“They’ve been the best team all year,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said of the Liberty ahead of their semi-finals matchup. Somehow, the 2x defending champions didn’t come into Game 1 as the favorites and the Liberty ensured this forecast came true with an 87-77 victory on home court. Even though the Aces had their trump card, A’ja Wilson, locked and loaded for combat, she could only do so much with the Liberty hogging her space with a two, sometimes three-person defense.

The 2024 unanimous MVP scored an impressive 21 points despite being pitted against Liberty’s ruthless defense. However, she recorded a season-low 6 rebounds, courtesy of the pressure built by their 2023 Finals rivals and 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart’s game-high 34 points. Post-game, Becky Hammon acknowledged that they had been outplayed by the top-seeded Liberty and succumbed to the ‘block A’ja Wilson’ tactic.

“The whole team was committed to taking away A’ja… two, three people on her all night,” the Aces coach told reporters. “So we got to do a better job of getting her in space, but also giving her outlets. That is just about playing the right way if they got two, three people every time, the ball’s got to pop on out of there.”

Hammon also doubled down on the criticism of her team’s lackluster performance defensively. “You can’t get only 2 offensive rebounds and get beat in transition all the time. Points in the paint, on the board, on the free throw line, they just kicked our a– in every area of the game, I thought,” she brutally concluded.

On the Liberty side, it was a full team effort with each player scoring points, led by Stewart’s 34 and Sabrina Ionescu’s 21. They shot a nifty 49.2% from the field compared to the Aces’ 43.2%, including 16 fast-break points to their rival’s 6. Kelsey Plum’s team-high 24 and A’ja Wilson’s 21 didn’t mean a lot in return. The Liberty successfully drew first blood, and the road to avenge their 2023 Finals loss looks smoother than ever.

New York Liberty coach revels in the success of making A’ja Wilson “uncomfortable“

Ideally, the Las Vegas Aces should’ve been more confident than they looked at the Barclays Center in Game 1. Though Kelsey Plum led the Aces offense with 24 points, she came into New York slightly apprehensive about their chances. “New York is a lot better than they were last year, plain and simple. If you go down the line like pound for pound, individually, all of them are better,” was her pre-game assessment. And she was right.

Liberty’s Breanna Stewart explained how the key to their victory was in studying their scouting report thoroughly. She also explained how they had a plan to cover their defense when two of their players attacked A’ja Wilson. “Knowing where A’ja is, because the talent that she is, and making sure when we send two to the ball, we have help on the backside. If they’re going to take a three, it’s going to be a contested one. Everything we want to be contested. And one shot and out,” she explained.

Head coach Sandy Brondello also commended her team on making Wilson struggle for room. “I thought we did a good job on her (Wilson),” she said. “She had to work for all those points and when you’ve got [Jonquel Jones] and Stewie out there, you just throw a few different looks at her and make her uncomfortable.”

It was a statement win for the New York Liberty and a dominant one. The Las Vegas Aces never led the game and at one point, were 18 points behind. If they get outplayed this easily in Game 2 on Tuesday night, it’ll be a rather sad ending to their 2024 season. The once-close 3-peat now looks farther than ever.