The Las Vegas Aces come into Sunday’s home date with the last-place Connecticut Sun as winners in five of their last six games and within striking distance of a top-four spot in the WNBA standings.
Las Vegas (17-14) picked up its third consecutive win on Friday with a 90-86 defeat of Seattle. The victory had immediate implications for the league playoff race, moving the Aces a game ahead of the Storm and tied with Indiana for the fifth-best overall record.
Las Vegas ended the day 2.5 games behind Phoenix and Atlanta, which occupy the last two spots that would have home-court advantage in next month’s playoffs.
Yet while the Aces have positioned themselves well for the final regular-season push, coach Becky Hammon pointed to areas for improvement if Las Vegas is going to be a contender.
“Turnovers, poor defense, poor communication,” she told the Las Vegas Review-Journal following Friday’s win. “Everything that got (us) the lead, we did none of (in the third quarter). It’s gotta be better. We have to be able to put different groups on the floor and at least maintain, not do a nosedive.”
Two-time Most Valuable Player A’ja Wilson is having another award-winning caliber season, averaging 21.8 points per game — second in the WNBA behind only Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier — and second only to Chicago’s Angel Reese in rebounding at 9.2 per contest.
But Las Vegas is looking to find more contribution from role players. NaLyssa Smith, acquired last month in a trade from Dallas, provided a spark on Friday with a 10-point, 12-rebound double-double.
While Las Vegas continues a three-game homestand with Sunday’s affair, Connecticut (5-24) is on the third leg of a four-game road swing and first half of a back-to-back.
The slumping Sun battled Los Angeles closely on Thursday but could not weather a late surge in the 102-91 loss.
Marina Mabrey and Bria Hartley combined to go 9-of-18 shooting from 3-point range, and Tina Charles added 19 points, but it was not enough to prevent Connecticut’s ongoing losing skid from reaching three games.
The Sun also fell to 1-13 on the road this season.
“In general, it comes down to the defensive end,” Hartley said of Connecticut’s road woes. “We scored 91 points (on Thursday) and that’s good, but we’ve got to defend better.”
Connecticut’s 87.4 points allowed per game are second-most in the league. Thursday’s contest marked the third time in seven games that the Sun have given up at least 100 points.
–Field Level Media
