Aces guards Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray are crucial to the win

When Kelsey Plum started tweeting at New York basketball superfan Spike Lee during Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals between the Las Vegas Aces and the New York Liberty on Sunday, the people who saw Plum play knew what was coming: a scoring outburst.

Plum, known as one of the league's best trash talkers, told reporters afterward that she couldn't repeat what she and Lee said to each other, but she encouraged him to “speak louder.” She scored 24 points on the day and kept the Aces within striking distance.

The problem is that their backcourt mates couldn't keep up with their performance. And after Game 1, Plum stopped caring as much about her personal stats.

“It's a loss, that's the only thing I really see,” she said. “That’s the only statistic that matters.”

The two-time defending champion Aces face a daunting 0-2 hole after losing Game 1 (87-77) and Game 2 (88-84) at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Game 3 – and Game 4 if necessary – will take place on Friday and Sunday in Vegas. Aces fans hope this will be the case again in the friendly match at the Michelob ULTRA Arena, Vegas guards Plum, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young will be more like their previous postseason prospects.

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While forward A'ja Wilson won unanimous MVP honors this season, Aces coach Becky Hammon is the first to say that “our guard trio has always been the difference maker for us in the postseason.”

So what happens if this trio disappears?

After a rocky start to 2024, largely due to Gray suffering a lingering leg injury and being sidelined, the Aces won nine of their final 10 regular-season games before defeating Seattle in the first round. (The only loss was a 75-71 loss in New York, a game Wilson missed.) They looked like the Aces of old — led by those guards and Wilson, a summer WNBA All-Star and Olympian were.

But Vegas has dominated the league over the past two years not just because of its star power, but also because of each star's unique skill set.

Plum can score in a variety of ways and takes pride in scoring even when the game lacks flow. She's stronger than she looks, can land inside through contact and pull from the perimeter for 3 seconds.

Young may be the strongest guard in the WNBA pound-for-pound, a player who can bully defenders on the block.

“Plum is a big factor for us, especially with her speed, her ability to get to the rim and make rim reads to create for herself and her teammates,” Hammon said. “Her play and Jackie’s both have a big impact on our wins and losses. When they’re good, we’re usually good.”

Gray has been so good in the last two postseasons that she has earned the nickname Point Gawd; She was MVP of the 2022 Finals when the Aces defeated the Connecticut Sun in four games. Gray averaged 18.3 points, 6.0 assists and shot a stunning 58.5% from the field in the series.

“We have games where Plum will have 25, Jackie will have 25, but really it's the way (the three) complement each other,” Hammon said. “It’s a great combination when everyone is doing well.”

But that didn't happen in two games. At all.

Plum had 24 points in Game 1 but only six in Game 2, marred by foul trouble.

Young has scored 17 points in each game but is shooting 11 of 29 from the floor overall, just 38%.

Gray was the worst of the three. She scored four points on 2-of-7 shooting in Game 1 and 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting in Game 2, but was uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball, dribbling off her foot and letting it slip out through her hands Boundaries.

Wilson needs space to operate, especially because she's virtually guaranteed to score when she gets the ball one-on-one. The best way to achieve this distance is to move the ball quickly, and this requires using wide players who draw attention and draw defenders away from the field. This is especially true for New York, which has great defensive length (after Game 1, there was a debate about whether Breanna Stewart's wingspan is 7'1 or 6'10.75). Regardless of the answer, it has an impact on the opponent's offense . ) But with the Aces disjointed and some questionable shot selections, the paint was clogged and Wilson struggled to break free.

The Aces' separation extends to the defensive end as well. Hammon was angry about the number of uncontested layups New York scored in both wins, saying after Game 2 that the Liberty put on a “layup clinic.” She called them “grueling” and expressed her displeasure with various four-letter words during timeouts.

At the end of the regular season, Hammon was convinced that “offensively, our best games are still ahead of us.”

That was certainly not the case with the Liberty. In contrast, New York's Sabrina Ionescu was the series' best defender, averaging 22.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.0 blocks.

Additionally, Vegas guard Tiffany Hayes, who had made a strong case for Sixth Player of the Year during the regular season (the winner was not announced), played virtually no role in Game 1, scoring two points. During the regular season, she averaged 9.5 and scored in double figures 16 times.

After Tuesday's loss, Gray was told that no team in WNBA playoff history has come back from a 2-0 deficit in a five-game series – in fact, teams are 0-18 in the playoffs when that happens – and quipped: “I love being in history books, so we might as well try to start there.”

To achieve that, it has to start with her and the Aces' other starting guards.

Email Lindsay Schnell at [email protected] and follow her on social media @Lindsay_Schnell

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