For a game that lost a fair amount of star power between A’ja Wilson and Caitlin Clark being out, Sunday’s battle between the Las Vegas Aces and Indiana Fever was still an excellent litmus test for what each team could do without top players to rely on.
In a reversal of fortune from the overtime victory against the Chicago Sky on Friday, the Aces could not overcome the loss of the current MVP front runner for a second time in a difficult 84-68 loss to the Fever at T-Mobile Arena.
“We’ve trying to find ways to win basketball games,” said Aces head coach Becky Hammon, whose group has fallen to 1-2 when Wilson is out of the lineup.
“We’ve had to play small a little bit more, we’ve had to scrap. But it’s not just A’ja’s points, it’s her gravity. It’s her pull…her presence gets other people open. Now, we’re in a lot of situations where people are just really cheating off some players and it’s hard to play like that.”
Temp help wanted?
It might be time for the Aces to have a serious conversation about the effectiveness of their current nine-woman rotation, especially as Hammon mentioned that it looked like her group ran out of gas in the second half.
After a chaotic first half that saw the Aces only down by one point, the Fever hit the gas pedal in the second and never looked back. Indiana would take the wind of the Aces’ sails with a 26-point third period that pushed the lead to double digits, squeezing the life out of Las Vegas any time they even attempted to show signs of life. Whether it was due to fatigue setting in or the Fever coming in with the better halftime adjustments, another rough second half without Wilson from the Aces now brings up more questions than answers.
“Boards definitely hurt us, but I thought frankly we just ran out of gas,” admitted Hammon. “We looked tired, couldn’t muster up enough energy to sprint into screens offensively.”
Wilson!
If Friday against Chicago showed what the Aces are capable of without Wilson in the lineup, the Fever provided a perfect example of what they miss without the four-time MVP.
The Aces ultimately had no answer for Kelsey Mitchell (game-high 27 points) and Aliyah Boston (double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds). Even more concerning was how the Fever dominated on the boards, especially on the offensive glass. With a 13-6 edge leading to too many second chance opportunities for Indiana, the Fever ultimately used them to bury the Aces.
“The O-boards definitely hurt us,” said Hammon. “In the third quarter, it gets to be a compounding effect when you’re not getting stops or they’re getting second, third, fourth opportunities. It’s just super deflating.”
Bake sale
Typically, going one-to-one in the assist-turnover ratio is an ill omen, and it would end up telling the tale of the Aces.
Offsetting the 14 assists from the Aces, they coughed up the ball 13 times. Jackie Young would lead Las Vegas with 15 points, but was also the primary culprit with five turnovers. Jewell Loyd, Chelsea Gray and Brianna Turner would also be guilty with two turnovers apiece. With the Fever getting enough opportunities as is, the Aces failing to come up with anything on their own possessions turned a close game into an uncomfortable one.
“We’re trying to obviously move the ball a lot and sometimes we need [Gray] to be more aggressive,” said Loyd on her teammate going from six assists in the first half to none in the second.
“When we’re trying to get going, we know that a lot of it relies on her to help us run the offense, but we also need her to score. I think some of that was just how the game was going. In general, I think we’re at our best when the ball’s moving and our body movements are high as well. Maybe it’s testament to tired legs, I don’t know, but we were right there. I think the biggest thing was the 50-50 balls and the rebounding.”
