The Sportsnista | LAS VEGAS — The Las Vegas Aces strengthened their hold on the No. 3 seed Sunday with a 98-77 win over the Seattle Storm.
The No. 2 seed remains mathematically possible, but Golden State would have to seriously stumble for that door to open.
With two regular-season games remaining, Vegas Sports Today asked Aces coach Becky Hammon whether who Las Vegas plays matters as much as how her team is playing when the postseason begins.
“Probably a little bit of both,” Hammon said. “I’m not gonna say my preference of who we play, but we want to just make sure we’re playing our best basketball going into the playoffs.”
Hammon candidly weighed in on what she thinks is next for her team.
“I think wherever everybody falls, it’s gonna be a dog fight.”
The Aces are trying to secure the best playoff position available to them while sharpening a rotation that will have to withstand whoever emerges from the congestion below them.
Hammon Questions the WNBA’s First-Round Format
The WNBA’s first round uses a 1-1-1 format, with the higher seed hosting Games 1 and 3 and the lower seed hosting Game 2.
Hammon doesn’t like it.
“The one-one-one, I don’t think is a good setup,” Hammon said. “It is what it is. It should be two-one or go to a five-game series because the one-one-one is no advantage for the higher seed really. It’s nothing.”
“That’s not my decision obviously, but I don’t like the setup in that first round.”
It’s an intriguing wrinkle for a team spending the final week of the regular season fighting to protect the No. 3 seed.
Las Vegas wants home court. But under the current format, even a higher-seeded Aces team could find itself traveling for a potential closeout Game 2 before returning home for a deciding Game 3.
So perhaps Hammon’s first point becomes even more important than the opponent.
A’ja Wilson Makes History as the Playoffs Approach
For A’ja Wilson, that postseason ramp-up included another piece of WNBA history Sunday.
Wilson eclipsed 1,000 points for the season, becoming the first player in league history to record multiple 1,000-point seasons.
The milestone adds another chapter to Wilson’s historic run, but Las Vegas already knows what it has at the top of its rotation.
What could determine how far the Aces go is what happens around Wilson, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray.
Sunday provided some encouraging answers there, too.
Hammon: Aces WNBA Playoff Bench Production Will Have to Come ‘By Committee’
Cheyenne Parker-Tyus contributed inside and on the glass. Jewell Loyd affected the game defensively even when her shot wasn’t falling. Te-Hina Paopao provided an immediate scoring burst with eight quick points.
Those minutes become more valuable as playoff rotations tighten.
“We need that bench production,” Hammon said. “We need those points coming in.”
Hammon pointed to Parker-Tyus, Loyd and Dana Evans among the players capable of supplying offense, but replacing the production lost with Elizabeth Kitley isn’t going to fall on one player.
“It’s gonna have to be by committee,” Hammon said. “We’re plugging holes with Lyss, where Lyss was giving us solid numbers. So everybody has to do just a little bit more. And that includes our bench.”
Las Vegas Knows Its Seed Before Its Opponent
The Aces have two games remaining to continue building separation and solidify their postseason position.
Hammon isn’t naming the opponent she’d rather see.
Perhaps that’s fitting.
Because Sunday’s bigger takeaway wasn’t who Las Vegas might play.
It was what Hammon believes the Aces need to look like when they get there.
Wilson is making history. The bench is being asked for more. The rotation is tightening. And the Aces have put themselves in position to control where their postseason begins.
A dog fight.
