A new WNBA champion will be crowned as the top-seeded Las Vegas Aces and continual fighters in the Connecticut Sun face off with both trying to win the first-ever title for their respective franchises.
Here's a look at the No. 1 vs. No. 3 seed in a best-of-five series with Las Vegas getting the home-court advantage.
The Aces took the season series 2-1 against the Sun but each game was decided by single digits as the two teams battled for a top spot in their respective conferences.
Aces: Chelsea Gray
It’s easy to look at the Aces and look at MVP-DPOY-All-Star A'ja Wilson and know she is the engine that makes Las Vegas run. They wouldn't have been in the WNBA Finals two years ago without her, and they wouldn’t be back without her either.
But since that 2020 season, they acquired a new point guard in Chelsea Gray, and her impact on levelling the Aces up to be a team that can compete for a title is apparent.
Gray is averaging 24 points per game running off a 75.8 per cent true shooting, being one of the best mid-range shooters in the league. Her 62.6 per cent from the field and 59.5 per cent from beyond the arc on top of 4.3 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game puts her second in scoring average and first in assists entering the Finals.
Sun: DeWanna Bonner
Another team with an MVP candidate in the last two years — this time in Jonquel Jones — has someone else on their roster who can be counted on when they need her to show up most. DeWanna Bonner has been that for Connecticut since she arrived on the team three years ago.
Bonner can add perimeter buckets for the Sun, scoring 12 or more points for Connecticut in six of their eight playoff games this post-season as well as adding nine or more rebounds in three of them, including a double-double 18-point, 11-rebound performance in Game 3 against Chicago. Bonner also can make plays averaging 3.6 assists per game, as well as being a stealthy defender averaging 1.6 steals per game.
Jones has not been getting the same minutes or touches since the return of Alyssa Thomas, a player who makes the Sun better, but also takes over some of the workload that made what Jones did in 2021 so impressive.
With Bonner stepping up to add another scoring option who won’t be as heavily guarded as Jones or Thomas, the Sun have sneaky chances to get ahead.
The Connecticut Sun have mentioned how they’ve been disrespected and written off on their run to the WNBA Finals, and they have one of the most talented rosters in the league — but if there’s one team that’s hard to stop, it’s Las Vegas.
They have Wilson, Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young all starting, a bench that can stand up to any other team’s All-Stars, and a first-year head coach with a point to prove in Becky Hammon.
Statistically speaking, since their team morale can’t win them the WNBA Finals alone, Las Vegas has an overwhelming shooting powerhouse who will make Connecticut play tough man-to-man since they have so many offensive weapons.
The Sun have talent of their own in Bonner, Jones, Thomas and their deep bench, and take the advantage in size, knowing they will have to command the paint and the rebounds (but still have to face the DPOY in Wilson).
But with the Aces being able to attack in transition and shoot at a team rate of 49.5 per cent while also averaging 31.7 defensive rebounds per game, they have too much talent to overpower.
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