Aces bury Sparks in Plum’s return to Las Vegas — PHOTOS
Obscured by two defenders, Aces star A’ja Wilson delivered a blind pass straight to Kiah Stokes for an easy layup under the basket — the starting center’s first points of the season.
Wilson, the reigning WNBA MVP, then blocked Dearica Hamby’s shot on the other end. The next few possessions included a Jackie Young floater and a four-point play from Chelsea Gray.
The Aces’ second-quarter scoring party was only interrupted by a layup from Kelsey Plum for her first points of the game, illustrating a perfect execution of coach Becky Hammon’s only request prior to the 96-81 win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Friday at Michelob Ultra Arena.
It was Plum’s first game against the Aces (3-2) since being traded to the Sparks this offseason. Hammon wanted a different storyline to take center stage.
“We have a healthy respect for (Plum). We know what she’s capable of,” Hammon said. “That’s all it is for us. It’s not about anything other than, let’s work on us. Let’s be us and see how that turns out.”
The approach was a success. Wilson’s 35 points and 13 rebounds led the charge, while Young added 26 points and Gray scored 15.
Plum, a three-time All-Star who helped the Aces win back-to-back WNBA championships, had 17 points for the Sparks (2-5).
Focus on defense
Sparks coach Lynne Roberts, a first-year coach in the league, praised the Aces before taking the court.
“They’ve got Olympians and champions and MVPs and all the things, so they’re good,” she said. “They’re just established.”
Hammon, however, demanded that the Aces “show” they can still live up to that description. After they did, Wilson cited the team’s defensive effort as the driver for the team looking like itself again.
“Every day we were chipping away, getting better (on defense),” Wilson said. “We need to focus on us, and that’s what you saw today.”
Young also mentioned the Aces practicing defense “all week,” which paid off as she was tasked with guarding Plum for most of the game. Plum entered as the league’s second-leading scorer but was limited to four points at halftime.
“We’re both just two competitors,” Young said. “It’s important to make it tough on her. … We know she’s going to score because she’s a great player.”
While Hammon joked postgame that Young might have scored even more points if she wasn’t so tired from locking down Plum, the former Ace expressed pride in her ability to analyze the defense and make it adjust with the way she moved without the ball.
She aided the Sparks’ late run, which saw them cut the deficit to eight points with four minutes left.
No rivalry?
Plum joined a fellow former Ace on the Sparks in Hamby, who referred to the Aces and Sparks as a rivalry in a recent interview.
Before the game, Plum vehemently disagreed.
“It’s not a rivalry. They’ve kicked our ass,” she said. “Until we win at least, like, six or seven more matchups, respectfully, it can’t be a rivalry. It’s like the (NFL’s) Giants and the Jets.”
Even though the Aces proved her point by opening the game on a 17-6 run and establishing a 57-42 lead at halftime, there were signs of a high-stakes matchup before both teams went to their locker rooms at halftime.
With 2½ minutes remaining in the second quarter, Hamby snagged the rebound from a missed Gray shot, but her attempt to dribble the ball up the court was thwarted by Wilson’s shoe, which had fallen off at some point.
Wilson was nowhere near, but her shoe forced Hamby’s dribble out of bounds, leaving the officials perplexed.
They eventually decided to give the Aces the ball back, leaving Roberts incensed.
Her prolonged yelling from the sideline earned her a technical foul. The drama continued on the next possession, as Plum dove to the ground and almost successfully stuck Young with a foul, though the Aces were about to successfully challenge the call.
Moments like that continued, as Plum drew a technical foul of her own in the third quarter as she objected to Young making contact with her face without the officials noticing.
Bounce-back game
Despite the noise surrounding Plum’s return, Hammon and Wilson emphasized that this game was their opportunity to rebound from the 102-82 loss they took to the Seattle Storm on Sunday.
After responding with a win, a congested Wilson credited the Storm for giving the Aces a boost.
“It’s actually crazy because I didn’t have any energy this morning. I’m not feeling the best. But my teammates really helped me,” Wilson said. “We knew this was a bounce-back game for us. Everyone saw our showing in Seattle wasn’t us. I knew coming into this game that we needed to set the tone and start to get our identity … so we just used this game to really form that.”
The Aces next play at the Storm again at 3 p.m. Sunday.
Contact Callie Fin at [email protected]. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.
