How the Aces’ three-headed monster backcourt all showed up when Las Vegas needed them

“I think at the end of the day sometimes I come in and I say, good news, bad news,” Hammon said after Game 3. “Sometimes the bad news, you played like crap but the good news is, we only lost by two or whatever, and we know we can play better. I agree with Chelsea, just the attention to detail, our guards offensively, just making all the right reads. I thought they had a really hard time keeping Tip [Hayes] and keeping KP in front of them tonight and that always is beneficial, obviously, for our offense.”

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In Games 1 and 2, the Aces had gotten two of their three guards score in double figures but never all three. In fact, only four times all season did all three of Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young score in double figures. However, in both games 1 and 2 of last year’s finals, the Aces guard loved that Las Vegas home cooking, with all three scoring in double figures in those games. In fact, the trio averaged 66.5 points in those first games of the 2023 WNBA Finals.

Upon returning home and facing elimination on Friday night, the Aces guards needed to step up and they did. Things were started by Young who got off to a hot start, scoring 10 points in the first quarter. She came out of the gates being aggressive getting to the basket and knocking down her shot from the outside. She kept that start going en route to 24 points, which led all scorers.

Young has had a tough second half of the season, as post-Olympic break she’s averaged just 11.3 points per game. ESPN’s Holly Rowe reported during the broadcast of Game 2 that Young has been dealing with an injury since she returned from Paris, something she’s been playing through but has been causing her pain. However, she seems to have found herself a little bit in this Liberty series, scoring 17 points in the first two games. On Friday night, Young found a good balance between attacking the basket and knocking down triples in her best game of the playoffs so far.

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“Defensively, we were just so locked in,” Gray said Friday night’s win. “Defensively, rebounding, we were intentional on that end of the floor and when we’re able to do that, and we hold a team like that to six points in a third quarter, they have scorers over there. So to be able to do that was key, and then offensively, when we’re able to get that, and then run our fast breaks and secondary options, it’s not even just about like wide open layups, like they’re on their heels going into our secondary action and crossing half court, so we’re able to get stops and go downhill, it’s really, really tough [for our opponent].”

Plum has also had an up and down season. She’s had some huge games but also some big lows. That has shown in these playoffs, in Game 1 she scored 24 points while putting up just six in Game 2. It was the same in first round against Seattle, posting two and then 29. She got off to a slow start on Friday night but found her groove in the second quarter.

Plum scored nine in the second quarter with many of her baskets coming in response to Liberty baskets. In the first half, the two teams combined for 18 lead changes and many of Plum’s scores gave the Aces back the lead. The Liberty really struggled with Plum’s speed as she was able to find some lanes to drive against the length of the New York defense that had bothered the Aces in the first two games. As the game went on, Plum continued to find moments to score including a three with about 1 minute left in the third which gave the Aces a 20-point lead and seemed to put the nail in the New York coffin. Plum always plays with an edge and that can lead to some of her inconsistencies but she showed up big on both ends of the floor Friday.

“I play hard all the time,” Plum said. “Sometimes I can get sped up a little bit, or maybe I try to be too aggressive if it doesn’t go my way. But also sometimes, willpower does go my way. So it’s this healthy balance, and I’m probably going to balance that my entire career, which is kind of how it is. I’ve accepted that. I mean, Game 2, it got a little out of hand. I don’t think it was anything other than lack of execution, but, I mean, for me personally, I don’t think there’s a question that I play hard…just because you lose doesn’t mean you didn’t play hard, you don’t have an edge, sometimes it’s just the way the cookie crumbles.”

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Gray’s had a very tough year, recovering from the injury she suffered in last year’s finals and missing the first 12 games of the season. It took some time for her to find her offensive groove, scoring in double figures in five of her final seven regular season games as well as in three of the four playoff games coming into Friday night. She’d also had at least seven assists in three of the four playoff games.

Gray didn’t score a ton on Friday, but she controlled the pace of the game for the Aces and had some beautiful dimes throughout the game. She was running the pick and roll game to perfection and had some wraparound passes to the Aces’ post players which were immaculate. She picked her spots to score and hit some big shots when the Aces needed but her ability to control the game played a big role in the Aces win.

“I think our attention to detail defensively was super sharp,” Gray said. “AC was great. A’ja was able to get into passing lanes and not making that look so easy. They’re going to score the basketball, they’re a good team, but you want to make them take tough looks. It was the same with Sabrina, we were just attentive to detail coming off the pick and roll, making sure she’s not comfortable. It all starts on the defensive end so we can flow into our offense a little bit better…We executed this game. We executed four quarters, and so we start all over again. Sunday. We’re still down two one. We haven’t done anything. No game is won here tonight. So now, we’re just focused on the next one.”

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While all the Aces guards scored, it was their defense that sealed the win for them. In the first two games, Sabrina Ionescu had killed the Aces. In games 1 and 2, she had 21 and 24 points including the game winner on Tuesday night. She had controlled the series for New York and the crowd in Brooklyn fed off every shot she made.

Coming into Game 3, the Aces knew they had to slow Ionescu, and the guards made a concerted effort to do that. They started from the jump, picking up Ionescu as soon as she crossed half court on almost every possession. There were also a few possessions where they guarded her the full length of the court. They also made sure on every ball screen she used that she saw two defenders and limit her as best they could from getting into the paint.

All this defensive pressure worked as Ionescu didn’t score a single point through the first three quarters of the game. In fact, she had just four points and one made field goal all night. Hammon has emphasized the importance of the Aces defense and cutting off Ionescu as the Las Vegas head coach feels Ionescu is the head of the Liberty snake. She also said she would give their defense of fifth year guard on Friday night an “A”.

“It starts on the defensive end, and I just think we were proactive. Just turn it up and just trying to make Sabrina uncomfortable,” Hammon said of the team’s defensive plan on Ionescu. “We were just trying to not let her get downhill at us. Actually, the game plan, Plum taught me some stuff yesterday. I’d seen it, but I never really had a name for it. And when she explained it, I was like yep, I like it, so that’s what we did. So kudos Plum.”

With a return back to the confines of Michelob Ultra Arena, the Aces found a way to beat the New York Liberty for the first time in 2024, with their guard trio finally showing up in a big way. Now, the back-to-back champions need them to repeat their performance if the Aces want to become the second ever team to force a Game 5 after falling down 0-2.