You’d think coming off the high of a championship ring ceremony, the Las Vegas Aces would hit the ground running and demolish an opponent they swept to get those rings. Not the case in this May 9 game at T-Mobile Arena.
Aces’ Shaky Offense and Non-Existent Defense
With a final score of 99-66, the Mercury came into the arena with a fury and vengeance worthy of Batman, taking out the Aces with a more coordinated defense and suffocating offense the hometown team was not prepared for. Chennedy Carter’s first possession was a highlight with a bounce-pass to four-time MVP A’ja Wilson for the assist. Wilson, Jackie Young, and NaLyssa Smith led the Aces with 19, 12, and 11 points respectively.
Unfortunately this was not enough to overcome the Mercury and the explosion of Jovana Nogić, a formerly undrafted rookie, making her debut with 19 points in the first half on 5-6 shooting. Along with Alyssa Thomas scoring 20 points, the Mercury offense made a meal of the Aces’ defense. (“We’re getting cooked by an undrafted rookie,” a fellow press member noted.)
Unexpected Obstacles from the Mercury
Smith commented on Nogić later during the postgame press conference: “I feel like we just kind of weren’t overly prepared for her to come in and be that effective in the game. I feel like that’s just a point of focus for us where we have to take every single player on the team seriously. There’s nobody that can’t play basketball.”
The disappointment in the postgame press conference was palpable with Head Coach Becky Hammon, Smith, and Wilson answering questions from media in attendance and via Zoom. Hammon got real honest about the team working aggressively on their defense, but something just didn’t click in this game.
“I don’t think we’re in good enough shape to play at the level that we need to. The defense—it looks like we haven’t worked on it. We’ve been… doing it now an hour and a half every day in practice, and just a really poor performance. The little details that we talk about that we feel are separation factors, we’re just not doing them. And until we decide we want to do them, we’ll continue to get our butt kicked, like this,” Hammon said.
Unsteady Start But The Work Continues
But both Wilson and Smith said in their separate interviews that there was no need to hit the panic button just yet, they’re still getting their legs after a condensed spring training and rocky off-season.
“Something that doesn’t really get talked about a lot, honestly, when it comes to groups that stay together. Everyone assumed we played together for so long, you’re supposed to know each other like the back of your hand. We do, but it still takes time to kind of get it all back together. We haven’t played basketball together as a whole since October. So it’s gonna take time to get on time and on target, no matter how long we’ve played with each other,” Wilson said.
Rebuilding that trust, even for as long as most of them have known each other, will take more than a couple weeks to re-strengthen. As disappointed as the team, Hammon, and the fans were about the results of this game, the overall sentiment is not to freak out just yet, they’ve still got work to do. Plus, they’ve been down this road before, even if Hammon vehemently doesn’t want to repeat it.
The Aces hit the road for the next few games, facing L.A. Sparks (Sunday, May 10), Connecticut Sun (Wednesday, May 13 and Friday, May 15), and Atlanta Dream (Sunday, May 17).
I am a published writer, full-time editor, an events and entertainment reporter and mother of one. Comic books, drag queens, women’s basketball, queer films and TV shows are my bread and butter.
