WNBA playoffs: A’ja Wilson’s utter dominance on both ends leads Aces to semifinal matchup with Fever

The Las Vegas Aces survived and advanced past the first round of the WNBA playoffs with a 74-73 victory over Seattle on Thursday night. The Storm didn’t make it easy, but the Aces won a competitive best-of-three series to continue chasing their third WNBA title in four years. They will be making their seventh consecutive appearance in the semifinals as they take on the Indiana Fever in a best-of-five series which starts on Sunday.

“No pun intended but we weathered the Storm,” Aces star A’ja Wilson said during her postgame interview with ESPN. “They punched us and we punched back and we kept punching. I can’t express how proud I am of my team, but the job is not done. This is the first round, we gotta get ready for the next one.”

MVP chants were heard throughout Michelob ULTRA Arena for Wilson, who finished the night with 38 points, tying her own playoff career high from 2023. It was her sixth playoff game with 30 or more points, which is tied for third-most in WNBA history.

Wilson did a little bit of everything on Thursday, also registering five rebounds, three assists, three steals and two blocks. Earlier in the day, she was named Co-Defensive Player of the Year along with the Minnesota Lynx’s Alanna Smith. Her defense, along with the rest of the Aces’, was key to stopping the Storm. In the second quarter, Las Vegas held Seattle to only seven points on 2 of 13 shooting.

The team was particularly effective at limiting Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins, who combined for 29 points and eight field goals on the night.

Despite their star veterans not being as productive as usual, the Storm still made it an extremely competitive game with other players stepping up — particularly Erica Wheeler, who put up 16 points off the bench and was dangerous until the very end. 

Wheeler hit a pull-up jump shot with under 20 seconds remaining to give Seattle a 73-72 lead. That could have been the game-winner because Wilson missed a shot attempt with 13.5 on the clock. However, Jackie Young came up clutch for Las Vegas with the offensive rebound and the tip shot that became the game-winner. 

“I don’t know, we kind of stole one there,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said postgame. “Obviously trying to give A’ja the ball, trying to get certain people off A’ja. Although tonight it didn’t matter who guarded her, she was just on a heater. So a lot of it was give the ball to her and get out of the way, let her go be her. Obviously Jackie’s putback was ridiculous. We’ve been harping crashing the ball the whole time. Jackie was right on time with that one.”

Seattle had one more possession to pull off the upset, but the Aces’ defense, quite on brand, was suffocating. Young finished the night with 14 points and four steals, while Chelsea Gray contributed with 12 points and eight assists. The rest of the roster combined for 10 points.

“I told them we can enjoy this win for tonight but then tomorrow we gotta get back to business and we gotta be better,” Hammon said. “I thought (Seattle’s) physicality bothered us and I thought offensively we got very stagnant. But it’s the playoffs, I mean, everybody is going to be fully scouted … We can’t dwell on it too long, we gotta move right on to Indiana.”