LAS VEGAS — Becky Hammon has said all season that she has been waiting for the game when all of her Las Vegas guards click on all cylinders.

In 2023, the three-headed monster of Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum was an unstoppable unit most nights, culminating in a WNBA Finals series when the perimeter trio convincingly outplayed its New York Liberty counterparts, even without Gray in the closeout win.

Fast forward a season, and Las Vegas has been mixing and matching. Despite the addition of Tiffany Hayes to an already talented guard group, the Aces have been lucky to get two of their quartet to pop off in any given game. If Young is scoring well, that often portends an off night for Plum, as was the case in Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals series against the Liberty when she notched 17 points and 6 points, respectively. Plum was on her A-game in the series opener with 24 points, but then Gray stumbled to four points and one assist in the loss.

“We’ve had two on a night have good nights,” Hammon said. “A’ja (Wilson has) been ridiculous, is ridiculous, she will continue to be ridiculous. But then after that, it’s all those other little pieces.”

On Friday, Hammon was finally dealt her long-awaited hand with four Aces delivering peak performances. Five players scored double digits in Friday night’s 95-81 Aces’ victory to stave off elimination and ensure Game 4 on Sunday to keep their three-peat championship quest alive.

Aces NOT done yet ♠️

After facing elimination for the first time since 2021, the Las Vegas Aces force a Game 4 against the Liberty in the Semi-Finals! Jackie Young led the charge with 24 points 🔥

Final Score: 95-81#WelcometotheW | #WNBAPlayoffs presented by @Google pic.twitter.com/fDGNmr66M1

— WNBA (@WNBA) October 5, 2024

“Everything was just on point really with everybody,” Hammon said. “I thought that was probably our most complete game of the season. It’s the game I’ve been waiting for and believing in.”

The effort for the Las Vegas guard group started on defense. Liberty star Sabrina Ionescu had been the best perimeter player in the series, dicing up the Aces’ pick-and-roll coverages and scoring at will from all levels in addition to setting up her teammates for open shots.

Hammon said after Game 2 that she wanted to get to a C-plus effort defending Ionescu because the defense hadn’t even been average in the first two games at Barclays Center. What that meant was simplifying the scheme and making it exceedingly clear what the principles were on Ionescu and which Liberty players to help off of.

Ionescu broke free of the defense on a couple occasions in the first quarter to get to her floater, but she wasn’t able to convert. Once the Aces tightened up coverages, Ionescu was repeatedly trapped far from the basket, unable to turn the corner or find outlets in the half court. She had as many assists as turnovers (five) and submitted the lowest-scoring playoff output of her career with four points on 1-of-7 shooting.

Hammon’s grade Friday? A-plus, no notes.

“She’s been playing great, so of course, they want to make it hard for her,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “They put her in action down the other end, they were being really aggressive in the pick-and-rolls this time. She wasn’t able to get downhill. It was more of a hard hedge and very active with their hands getting deflections.”

Without Ionescu running the show, the Liberty devolved into isolation basketball, a style of play incongruous with the movement and screening that defined them during the regular season, when they had the league’s best record.

Meanwhile, the Aces’ defense propelled them into the offensive rhythm that was lacking earlier in the series.

“We always say our defense drives our offense,” Hayes said. “We know that we thrive on the defensive end, and even though we’re a little bit smaller, we got some dogs out there, and we’re able to get a lot done.”

New York’s starting perimeter trio of Ionescu, Leonie Fiebich and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton combined for 21 points. Young exceeded that on her own with 24. Plum added 20, Gray chipped in 10, and Hayes provided 11 off the bench.

Their collective might was on full display during a game-defining 16-0 run in the third quarter, as the Aces extended a four-point lead to 20. Plum got things started with a drive to the hoop off the dribble, then found Gray for the next score in early offense on a trailing 3-pointer. Gray followed that with a beautiful lob over the top to Wilson as Breanna Stewart fronted her in the post to push the lead to double digits.

Then it was Hayes’ turn. She faked left and drove to her weak hand, leaving Nyara Sabally in the dust. Plum had a 3-pointer off an offensive rebound, hit a technical free throw, and then added another 3-pointer off a drive-and-kick from Hayes. Fourteen points and three assists came from the guard group, while the Liberty missed nine shots and committed seven turnovers in that stretch.

“I think our attention to detail defensively was super sharp,” Gray said. “They’re a good team but you want to make them take tough looks, and it was the same with Sabrina. We were just attentive to detail coming off the pick-and-roll, making sure she’s not comfortable. And it all starts in the defensive end so we can flow into our offense a little bit better.”

The Aces know that their advantage has to come in the backcourt, given the Liberty have two frontcourt MVPs in Stewart and Jonquel Jones. Wilson’s excellence is consistent, but the perimeter has been the separating factor during the last two title runs.

Wilson was confident that the desperation of the situation would bring out the best in her teammates. “One thing I know for sure is that sometimes when our backs are against the wall, that’s when we really break loose and shine the brightest,” she said.

A 14-point victory that was more lopsided than the margin would suggest, validating Wilson’s belief. The Aces finally executed defensively and set the tone. Their pace was infectious on offense, involving their guard quartet for the first time this season, enabling Las Vegas to play at least one more game and remain in pursuit of a three-peat.

“We’re the Aces,” Hammon said. “We’re not going to fold.”

(Photo, from left, of Chelsea Gray, Jonquel Jones and Kelsey Plum: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

Consider it a high-stakes game of telephone.

You may have noticed the uptick of college football quarterbacks cupping their helmets to muffle the sounds of the loudest stadiums in the country. That’s because coach-to-player helmet communication arrived this season for all 134 Football Bowl Subdivision programs.

Thirty years after the NFL debuted the technology, the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved the use of helmet communication (as well as sideline tablets) for FBS teams in April, following a trial period in last season’s bowl games.

Here’s how it works.

Who has access to helmet communication, and how does it work?

One player on the field for each team — one on offense and one on defense — can have helmet communication. On offense, that player is typically the quarterback.

The designated player is identified by a green dot on the back of his helmet, just like the NFL. If more than one green dot per team is detected on the field by the officials, the team will be penalized with a 5-yard equipment violation penalty, automatically initiating a conference review, per the NCAA.

The conference review would examine whether teams intentionally allowed a second green-dot helmet in the game at the same time. The review would occur in the days following the game and any additional discipline would be up to the conference, an NCAA source with knowledge of the review process said.

On the sideline, each team is limited to three coach-to-player caller radios and belt packs. Presumably, teams allocate those to the head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator.

Coach-to-player helmet communication shuts off at the 15-second mark on the play clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever happens first, and remains off throughout the down. When the play clock is reset to 25 or 40 seconds, the communications are restored. (The play clock is set to 25 seconds after a penalty, charged team timeout, media timeout or injury timeout for an offensive player and to 40 seconds after a play ends or after an injury timeout for a defensive player.)

The cutoff operator is hired, assigned and managed by each conference.

On free-kick plays, the coach-to-player communication is not in effect.

Each team can use a maximum of 23 regular headsets within the team area, coaches’ box or coaches’ booth. Any team personnel can wear one, and two additional headsets are used by technicians to monitor the system and address any technical issues.

Is coach-to-player helmet communication mandatory?

No. The technology is optional, as is using tablets to view in-game video — including broadcast feeds, All-22 sideline and end zone angles.

A team can use helmet communication even if its opponent does not. If a team opts not to use or fully rely on the technology, a coach can communicate with the QB through the traditional methods of sideline signs and hand signals.

If one team’s communication stops working, however, the opposing team must also cease use of its helmet comms.

What happens when an FBS team plays an FCS team?

Helmet communication is not permitted at the Football Championship Subdivision level, but FCS teams can use the technology when playing an FBS opponent.

North Dakota State did so when it opened its season against Colorado in Week 1. Bison offensive coordinator Jake Landry said in August the single-game adjustment would still be “a learning curve” for the team, which fell to the Buffaloes 31-26.

“How much is too much information?” Landry said, according to 247Sports. “How much do you want to know? What little tidbits can we provide?”

Important ones, according to Georgia quarterback Carson Beck.

This offseason, Georgia’s QB1 said he “loves” that offensive coordinator Mike Bobo can talk into his ear “because there’s maybe like a little cue that he might say for a play, like look out for this coverage or look out for this, if they do this, do this — just like little things.”

Advantages vs. disadvantages

Michigan staffers on the sideline of last year’s championship game. College teams have long used signs — some unorthodox — to communicate plays to the team on the field. (Photo: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)

A coach can do more than tell his QB which play to run. Helmet comms can also be used for bigger-picture reminders of time, down and situation and when it’s time to take a risk or play it safe.

Another big advantage is what it could help minimize — sign stealing.

Using electronic equipment to record, or “steal,” opponents’ signs is not legal in college football. The NCAA also prohibits off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents during the same season. An alleged scheme at Michigan concerning the latter led to an NCAA investigation this past year.

But on-field, in-person sign stealing is allowed. Former Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy estimated “80 percent” of college football teams steal signs, “which is legal,” he said in January.

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‘That’s as big as it gets’: How much does knowing an opponent’s signals matter?

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Teams haven’t stopped using sideline signals. But move some of that communication to the helmet, and you can take away — or at least, reduce — the interception of it, right?

“Sign-stealing happens every game,” Nebraska coach Matt Rhule said in March. “There’s nothing wrong with teams looking over trying to steal our signs. There’s nothing wrong with us trying to look at their signs. That’s why you should have mics in the helmets.”

Coach Rhule touches on sign stealing and if he noticed it when they played vs. #Michigan 👀 pic.twitter.com/NsZQDtXNY3

— 247Huskers (@247Huskers) October 23, 2023

The enemy of coach-to-player helmet communication is, ironically, noise. College games “just have a tendency” to be louder than NFL games, said Rhule, who coached the Carolina Panthers from 2020 to 2022.

“In general, how loud (the fans) can be in a stadium really impacts the game,” Rhule told reporters following Nebraska’s Week 1 win over UTEP.  “It’s not just, ‘It’s third down, let’s try to make them jump offsides’ anymore, it’s ‘Make it really hard for them to hear the play calls and the checks,’ because it was hard for us at times.”

While helmet communication is helpful, it is imperfect. Auburn coach Hugh Freeze said the team is preparing for alternate solutions as it heads to a hostile road environment in Georgia on Saturday. The Tigers played their first five games of the season at home.

“We’re making it loud at practice for them to have difficult time communicating and see how they handle that,” Freeze said, according to AL.com. “Having alternative plans of how we are going to do play calling, or whatever it takes to try to make sure our kids at least have a good understanding of what’s fixing to go on.”

Required reading

(Photo: James Black / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Ever hear the one about the daredevil plasterer who lit an Olympic flame in a four-time first-team All-Pro defensive end?

Jared Allen roars at the mention of Eddie ‘The Eagle’ Edwards, the face of the 1988 Winter Games and embodiment of Pierre de Coubertin’s mantra. The beaming, bespectacled British ski jumper finished last in the 70m and 90m events in Calgary but won hearts and minds the world over.

After 136 sacks in 12 NFL seasons, a happily retired Allen and an old friend watched the feelgood 2016 biopic that celebrates the life and times of Michael David Edwards. It had consequences.

“Yeah! Eddie the Eagle! Great movie,” Allen tells The Athletic on the telephone from Nashville. “That’s what inspired me to make a bet with my buddy to try to make the Olympics!

“Eddie the Eagle had to work his butt off to qualify and become a ski jumper, which was the inspirational side of it. But the point I loved about it was like, ‘Oh, yeah, I just need to go find a sport that’s not on the books that we don’t really do well at and go join that’,” says Allen, bursting into laughter.

And what of the bet?

“The number was pointless. My buddy threw a number out. I was like, ‘Sure, whatever’. Yes, it was over beers… It’s more just a gentleman’s bet. But nobody wants to welch on a bet! I don’t want to have to tell him he was right — I want him to have to eat crow and tell me that I was right!”

So Allen got to work. In 2018, he formed the All-Pro Curling Team with three former NFL players — quarterback Marc Bulger, linebacker Keith Bulluck and offensive tackle Michael Roos — and set his sights on Beijing.

“I started off as skip, no one had curled ever — we were four football players. Life took off and I ended up joining some other teams. I had no ego, so I ended up playing lead and playing pretty good at lead and sweeping pretty good. So that’s kind of where I found my spot. I really like playing second — I think second is a fun position. But wherever they tell me they need me is where I’ll fit in.”

While he didn’t make the 2022 Games, Allen has had some minor miracles on ice.

“I beat (John) Shuster two years ago at the nationals in Denver, we beat a team last year that were top 30 in the world, we had some success over in Switzerland and Canada, I’ve got to play some really tough teams, and it’s been a fun deal.”

But brace yourselves. Just as the Milan-Cortina Winter Games loom into view, here comes the plot twist.

“I’ll probably not play this year,” Allen, 42, says. “My team kind of broke up. One guy in my team retired. Another guy has moved on. And then I actually got invited to play with Korey Dropkin as his alternate this year, but USA Curling and the USOPC put the kibosh on it, saying I didn’t have a good enough curling resume.

“Their exact words. We won nationals and all the trials, but they have replaced me as the alternate.

“And then they changed our rules — we used to have a two-year point run-up for Olympic trial qualification and now they’re taking the top three point-earners for the year based on their year to date, and then they’re doing a one tournament play-in.”

Does that mean that the Olympic dream is… over?

Allen playing in London (Michael Steele/Getty Images)

“No! No! I’ve still got time. I still love curling, I’m still gonna practise, we’ll figure it out,” Allen says. “A lot of people aren’t playing this year. Unless you can go to the Slams, Shuster, Dropkin, and (Danny) Casper pretty much already have the top three spots locked up.

“Everybody is like, ‘Why are we going to travel, waste our time on these tournaments that mean nothing for us over the next year and a half?’. So everybody’s trying to just practise for the next year, put a team together for The Challenger and try to win the play-in.”

Should Allen win his wager, it would represent another tale to tell for one of the NFL’s biggest personalities of the 21st century.

Drafted by Kansas City in 2004, Allen was traded to Minnesota four years later as the then highest-paid defensive player.

The 2009 Vikings are one of the NFL’s great nearly teams, with quarterback Brett Favre steering them to the NFC Championship in the Superdome. There, they were beaten by themselves (six fumbles, three lost, two interceptions and 12 men in the huddle in the fourth quarter to knock them out of field goal range) and the New Orleans Saints, who were later punished for the Bountygate scandal.

“If we beat the Saints and we go out and win the Super Bowl, our 2009 season arguably goes down as one of the best seasons in NFL history,” Allen says. “Unfortunately, we didn’t make it to the Super Bowl because we lost that controversial game.”

Allen headed to the Chicago Bears in 2014 and was traded to the Carolina Panthers in September 2015 for a last hurrah. The 15-1 Panthers almost went all the way, losing Super Bowl 50 against the Denver Broncos.

“It was a blast. It’s one of those surreal moments. I tell people it was my least productive statistical year of my career — I was dealing with injury and all sorts of stuff — but it was the most successful of my career because the goal is to get the Super Bowl.”

Allen after setting the Vikings franchise single-season sack record (Adam Bettcher/Getty Images)

Allen’s is a career worthy of Canton (he has been a finalist for the past four years). He led the league twice in sacks (2007 and 2011), the second seeing a tally of 22, making Michael Strahan sweat about losing his all-time record (22.5).

The highlight reel moments are many. They include his one-handed sack of Eli Manning and the tete-a-tete with Donald Penn. And then there’s his contribution to one of the most infamous plays in NFL history. You know the one.

It was 2008 and while playing for the winless Detroit Lions, quarterback Dan Orlovsky stepped out of bounds in the Metrodome for a safety. Orlovsky — now a stellar ESPN analyst — can look back and laugh. Allen is chuckling at it still.

“I wish he wouldn’t have ran out the back — I could have actually hit him! It was my sack. I was actually laughing because Kevin Williams had like four sacks that game, so I was trying to catch up to him. He was pissed. We were in a tight sack race that year. I got a cheapo. I got a freebie!

“To my credit, I did whoop the tight end. I was wide open! Could have throttled him. It was a good job they called a safety,” Allen says.

Johnny Knoxville was not so lucky. As the wider public embraced Allen with his signature mullet and everyman appeal, in 2010 he was invited to California to film a segment called The Blindside for Jackass 3.

“That was a fun deal. Knoxville is a great guy — I still talk to Johnny. I actually found out later I separated his sternum when I tackled him from behind.

“We filmed the run where he catches the ball over the middle a few times. He’s like, ‘Man, come on!’ Like, well, if you want to see what I actually do, let’s drop back for a pass and I’ll hit you from behind. So we did that. There was only one take on that one!”

Allen, who returns to England for the first time since the Vikings beat Pittsburgh at Wembley in 2013, will be inducted into the London Ring of Honor during Sunday’s game between the New York Jets and Minnesota.

He likes what he has seen so far this season from his former team.

“They’re aggressive. What’s most impressive is they are getting what they need to get out of their new acquisitions, who are already making massive impacts. That’s what you like to see when you pick up free agents.

“Hats off to the coaching staff for getting the players that fit their system and creating a system and an environment that they can be successful in.”

And he may well come face-to-face with a familiar foe. It will be almost exactly 15 years ago to the day that Favre and the Vikings beat the Packers on Monday Night Football. Allen had a career-high 4.5 sacks against Aaron Rodgers in a raucous Metrodome. “That was a great day,” he says. “Goodness. Time flies. Whenever I see Aaron it’s very cordial!”

But first, he wants to find some decent grub. “My wife and kids are coming, so I want to show them some of the sights. I want to find some good pubs, have a couple of pints and some bangers and mash.”

Who knows, perhaps he’ll bump into Eddie the Eagle.

(Top photo: David Berding/Getty Images)