MINNEAPOLIS – Just two seasons ago, the Las Vegas Aces were the dominant team in the league and back-to-back champions. It didn’t look like anybody could hold a candle next to them. Two years later, that shine dimmed considerably as they are now below .500 after the midway point in the season and were trounced 109-78 by the current league-leading Minnesota Lynx home court at Target Center in front of an announced crowd of 8,810.
The game started fast as Lynx guard Courtney Williams opened with a jump shot, which was answered by a fadeaway jumper from Aces guard Chelsea Gray to tie the score at 2-2. Gray then hit a jump shot to break the tie, but it was tied up again when Minnesota forward Napheesa Collier made her first two free throws after Aces guard Jewell Loyd picked up her first foul.
Aces center A’ja Wilson made two free throws after getting fouled by Lynx forward Alanna Smith to break the tie. Lynx guard Kayla McBride hit the game’s first three-pointer. Lynx forward Bridget Carleton added a jump shot and Collier made another free throw after Wilson picked up a foul. But three pointers from Aces guard Jackie Young and Gray were able to give the Aces the 14-12 lead with 4:21 left in the opening quarter.
Minnesota increased its defensive intensity while getting things going on offense. Collier made a layup to tie the score 14-14. Carleton made a three-pointer. The Aces called timeout to regroup. Courtney Williams hit a jump shot and a three-pointer. Collier made a turnaround jump shot. Carleton hit another three-pointer. The only response the Aces could muster were a put back layup from Wilson and a layup from guard Dana Evans. Minnesota ended the first quarter on a 15-4 run and led 27-18 at the quarter break.
The Lynx opted to start the second quarter with most of their starters sitting the bench to rest, while the Aces played most of their starters and substituted throughout the quarter.
Minnesota continued their run when forwards Diamond Miller and Jessica Shepard scored layups to begin the second quarter. Wilson made two free throws after getting fouled by Maria Kliundikova, which was followed up by a three-pointer by Young. Minnesota led 31-23 with 7:30 left in the second quarter.
Courtney Williams made a running layup followed by a jump shot from Miller to push the Lynx lead back to 12 points. Aces forward NaLyssa Smith and Kliundikova exchanged layups. Aces guard Aaliyah Nye hit a three-pointer and Wilson connected on a turnaround jumper. The 7-2 Las Vegas run caused Minnesota to call timeout with the score 37-30 in favor of the Lynx with 5:15 left until halftime.
The Lynx starters returned and were on fire coming out of the timeout. They pushed a 14-5 run with a jump shot and three-pointer from Courtney Williams; a three-pointer and three of four free throws from Collier; and a three-pointer from McBride. The Aces mustered two free throws from Jackie Young and a layup and free throw from Wilson during that span. Minnesota led 51-35 at the half.
When play resumed, the Lynx resumed where they left off. Loyd went up for a shot which was blocked by Alanna Smith. Loyd got her own rebound but missed the subsequent layup, which Minnesota rebounded. The possession ended when Courtney Williams hit a midrange jump shot.
NaLyssa Smith made a layup for the Aces, which was answered by a jump shot from Collier. Alanna Smith hit a jump shot over NaLyssa Smith. Wilson and Courtney Williams exchanged baskets. Then Young got called for her third personal foul for blocking Collier. Aces head coach Becky Hammon was arguing the call at mid court and picked up a technical foul. Collier made the technical foul and both free throws on the common foul. Minnesota led 62-41 with 6:45 left in the third quarter.
Sometimes when a coach gets a technical foul, it either inspires their team to play better or gets a message to the officials to call the game more consistently. In Hammon’s case, it seemed to have had no effect on either situation. In fact, it may have had the opposite effect.
The officials were already calling a tighter game than most WNBA games this season, but after the technical foul, the pace of play slowed down greatly as the officials tightened it up further.
Young made a short jumper. Then Carleton was fouled by Aces forward Kierstan Bell and made two free throws. Bell scored a basket and was fouled by Courtney Williams on the play and converted a free throw. Carleton made a three-pointer and then Gray and Collier exchanged baskets. Minnesota led 69-48 when the Aces called timeout with 4:56 left in the third quarter.
Wilson made a shot jump shot to cut the deficit to under 20, but free throws from Alanna Smith and Carleton pushed it back to a 21 point margin. In the last 4:14 of the third quarter, 13 free throws were made and 20 were attempted as the Lynx led 85-61.
When the fourth quarter began, things sort of got back to normal. Nye was fouled by Carleton in a play that had the Target Center fans booing the officiating crew, believing that Carleton didn’t touch the Aces player, but things settled down after that. Nye converted both free throws.
Collier made back-to-back layups. Gustafson was fouled by Carleton, with no disagreement from the Target Center faithful, but Gustafson missed both free throw attempts. She did made a layup shortly after. Evans made a jump shot. Courtney Williams and Gustafson exchanged three-pointers. Collier was fouled by center Kiah Stokes, but only made one layup. McBride made a layup. It was 95-70 with 6:38 left in the contest. Both teams began putting their remaining bench players in for the duration.
Anastasiia Olairi Kosu made two layups and a free throw and Jessica Shepard made two layups in extended action for the Lynx. NaLyssa Smith made two free throws and Kierstan Bell made two three-pointers in extended time for the Aces. In the end, the Lynx were on top 109-78 to take home their 22nd win of the season and remain in first place in the standings.
Minnesota went 37-for-68 (54.4 percent) from the field; 10-for-25 (40.0 percent) from three-point range; and 25-for-38 (65.8 percent) from the free throw line. They turned the ball over 10 times for 15 Aces points. The Lynx record is now 175-9 since 2011 when holding their opponent to below 40 percent shooting.
“I thought our starters were incredibly locked in. Even in bench minutes we went a little longer. We kind of gave them a little more time to be able to grow,” said Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve. “They played the schemes well. And with our activity, I thought we were hard to play against.”
Las Vegas went 27-for-71 (38.0 percent) from the field; 8-for-26 (30.8 percent) from three-point range; and 16-for-23 (69.6 percent) from the charity stripe. The committed seven turnovers leading to 12 Lynx points.
“There was a loose ball out at half court and I thought that Courtney Williams fouled A’ja [Wilson] and it impacted her ability to get the ball, just knocked her off her route. It’s a foul,” said Aces head coach Becky Hammon explaining how she picked up her technical foul. “It was too rough, I thought, although we looked like the rough team tonight because we fouled them and sent them to the line 38 times.”
Minnesota led 34-30 in points-in-the paint; 19-8 in second chance points; and 14-2 in fast break points statistical categories. Las Vegas had the 32-30 edge in bench scoring. There were three ties and six lead changes. Las Vegas’s largest lead was two points. Minnesota’s largest lead was 31. There were 61 free throw attempts in the game.
“That free throw attempt rate, that’s a high number. Obviously I know Vegas isn’t going to be happy about that when they see it,” said Reeve. “I thought our pace and our movement and activity in the paint, I mean the stuff that was happening on offense in front of us, absolutely there were fouls, so I appreciated our aggressiveness. We told them we could be in the paint. We wanted to be.”
“We watched our first game and the edit that we watched, every time the ball was in the paint, we were feeble, we would miss. So that was a concerted effort by our group to be much better and stronger and at least get to the foul line in the paint. We were considerably better in the paint in this game than we were in the first game,” Reeve added.
Napheesa Collier led the Lynx with 25 points. Courtney Williams added 23 points, Bridget Carleton pitched in for 14 points, Kayla McBride tossed in 13 and Jessica Shepard chipped in 10. Shepard led all rebounders with 10 while Courtney Williams led the Lynx with five assists.
“Aja’s a great defender. They have tall people who want to block the ball, so it’s trying to get them up in the air and get into their body. I’m undersized so I’ve got to move people a little bit more, so I tried to do that tonight,” said Collier.
A’ja Wilson’s 15 points and seven rebounds led the Aces. Jackie Young added 15 points. Young and Dana Evans each dished five assists to pace the Aces.
“The defense was atrocious. It was atrocious,” said Hammon. “No communication. People not on the same page. Not executing the scheme. One person doing this, another person doing that. That’s communication. That’s discipline. That’s being a professional basketball team is the ability to execute a scheme defensively, and we could not. I liked our physicality, coming out in the first quarter…but the ‘my bad’s’ add up.”
Minnesota (22-4) hosts the Atlanta Dream (14-10) at 6 p.m. CT on Sunday. Las Vegas travels to Dallas to take on the Wings (7-18) at 3 p.m. CT also on Sunday.
