No Fire hazard in Vegas; Aces win secures season sweep of Portland
Arion Armeniakos
Host · Writer
LAS VEGAS – Down a couple of bigs, the Portland Fire had an opportunity to test the Aces’ size and depth at the Michelob ULTRA Arena Tuesday night.
However, despite missing NaLyssa Smith and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus, the defending WNBA champions did not let that faze them.
Coming off the All-Star break — wounded by a 100-99 road defeat to Washington on July 22 — the Aces showed no signs of rust, particularly on offense, brushing aside the Fire, 98-83, on their first visit to Sin City.
The win clinched a season sweep of Portland for Las Vegas (19-8). It was the Aces’ fourth victory in their last six games. Head coach Becky Hammon’s group never trailed and led by as many as 18 points.
“Pretty good,” Hammon said when asked to grade her team’s return to action. “Except for that third quarter (Fire outscored the Aces 27-26), we gave up too much there, [but] pretty good. Good job; everybody is just trying to get into a flow. It’s hard to replicate game flow in one day of practice, but it was a good game to kind of get back into our groove a little bit.”
The hosts wasted no time finding said groove — erupting for 36 points and building a 15-point lead in the first quarter. The Aces shot a sizzling 76 percent from the field and went 7-for-8 from beyond the arc.
A’ja Wilson — who led all scorers with 28 points (14 rebounds) — had 10 on 3-for-3 shooting in the opening frame. Chelsea Gray added eight of her 17 points inside the first 10 minutes. Gray’s first bucket of the game, a wing triple, saw her become just the seventh player in franchise history to reach 4,500 career points.
Gray (6-9 FG) also tallied seven assists. Jackie Young too was in an All-Star mood — dropping 25 points on an efficient 9-for-14 from the field. Jewell Loyd posted 11 points (3-6 3PT) off the bench. Wilson (7-10 FG) went 13-for-14 at the free throw line.
Although the Fire never laid down their gloves, they wouldn’t recover from their first quarter deficit. The visitors came back as close as within six in the third quarter after Carla Leite buried a straight-away triple with 5:50 remaining in the period.
The Aces responded with an 18-9 run to end the third, restoring their double-digit advantage at 79-64. A gorgeous 23-foot, between-the-legs, stepback three from Loyd and a smooth iso 17-footer from Gray were the highlights of the surge.
Loyd delivered a very productive outing in the second unit, one that the Aces really needed low on experienced bodies. Hammon was pleased with what she saw from the veteran guard, and she believes that there is still another gear that Loyd could shift into down the stretch of the campaign and in the playoffs.
“[Loyd] is a big part of us, and when she gets it going, it relieves a lot of pressure in a lot of ways. It gives us that bench production, gives us great spacing; she’s always going to do little things to help us win. I know that for sure. But when she can knock down a couple of threes and be assertive on that end, it definitely helps the group be better overall, and it just puts a lot of pressure on your defense. No coach wants to see — well, I do — see Jewell heat it up.”
Similarly to Wilson, it feels as though Gray creates a new piece of franchise or league history most nights she steps on the hardwood. Tonight was no different.
But all while arguably being the greatest point guard of all time, the past couple of years have been foreign for Gray in terms of having to deal with All-Star omissions. However, despite those setbacks, the six-time selectee continues to produce at an elite level.
After the game, Gray spoke about how she has navigated the last two All-Star breaks mentally and physically — the pros and cons of it.
“Sometimes it’s tough because you want to be there and get recognized that way,” she said. “I was proud [though], and Jackie and A’ja deserve it. I thought I should have been there, but it is what it is.
“I was able to spend extra time with my family and enjoy that. I was happy to do that as well. I love being able to get a break and not even look or talk about basketball. I wasn’t on my phone much. It was nice.”
A 15-point cushion entering the fourth quarter gave Hammon the luxury of giving out a couple of debuts — with Ta’Niya Latson and Mai Yamamoto featuring for the last three minutes of the contest.
Latson got her first bucket as an Ace with 53.4 seconds remaining as she got on the end of a lofted pass from Loyd to lay-in a lefty fastbreak deuce.
Returning to Las Vegas, former Ace Megan DiLeo (formerly Gustafson) paced Portland with 20 points.
