoenix most of the night with 24 points — went down with an apparent injury after a crashing head-first into the knee of Bell. It was a scary collision in Mortgage Matchup Center as Sabally was down for several minutes before being helped to the locker room.
That’s when Copper took over. She scored 11 straight points for Phoenix, sending the arena into a frenzy. She capped the run with a pull-up 3 from the left wing that cut the Aces’ lead to 84-83 with 3:06 remaining. It was a jaw-dropping individual display. A special stretch that gave Phoenix a shot to win and change the tenor of this series.
But to pull it off, the Mercury would have to take something that didn’t belong to them. This stage, this era, has already been claimed by the brilliance of Wilson, the greatness of the Aces, and their embrace of what success demands. It’s in their DNA now. It’s infused up and down the rosters. In their aura.
With the score tied 88-88, inside a minute remaining, the Aces put the ball in Jackie Young’s hands. They wanted her in the pick-and-roll, a high-percentage option though Young didn’t have her most efficient night with 21 points on 18 shots. Las Vegas got the matchup it wanted, Young on Mercury guard Sami Whitcomb. But Young couldn’t turn the corner and found herself stuck without a dribble on the right wing.
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Wilson bailed her out with a perfect back-door cut and had a wide-open lane to the basket. But she dropped the pass. Wilson was born with adhesive in her palms. She doesn’t drop passes. But somehow, she fumbled the ball out of bounds.
The screen door was open for Phoenix. With 30 seconds remaining, Alyssa Thomas got the ball and the look the Mercury wanted. Tibbetts opted against calling a timeout so his offense could again attack Megan Gustafson, the 6-foot-4 veteran center not known for lateral movement. And Thomas wound up with only Gustafson between her and a Mercury lead.
The talk on the Vegas side of these series has been about their “blind trust” in each other, developed through bonding activities. Like walking blindfolded through an egg-filled maze. And watching the Netflix show “Thunderbirds” for the lessons of unity from the premier Air Force pilots.
How is this for blind trust? Young stayed glued to Copper. Wilson stayed out past the 3-point line on Bonner, who finished with 25 points. And the Aces trusted Gustafson to hold Thomas, one of the best players in the league. Gustafson moved her feet, absorbed the bump from Thomas and kept her arms vertical. Thomas’ shot wound up harmless. The player the Mercury decided to pick on came up with the stop for the Aces.
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That set up the final sequence. A gem of a moment for an already bedazzled crown.
Wilson, whose earlier turnover haunted her psyche, got a reprieve. The play call for Wilson to get the ball and go to work. The Aces’ legacy in her hands. The doorstep of a dynasty within her reach.
“We’re winning this game,” Loyd said was the message as they emerged from the bench. “We are.”
Wilson got the ball, drove left, spun back right and launched a seven-foot turnaround jumper into history. It bounced in. Of course it did. Because she’s A’ja. And they are the Aces.
This is what they do.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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