Becky Hammon rips ‘soft’ Aces after blowout loss to Valkyries

SAN FRANCISCO — The Las Vegas Aces are in unfamiliar territory.

Saturday’s 95-68 loss to the Golden State Valkyries marked the third-largest loss for the Aces (4-3) in the Becky Hammon era. It was also their second 20-point loss this season, the first time they’ve had more than one in a season under Hammon.

“What is out there, that’s not an Aces team we are used to seeing,” Chelsea Gray said. “We are trying to figure it out in our locker room, in our meetings. … It’s uncharted territory right now that we have not seen this side or played like this since we’ve been together and played under Becky.”

The Valkyries set the tone early, primarily through their defense. They forced A’ja Wilson into three first-quarter turnovers, and the Aces had seven as a team, both season highs.

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Up by two points after the first quarter, Golden State led by 21 at halftime after outscoring Las Vegas 34-15 in the second quarter. It was the second time this season the Aces have trailed by at least 20 points at the half, the other coming against the Seattle Storm in a game they lost by 20.

The common denominator, Hammon said, was the Aces’ lack of effort.

“It’s us being soft mentally and letting people punk us … and whining instead of buckling down and saying, ‘OK, if that’s what it’s going to be, let’s go,'” Hammon said. “I told them effort has to come from your heart. The schemes, the discipline, the habits — that’s your head. Right now we not only have a heart issue, but it’s [becoming] a head issue.

“I’m not going to coach effort. It’s one thing I can’t deal with. You are in charge of your effort. … I’ve never been a coach to pull for mistakes, but I will pull for effort.”

Wilson, the reigning league MVP, was held to eight first-half points and finished with 17 on 5-of-13 shooting.

Valkyries coach Natalie Nakase said she reminded her team that Wilson could still go off at any moment.

“She’s the best player in the world,” Nakase said she told her players. “We all know that. She’s capable of going off for 50. [So] have that in the back of [your] mind. A’ja is capable of going for 50.”

Golden State consistently threw multiple bodies at Wilson, rotating double-teams on her, collapsing the defense and even presenting box-and-one defenses.

“It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary,” Wilson said. “For the small time I’ve been playing in this league, I’ve generated some double-teams and different looks. … I don’t think that slowed me down, but I do think it caused a little bit of commotion with us. … We’ve got to do a better job as a team understanding what teams want to take away from us. Everyone knows how talented we are, so we have to pick it apart.”

The Valkyries have followed a similar pattern in their inaugural season, hanging with their opponents or even building a lead in the first half, only to give it all back in the third quarter or down the stretch.

Against the Aces, they were aware that repeating that habit was a possibility if they didn’t take the right approach.

“A team especially that’s loaded with that type of talent, you don’t ever let your guard down,” Nakase said. “So at halftime, I’m like, the score is 0-0. Like, we cannot play to the score.”

Golden State’s Kayla Thornton had the first 20-point double-double of her career, posting 22 points and 11 rebounds. Veronica Burton had the first double-double of her career with 14 points and 12 assists, while Monique Billings finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds. It’s the first time this season that a team has had three players record a double-double in the same game.

Hammon said that the Aces’ poor defense was directly impacted by them missing “wide-open” shots at the other end. The Aces shot 35.5% from the field, their third-worst shooting performance of the season, and just 24% from 3-point range, their worst this year.

Meanwhile, the Valkyries shot a season-best 47.9% from the floor, including a season-best 35.7% from 3.

“This team, we’ve got to decide who we want to be on a night-in, night-out basis,” Hammon said. “We hold a team to 70 one night and then come out here and give up almost 100. I don’t know if they’ve scored 100 all year. It’s a good old-fashioned ass-whupping. They outplayed us in every aspect of the game. It’s one of the worst games I’ve seen from us.”