The Las Vegas Aces are moving on to the semifinals after a dramatic 11-point win over the Indiana Fever in Game 3 of their first-round series on Thursday. This is the second consecutive season that the Aces have won a winner-take-all game at home against the Fever.
The Aces will play either the Golden State Valkyries or Dallas Wings, who face off in a Game 3 of their own on Friday night, in the semifinals. That series will start on Sunday, either in San Francisco if the Valkyries advance or Las Vegas if the Wings advance.
A'ja Wilson, the presumptive MVP, bounced back from a lackluster Game 2 with a monster performance: 36 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks on 11 of 18 from the field. This was her 12th career 30-point game in the playoffs and her seventh career 30-point, 10-rebound game in the playoffs, both of which extended her own records. It was also her fifth career 35-point game in the playoffs, which is tied for the most all time.
"I don't want my season to be over, I don't want to go home," Wilson said, when asked about her mindset entering Game 3.
The Fever jumped out to an early eight-point lead behind Caitlin Clark, but the Aces battled back to take the lead heading into halftime. Early in the third, amid a Wilson takeover, the Aces built a 12-point lead and seemed to be on the verge of running away. This time, it was the Fever who had a response, and they continued to hang around until late in the fourth, when they cut the deficit to two with three minutes to play. Chelsea Gray stepped up with a few huge plays for the Aces, however, and the Fever faltered down the stretch.
Gray finished with 23 points and five assists in yet another clutch performance, while Jackie Young added 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists.
After a hot start, Clark couldn't get anything going in the final three quarters and finished with 18 points and four assists on 6 of 18 from the field. Kelsey Mitchell wasn't much better. She put up 23 points, but shot 7 of 23. Aliyah Boston had 19 points and 10 rebounds, but it was not enough.
Wilson responds to lead Aces to semis
A'ja Wilson was not at her best in Game 2. She took just 11 shots and was flustered by both the pace and intensity that the Fever played with, and the raucous crowd inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Late in the fourth quarter, she even went into the first row of seats to confront a fan for pointing at her, and was assessed a technical.
In the lead-up to Game 3, there was some talk about whether she would face additional punishment from the league. After all, the rulebook states that "deliberately entering the stands other than a continuance of play" is grounds for an ejection. In the end, the league did nothing, with a source telling The Athletic that Wilson was deemed to have still been on the court because she was in the escape lane.
The league may have used some fine print to arrive at their decision, but ultimately it was the correct one; no one wanted to see this game levied with an asterisk because Wilson was stuck on the sidelines. And, given the opportunity to play, Wilson made the most of it.
She hit her first shot, a short turnaround jumper, on the Aces' first possession, and never looked back. After the Fever had built an early eight-point lead, she scored eight consecutive points for the Aces late in the first to give them their first lead. It was more of the same in the second and the third, when she had personal runs of six and eight points to help the Aces build a 12-point lead. It was fitting that, after the Fever had cut the deficit to two late in the fourth, she sealed the win at the free-throw line.
"I don't want my season to be over, I don't want to go home," Wilson said. "When you got that mindset in these elimination games, every possession counts. The value of two points matters. I was just trying to send a message to not only the Indiana Fever, but to my teammates that we can't take any -- we kept saying, 'empty the tank, empty the tank.' Like, you have to do that on days like this. So that was my tone and my message."
The Fever were extremely aggressive against Wilson in Game 2, sending extra bodies at her whenever order to take the ball out of her hands. The strategy worked, helped by Wilson playing a bit methodically and some sub-par spacing from the Aces. Wilson turned the ball over four times -- her most turnovers in a playoff game since 2023.
Just take the first-quarter possession on Tuesday where Clark tied her up for example. The Aces get the ball to Wilson at the elbow, and she turns and faces up against Myisha Hines-Allen and takes a few beats to make her move. Cheyenne Parker-Tyus is only "spaced" to the other elbow, allowing Monique Billings to sit in the paint and prevent a middle drive. So, Wilson eventually drives right, then tries to spin back to her dominant left hand. Clark reads it and is there for a double and rips the ball loose to fire up the crowd.
Compare that to the first possession of Game 3. Young gets Wilson the ball at the high post and after Mitchell blows up a potential hand-off, Young spaces out to the top of the key, leaving the entire right side of the floor open. Wilson immediately drives to her right and hits the step-back jumper. Mitchell actually leaves Young to try and double, but is too far away and doesn't get there in time.
Wilson was far more decisive in Game 3, and was helped by the Aces' playcalling and spacing. Time and again, the Aces ran Wilson off pindowns like she was a guard, giving her the option to play in isolation from the top of the key -- where it was impossible to double -- or rise up for a catch-and-shoot jumper.
Wilson did much of her work in Game 3 outside of the paint. She was 2 of 3 from 3-point range, tying her playoff career-high, and 4 of 9 from the mid-range. When Wilson is making jumpers you really have no chance. She made just two shots at the rim all night, in part because when she did venture into the paint, she often drew fouls. Wilson shot 12 of 15 from the line; the Fever as a team were 14 of 20.
The free throw discrepancy will be a talking point, as it is after almost every playoff game, but it shouldn't overshadow yet another MVP-level performance from the best player in the world.
