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It’s been just over a month since the Minnesota Lynx bested the Las Vegas Aces by 53 points — at home at the Michelob ULTRA Arena — to run the score up to 111-58, the worst home loss in league history. That loss was mortifying but appears to have sparked something; since then, the Aces have not lost a single game.
In fact, the two teams are ranked No. 1 (Lynx) and No. 3 (Aces) overall, a reality that seemed impossible weeks ago, when Las Vegas hovered at the bottom of the playoffs bracket. (The Aces have hovered as high as No. 2 overall, but were recently overtaken by the Atlanta Dream, who seem mightily focused on achieving their own spectacular season’s end.)
The Aces have been driven by repeat and ferocious performances from A’ja Wilson, who clearly took that loss personally and set out to do something about it. She’s averaging 23.4 points and 10.1 rebounds, a stat line that only truly hints at her current and unprecedented court dominance.
Tonight’s game will be the fourth and final time the two teams meet before the playoffs; there’s a myriad of ways the game could go, and the Aces may be the only team in the WNBA the Lynx still have something to prove to. The winner of this game will enter the playoffs with a boost that will make them Championship favorites whether anyone else likes it or not, and tonight’s showdown between MVP candidates Napheesa Collier and Wilson will absolutely be seen as a precursor to who might win one of the most coveted awards in the league.
The Lynx have a significant edge over the Aces
Of course, the odds are stacked against Las Vegas even before the game begins. The Lynx have won every match between the two teams so far, and they’ve done so by significant margins. The 53-point game on August 2 was an extraordinary outlier, but Minnesota still beat Las Vegas by 14 points and again by 31 points the other two times the teams met. By all intents and purposes, there’s little reason to even anticipate Las Vegas will have a triumphant night tonight.
But… something still lingers in the air. The WNBA is always filled with stories of underdogs rising to a challenge and grit triumphing over skill, and few matches this season are as tailor made to those elements as this particular battle. No matter who wins tonight, both teams will enter the playoffs in good standing and with significant advantages — but tonight’s game will mean a little more, and should produce one of the best nights of women’s basketball we’ve seen all season.
