Guru’s WNBA Report: Las Vegas Rallies in Semis Game 5 Second Half to Edge Connecticut 66-63 And Set Up 1-2 Showdown with Seattle in Finals

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

 

The Las Vegas Aces shook off a 13-point deficit at the end of the first quarter and rallied to edge the Connecticut Sun 66-63 Tuesday night to claim their semifinals series 3-2 in an exciting decisive Game 5 to set a 1-2 showdown in the WNBA Finals for the second straight season, this one without fans and most live media at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

 

The best-of-five finals will begin Friday night at 7 p.m. on ESPN2, two days ahead of the original planned opening on Sunday, which will now feature Game 2 on ABC-TV at 3 p.m.

 

The rest of the series will have Game 3 on Tuesday, if necessary Game 4 on Thursday, and if still necessary, a Game 5 a week from Sunday.

 

Back in early July when the teams arrived in Florida and train for the delayed start to a coronavirus-shortened 22-game regular season, Las Vegas coach Bill Laimbeer, the former NBA Detroit Pistons Bad Boys era veteran who won three WNBA crowns with the former Detroit Shock, did not see his team as a prime contender this summer.

 

“In the playoffs, as it becomes with two teams going at it against each other, it becomes a test of wills, Laimbeer said of the series and Tuesday’s result. “Tonight was no exception. 

 

“It wasn’t the prettiest game, especially down the stretch, but both teams were getting stops, both teams were getting rebounds, we dug out a lot of loose balls, the big plays were made by A’ja Wilson, going to the free throw line, attacking the basket, and then both teams were playing defense and no one could score.

 

“That’s a test of wills. That’s what happened today. It was an ugly basketball game but it was a pretty basketball game because our team learned a lot about themselves,” Laimbeer said. “We didn’t give up. We were down early. We kept playing.

 

“Adversity wasn’t going for us. It was going against us. And we just gutted it out. And now it’s on to the next series.”

 

The Sun looked good through the first 10 minutes Tuesday but for all purposes the offense died the rest of the way though the Aces didn’t take control for good until 1:47 left in regulation when Wilson, the league’s regular season MVP, connected on two foul shots to make it 64-63 and she made two more with 1:36 left to complete the night’s scoring by both teams.

 

“The starters did their job,” Laimbeer said. “It’s a team game. Every night someone different may go off. But, yeah, we’ll take this one.”

 

The seventh-seeded Sun (10-12) fell just three points short of where they left off a year ago extending the Washington Mystics into early in the fourth quarter of another decisive Game 5 in the nation’s capital that gave the home team it’s first-ever title.

 

The Sun’s first quarter advantage was built on a 20-6 run at the close of the period, the 30 points becoming the most points in the period by any team in this season’s playoff field. 

 

Connecticut had become the Cinderella team in the playoffs bouncing back from an 0-5 regular season start as the entire league like their NBA relatives sequestered in a bubble atmosphere in Florida.

 

But the Sun recovered to become the first team in the 24-year-history of the WNBA to then move from that beginning to reverse direction and advance to the semifinals. 

 

While the Connecticut body of work to qualify for the postseason included just two wins over teams with records of .500 or better — 1-1 splits with the Chicago Sky and Phoenix Mercury — once the playoffs got under way it became a different story.

 

The Sun upset the sixth-seeded Chicago Sky and third-seeded Los Angeles in the first two single-elimination rounds, and then pounced on a week’s-long rested Aces in their semifinal opener making good on coach Curt Miller’s earlier forecast that his team was going to be a tough out.

 

The Sun had their opportunity taking a 2-1 lead in the series when Alyssa Thomas returned from missing all but five minutes of Game 2 with a dislocated shoulder.

 

But in the second half of Sunday’s Game 4, Angel McCoughtry willed the top-seeded Aces (18-4) to dead even setting up the completed comeback Tuesday and facing the second-seeded Seattle Storm (18-4), who completed a 3-0 sweep of the fourth-seeded Minnesota Lynx (14-8) Sunday to advance to the finals for the second time in three seasons.

 

Still, Connecticut got off to a terrific start in the first quarter, leading 30-17 after the first 10 minutes, but then Las Vegas crept back the rest of the way, first outscoring the Sun 22-15 in the next period to trail 45-39. The Aces thrived on a 12-0 run in the period. 

 

“You could tell we were getting frustrated,” Miller said. “But we gathered and played our tails off defensively, but we had 13 turnovers in the period.”

 

It was defense as much as offense on the Aces’ side the second half, outscoring the opposition 14-9 in the third to trail 54-53 going in the last period, in which Las Vegas owned the differential 13-9.

 

“Both teams played so hard, both teams are really talented, defensively,” Miller gave fatigue some mitigating factor in the combined low scoring in the final period.

 

In the game the Aces thrived where they do much of the time shooting 19-for-22 from the line while Connecticut made 8-of-9 free throws.

 

In the playoffs, the Sun’s DeWanna Bonner was 32-for-32 from the line, tying Washington’s Elena Delle Donne for most foul shots without a miss and most consecutive foul shots without a miss in a single postseason.

 

Seattle was first in the standings all summer until the final day of the regular season when the Storm were caught by Las Vegas to finish with identical records but the Aces got the top seed off a 2-0 series sweep though both teams earned double byes to the semifinals.

 

Wilson, the former South Carolina superstar, lived up to her regular season vote as the league MVP, scoring 23 points and grabbing 11 rebounds Tuesday for the Aces, while also dealing four assists, and she also blocked three shots.

 

“Knew it was time to put the team on my back,” said Wilson, who had 11 of her points in that final period when Connecticut was unable to get a three-point shot off at the finish that if good would have forced overtime.

 

“Thought I was in cruise control throughout the whole season. When the fourth quarter came, had to flip the switch. Felt like I did. The job still isn’t done.

 

“This is the Finals. The two best teams in the league going at it,” Wilson said. “End of day, we’ll go back and watch film on ourselves and Seattle.”

 

McCoughtry continued her fine play off Game 4, scoring 20 points, while Kayla McBride had 10 points and Carolyn Swords and Danielle Robinson each grabbed 10 rebounds.

 

Las Vegas was able to make do without Dearica Hamby, winner of the Sixth Player Award, who was lost the rest of the way would be with an injury.

 

Playing in all but one minute, Connecticut got 22 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, plus a steal and blocked shot from its engine, former Maryland standout Alyssa Thomas, while Bonner had 15 points, eight rebounds, six assists, five steals, and three blocks, the first player to have such a stat line in a playoff game, and Brionna Jones grabbed 12 rebounds.

 

Jasmine Thomas had nine points and even though the Sun struggled offensively after the first quarter, Alyssa Thomas put the Sun up 63-62 on a jumper with 2 minutes, 32 seconds left in regulation.

 

But that was to be the last Connecticut points in what became a 4-0 finish by Las Vegas courtesy of 
Wilson’s foul shots.

 

“Shoot under 25 % for a half,” Miller said of the final 20 minutes. “I don’t care what level you coach at, you don’t win a lot of games when you shoot under 25 % for a half.” 

 

As for Seattle, Laimbeer said, “They’re going to be rested. Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes that’s bad.   There’s a bit of rust. But we know them, they know us. We eyeballed each other twice. 

 

“Dearica won’t be playing. That’s a body we can put on Stewie (Breanna Stewart). We have what we have. We just have to be competitive and win games. 

 

“You saw, we’re a competitive bunch. The toughness of this ball club, the mental toughness of this ball club is outstanding.

 

“A large part of that I credit to Angel McCoughtry.”

 

The former Louisville star was the big offseason free agent acquisition after previously playing her entire career with the Atlanta Dream.

 

Xxx

 

The WNBA announced two more postseason honors, with the Los Angeles Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike winning the Kim Perrot sportsmanship award.

 

There was a bit of controversy on the first and second team all-defensive teams selected by the league’s 12 coaches, who could not vote for their own players.

 

Los Angeles’s Candace Parker, who won the individual Defensive Player of the Year handed out in the series of honors deliberated by a national media panel, did not appear on either defensive squad, a first for a WNBA player so individually honored.

 

The first team consisted of former Rutgers star Betnijah Laney and Elizabeth Williams from Atlanta, Seattle’s Alysha Clark, the only unanimous pick; Brianna Turner of Phoenix, and Connecticut’s Alyssa Thomas.

 

Seattle’s Breanna Stewart, Minnesota’s Napheesa Collier, Washington’s Ariel Atkins, Las Vegas’ Wilson, and Los Angeles’ Brittney Sykes made the second team.