You can go down the list we didn’t do any of them until the second half.”Ĥ. “Points in the paint, rebounding, hustle points, transition points, second-chance points. You can’t lose a championship, game, or quarter on hustle. “They had beat us in every hustle category, and that can’t happen. “I was lit,” said Hammon.” Because of everything we had talked about, we didn’t do any of it. It also led to a heated halftime message from Hammon to her Aces players. The Sun had seven offensive rebounds in the second quarter alone when they outscored the Aces 21-9 to take a four-point lead into halftime. On the other hand, the Aces did not win the battle of the 3-point line as both teams finished with five 3-pointers made, with the Aces shooting just 20.8% - their second-lowest percentage in any game this season.Īnother area that the Sun dominated on paper and in Game 1 was the offensive glass, as Connecticut finished with a 13-6 advantage. Alyssa Thomas nearly matched the entire Aces roster in points in the paint as she finished with 18. However, in Game 1, the disparity in the paint was even greater than expected as the Sun doubled up the Aces 40-20 inside.
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We knew entering the series that Connecticut and Las Vegas were on near polar ends when it came to points in the paint (Sun 44.5 ppg, Aces 32.0) and points off 3-pointers (Aces 33.0 ppg, Sun 12.9 ppg). Connecticut dominated the paint, offensive glass, and fast-break points for much of the game “They have Alyssa Thomas and Bonner, so how can I get my shot off and be efficient with it and just get to my spots and use my legs?”ģ. “My fade away, I’m able to get it off, off of long defenders,” said Gray. Throughout the game, multiple Sun defenders took their shot at guarding Gray, whether it be guards like Natisha Hiedeman or Courtney Williams or some of Connecticut’s longer forwards like DeWanna Bonner and Thomas. “She just is a tough shot maker, but as long as they are contested, we will be pleased that for 40 minutes if you continue to try to make them as difficult as possible. “Nearly every single shot, again, wasĬontested or made difficult. “Nothing came easy for Chelsea,” said Miller. While she didn’t quite reach those marks in Game 1 - she finished with 21 points on 9-17 (52.9%) shooting from the field and 2-7 (28.6%) from three – she was able to make timely baskets despite whatever defense the Sun threw her way. Chelsea Gray’s hot streak did not cool off with five days off from the Semi-Finals to the FinalsĪ key factor in the Aces pulling out a win while playing a game more suited for Connecticut’s style is the fact that they have Chelsea Gray to hit tough shots against great defense and keep the Aces scoring when their offense sputters.Įntering the Finals, Gray averaged 24 points per game while shooting 62.6% from the field and 59.5% from beyond the arc. The Aces don’t want a repeat of this type of game, but they showed on Sunday that they could win ugly as well as win pretty.Ģ. On the other side, Las Vegas proved it could still win while being forced to play Connecticut’s game. Of course, we can make more shots, but overall we played a hard game.” So yeah, there are some things we can clean up. “I think we are very confident, and we know that all you need is one, and then there are two games at our place. “I mean, this is a three-point game, and we had a chance to tie. “After this game, we have to have a lot of confidence,” added Alyssa Thomas. “So, we are encouraged, but I’m disappointed that it didn’t equate to a win.” “Really pleased with holding that high-powered offense down and got the style of play we wanted,” Miller said after the game.
Connecticut’s best chance to succeed is to keep the score in the 60s and 70s, keep the shooting percentages low and force as many turnovers as possible to limit Las Vegas’s offense.Ĭonnecticut coach Curt Miller calls this a “messy” style of play, and it almost worked in Game 1. The Aces entered the Finals averaging 92.3 points per game in the playoffs, compared to just 79.8 points per game for the Sun. From that point on, the Sun outscored the Aces 29-13 for the rest of the first half as the Sun imposed their physicality on both ends of the court.
After the Aces got off to a hot start to open the game - leading 21-9 and shooting 8-11 (72.7%) from the field in the game’s first six minutes - the Sun defense took over. The task for the Sun was to turn that offense into a low-budget cover band.Īnd for most of the game, the Sun did just that. When the Aces are at their best, their offense performs like a world-class symphony. The Aces not only led the WNBA in offensive efficiency this year but also posted the second-best offensive rating in league history. strength matchup: Las Vegas’ high-powered offense against Connecticut’s stingy defense. This series presents a clear strength vs.
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