“I sat at a sushi bar and was just like, ‘You know what, I’m going to throw Game 1 out of the window,'” shared Kelsey Plum in a news conference. Indeed, Plum and company overcame the Seattle Storm in the first round. However, the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs have a different storyline for the two-time defending champions.

After winning the first two games at home, the New York Liberty has an edge over the Aces with a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series. Now, the Aces face the most difficult situation in the WNBA: they must win three games in a row against the Breanna Stewart-led Liberty, starting with Game 3 on the Aces’ home court this Friday. Let’s delve deeper into their chances of making it to the finals.

WNBA teams in a situation similar to Aces

Overcoming a 2-0 deficit isn’t going to be easy for the Aces, especially considering they have lost five straight games to the Liberty, including their last three regular-season meetings. Moreover, since the best-of-five playoff series was introduced, every team that fell into a 2-0 hole wound up losing the series.

However, in 2018, the Phoenix Mercury became an exception. Despite losing the first two games of their semifinal series against the Seattle Storm on their home court, the Mercury bounced back with consecutive wins, forcing a Game 5. But when the Storm returned to the Pacific Northwest, they took care of business, securing a 94-84 win in Game 5.

So, if the Aces are to follow suit, they need motivation from the Mercury’s two consecutive wins. While no team has ever fully recovered from a 0-2 hole, seven teams have made it to the next round after going down 1-2.

1-2 deficit has won series

Until now, this situation has only occurred in either the finals or semifinals of a playoff series. It first happened in the 2006 WNBA Finals between the Detroit Shock and the Sacramento Monarchs. The latter grabbed the first win of the series, Detroit the second, and another back-and-forth before the Shock took home the win.

The pattern followed with the Phoenix Mercury’s 2007 roster overcoming the Shock in the finals. The same happened with the Mercury over the Fever in 2009 and the Lynx over the Sparks in 2017.

Surprisingly, the Aces have been in a similar situation before. In the 2020 WNBA semifinals, A’ja Wilson and company faced the brink of elimination at the hands of the Connecticut Sun. However, they managed to knock off their opponents and went on to secure a berth in the Finals. The same occurred with the Mystics over the Dream and the Sun over the Sky.

Coming back to the Aces, defeating the Liberty’s incredible roster seems almost impossible. Despite having star power in A’ja Wilson, who leads the WNBA in scoring, the Aces seem to fall just short. That’s why the Aces are ranked No.4 while the Liberty roar at No.1 in the standings this season. But still, can the Aces make it to the finals? Stay tuned to find out!