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Michael Voepel
Michael Voepel
ESPN Senior Writer
- Michael Voepel is a senior writer who covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball and other college sports. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.
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Charlie Creme
Charlie Creme
ESPN.com
- Charlie Creme projects the women’s NCAA tournament bracket for ESPN.com.
Oct 6, 2024, 08:30 PM ET
A WNBA three-peat won’t happen this season. The New York Liberty eliminated the Las Vegas Aces on Sunday, ending the Aces’ quest to win a third consecutive championship. The Liberty will have home-court advantage in the WNBA Finals, which open Thursday, and will face the winner of Tuesday’s decisive Game 5 between the Minnesota Lynx and Connecticut Sun.
After the Liberty’s 76-62 victory in Game 4 on Sunday in Las Vegas to win their semifinal series, New York’s players praised the two-time defending champs.
Jonquel Jones even referred to getting past the Aces in the playoffs as feeling like a “rite of passage.” It speaks to how good Las Vegas has been the past two seasons, and how the Aces set a bar for other teams to try to match. Las Vegas beat the Connecticut Sun in 2022 and New York in 2023, both in four games. The Aces’ core — A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young — was back in 2024 to try to become the second WNBA team to win at least three titles in a row. (Houston won four in a row in 1997-2000.)
Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon, who took over the team in 2022, said all season that this was the Aces’ toughest year, in part because it’s so hard to stay hungry when you’re coming off consecutive championships. Las Vegas didn’t have Gray (foot injury) until June 19, and the Aces were 6-6 when she returned. They lost some games this year the past two versions of the Aces probably wouldn’t have.
It all added up to them being the No. 4 seed, which meant having to meet No. 1 New York in the semifinals instead of the WNBA Finals like last year.
“It hurts now, and I promise you, it’s going to hurt tomorrow probably worse,” Hammon said. “But you’ve got to build habits and you’ve got to work in a way that you believe you deserve to win. At the end of the day, I thought our shortcomings stood out a little bit.
“We have some great things to build on. You don’t have it every year.”
The Aces did have the league’s best player this season in Wilson, who averaged a WNBA-record 26.9 points and won her third MVP. She just turned 28 in August and is signed with Las Vegas through 2025, as are Gray and Young. Plum is a free agent.
“What I’ve always tried to convey to this team, specifically with our guards,” Hammon said of Gray, Plum and Young, “is their success is so intertwined with each other’s. Their individual greatness comes from them being great together.”
We will see if the entire group is back for 2025, but for now ESPN looks at what happened to keep the Aces from another title in 2024, how New York advanced and how Connecticut beat Minnesota on Sunday to extend their semifinal series.
(1) New York Liberty vs. (4) Las Vegas Aces
Liberty won best-of-five series 3-1
Why weren’t the Aces able to get back to the Finals?
Sunday was only a symptom of why the Aces won’t be able to add to their back-to-back titles. The root cause can be traced back to the early part of the regular season, that they were just the No. 4 seed in the playoffs and had to face the Liberty in the semifinals. Losses to the Phoenix Mercury, Atlanta Dream and Los Angeles Sparks in the first month put the Aces in a hole that ultimately resulted in a fourth-place finish. That meant seeing the Liberty one round sooner than they did a year ago.
With the addition of 6-foot-4 Leonie Fiebich to go with the length of the 6-4 Breanna Stewart and 6-6 Jonquel Jones, New York was a bad matchup for Las Vegas. Sunday’s game showcased that. The Las Vegas guards struggled with Fiebich, who was a difference-maker on defense. Gray and Young combined for 11 total points and Plum scored five after halftime. The league’s highest-scoring team scored a season-low 62 on Sunday. The Aces’ next two lowest-scoring games this season also came against New York. — Creme
0:45
A’ja Wilson talks difficulty of three-peat as Aces are eliminated
A’ja Wilson looks back at the challenges of the season as the Aces’ quest for a WNBA championship three-peat falls short.
Wilson had a phenomenal season, but why wasn’t it enough for a title?
Two things: Overall, the Aces weren’t as efficient offensively as last season, and the Liberty were better. It’s like some scenarios we’ve seen before in the WNBA. For instance, Maya Moore’s 2014 MVP season for Minnesota was spectacular. But the Lynx, despite having won two of the previous three championships, weren’t the best overall team in the league that year; Phoenix was. And the Mercury went on to win the title.
Wilson did everything she could this season; she was unanimous MVP without question. But …
“We didn’t have it shooting-wise,” Hammon said of Sunday’s game (the Aces were 32.8% from the field), a comment that could have applied to the whole season.
“But I’m really proud of this group because we’ve changed the way this league plays. We sped it up and spaced it out. I think it’s been great for our game. You’re seeing a lot of great individual performances. It’s a fun way to play. That core four in our group started that.” — Voepel
Why did the Liberty dominate the Aces this season?
Last year, the Liberty and Aces met nine times, counting the regular season, Commissioner’s Cup final and WNBA Finals. Las Vegas won five and New York four. This year, New York went 6-1 against the Aces.
As Charlie said, adding Fiebich really helped New York, especially because she was ready for whatever role coach Sandy Brondello put her in, whether it was starting or coming off the bench.
“I knew that, that was communicated before [the season],” said Fiebich, a 24-year-old from Germany playing in her first WNBA season but with considerable pro experience. “I feel like my coaches knew I could defend. And I’m a shooter, and I found my gaps and what the team needed from me game to game.”
New York was a better defensive team, more confident, more cohesive and deeper this season than last. And it also got particularly revved up to face the Aces. With the exception of the semifinal series Game 3 loss, New York played well in all the matchups against Las Vegas. — Voepel
0:34
Aces fans erupt as A’ja Wilson denies Breanna Stewart
A’ja Wilson blocks Breanna Stewart to give the Aces a spark at the end of the third quarter.
Knee-jerk projection: How will Las Vegas fare in 2025?
There is no reason to believe the Aces can’t return to a championship level if Plum is re-signed. After this semifinals loss, perhaps Las Vegas gets the edge back, the one Hammon thought her team lacked most of this season.
It might be asking a lot of Wilson to repeat the season she just had, but she is in the prime of her career, capable of carrying a team for a game, for a stretch or for a season. Young and Plum are also in their peak years. But the team lacked consistency this year.
Chelsea Gray will presumably be healthy for an entire season. Her lingering foot injury was a major part of the Aces’ uneven regular-season play. The Aces’ front office might need to identify some younger players to bring it as role players. More energy on defense will be a necessary improvement if Las Vegas is to get back to the Finals in 2025. — Creme
(2) Minnesota Lynx vs. (3) Connecticut Sun
Best-of-five series tied 2-2
2:32
Sun force Game 5 with comeback win vs. Lynx
The Sun overcome a double-digit deficit to keep their season alive and force a decisive Game 5 against the Lynx.
How did Connecticut defeat Minnesota in Game 4?
The Sun’s guards played really well, led by Ty Harris, who had her second-highest point total of the season with 20. It was the most she has scored since getting 23 against Washington on June 27.
Harris injured an ankle in the Sun’s playoff opener against Indiana on Sept. 22 and didn’t play in the second game of that series or the first game of the semifinals. She played sparingly and didn’t score in Games 2 and 3 against Minnesota. Her 7-of-11 shooting Sunday — including four 3-pointers — and effectiveness on defense were critical for the Sun.
The same could be said for DiJonai Carrington, who had 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting for Connecticut. — Voepel
What turned things around in the second half for the Sun?
Defense was a Sun strength all season, and credit should go to Stephanie White and the Connecticut coaching staff for the adjustments they made to the defense at halftime. In the critical third quarter — when the Sun outscored the Lynx 25-13 and erased a seven-point deficit — they did two things simultaneously that aren’t easy to do: limited Naphessa Collier and took away the Lynx’s 3-point shooting.
Collier went without a field goal for the final 7:30 of the third. Minnesota, the league’s most accurate 3-point shooting team, didn’t make a shot from beyond the arc in the entire quarter and went scoreless from 3-point range until just 2:16 remained in the game. That was after making seven 3-pointers in the first half. — Creme
What will be the keys in Game 5 on Tuesday in Minneapolis?
This has been a close series, with Sunday’s 10-point margin the most of the four games. The Sun shot 53.7% from the field in Game 4, by far their best of this series. It’s uncharacteristic for Minnesota to allow that, but if the Sun can replicate that performance, they can pull out the series.
Collier has been terrific the entire postseason, including 29 points and 13 rebounds Sunday. As Charlie said, the Sun were effective defensively against Collier for key stretches in Game 4, which can give them some confidence for Tuesday’s matchup, despite her big final numbers.
At 16-4, the Lynx tied the Liberty for the best record at home during the regular season. They will have the obvious edge at Target Center. But the Sun already have a win in Minneapolis in Game 1, so they know it’s possible. — Voepel
