Aces vs. Wings: How Las Vegas held Dallas scoreless for final five minutes of Game 3 to advance to WNBA Finals

The defending champion Las Vegas Aces are going back to the WNBA Finals after completing a three-game sweep of the Dallas Wings on Friday night with a dramatic 64-61 win in Game 3 of their semifinal series. In a week’s time they’ll begin the final stage of their quest to become the first time repeat champions since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001 and 2002. 

To do so, they’ll need to play defense like they did in closing out the Wings. While the Aces produced the best offense in WNBA history during the regular season, they also led the league in defense, and locked in on that end down the stretch to steal a win, and the series, on the road. 

During the final five minutes of Game 3, the Aces held the Wings scoreless on 0 of 10 from the field, and closed on an 11-0 run. The Aces’ connectivity and cohesion stood out in those final possessions, as did their individual defensive talent. You need both to have an elite defense, and the Aces do.  

Watch here as the clock ticks under four minutes and every player on the floor contributes to this stop. First, Kelsey Plum gets under the screen on a non-shooter in Veronica Burton to cut off any driving lane to the basket. Meanwhile, Alysha Clark out-muscles Natasha Howard to prevent her from coming to the ball, Jackie Young is pressed up on Arike Ogunbowale to take her out of the play, A’ja Wilson battles to prevent a post entry and Chelsea Gray is in perfect help position on the weak side. Eventually, the Wings can’t do anything besides skip the ball to Satou Sabally, who has to launch a deep 3-pointer. 

When they needed individual efforts, they got them. Look at this possession with less than 30 seconds to play and the Aces clinging to a one-point lead. The Wings initially get Howard the ball, but Wilson is out on her immediately and her mere presence makes Howard reconsider. She gives the ball to Ogunbowale instead, who is one of the toughest players to guard in the league. Keeping her front of you is a major challenge, but one Young passes with flying colors as she cuts off her drive and forces her into a tough step-back jumper. 

“I’ve been challenging them to finish out quarters against this team,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “This team can score a lot quickly. I can’t sit here and say we did anything different. We were switching defenses when we could between a 2-3 and a man, and just trying to clog it up and make them think and do different things. 

“We did some things defensively which we haven’t done ever, and [my players] caught on, which is a real tribute to their focus and intelligence to not practice something and just go out and do it on the fly in a really high-pressure situation. It’s the luxury of having a really smart team.”

After another monster effort in Game 3, the Aces have been far and away the best defensive team in the playoffs. Certainly their competition has something to do with that, but the extent to which they are dominating on that side of the ball is staggering; they’ve allowed 88.4 points per 100 possessions over their five playoff games, and opponents are shooting 36.8% from the field. 

To put that into context, during the regular season the Aces had the best defensive rating at 97.7 and the Liberty had the best opponent field goal percentage at 42.4%. 

As incredible as the Aces’ offense is, there will always be days where the other team is playing excellent defense, or your shots aren’t falling or you aren’t getting calls from the officials. True championship-level teams can rely on their defense to carry them through those situations, and the Aces are a true championship-level contender. 

They’ve proven so all summer long, and Friday night was just another example.