The Las Vegas Aces beat the Connecticut Sun 67-64 in game one of the WNBA Finals. Las Vegas got off to a good start, but Connecticut battled back and took a 38-34 lead into halftime. The Sun used tough defense to take the lead into the half.
At halftime, the Aces head coach Becky Hammon made the necessary adjustments after a passionate halftime speech. I was lit. Because everything we had talked about, we didn’t do any of it. And true to form, they just step up and do it then,” Hammon said. “… When you go out there and you don’t execute it, it’s frustrating. But at the end of the day, they know it. They are smart. They get it. But they had beat us in every hustle category, and that can’t happen. You can’t lose a championship or a game or a quarter on hustle. That can never be the case.”
Las Vegas led by eight points with over two minutes to, but Connecticut again battled back behind six points from Alyssa Thomas. The Sun got a chance to tie the game with DeWanna Bonner‘s three-point shot, but she missed, and the game was over.
Aces
Wilson led all scorers with 24 points on 6-11 shooting from the field; she also grabbed 11 rebounds, two steals, and four blocks. The MVP did MVP things in game one of the finals.
“It was a game we needed. It was a game we needed not necessarily because, oh, it’s our first win,” Wilson said. “It’s because it’s something that this is huge for us. These are statement games in a way, and when you are playing a good team like Conn, you have to really lock in at all costs.”
Chelsea Gray continued her postseason solid, scoring 21 points on 9-17 shooting from the field, and Jackie Young added 11 points. The Aces overcame a bad shooting night from Kelsey Plum, who scored nine points and struggled from the field.
Sun
For Connecticut, Thomas played great, scoring 19 points while adding 11 rebounds, five assists, and three blocks. She kept the Sun in the game with her hard play and said the Sun has a lot of confidence after their game one performance.
“I mean, after this game, we have to have a lot of confidence,” said Thomas.. “This is a three-point game, and we had a chance to tie.”
For the Sun to compete in this series, they will need more from Bonner and Courtney Williams. Bonner scored three points, and Williams only had five points. The Sun will need both players outside shooting to beat the Aces.
Off the bench, Brionna Jones was huge, scoring ten of 12 points in the first half to help to Sun take the lead at halftime. Sun head coach Curt Miller said Connecticut left some points out there, “The second quarter was huge for us, but we left some points out there,” Sun coach Curt Miller said. “There was moments where I thought we had some really good offensive possessions and missed some shots we are capable of making, to really try to create some separation going into halftime, and it didn’t happen.”
Game two will be Tuesday night; the Sun will try to even the series before they return home, while the Aces will try to pull within one game of a WNBA championship.
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