For the first time in 21 years, the WNBA has a back-to-back champion.
Down one point with 8.8 seconds left to play, the New York Liberty came out of a timeout with one last chance to make a last-second shot to force a do-or-die Game 5.
However, they were unable to get a shot off until Courtney Vandersloot took one as time expired, which did not make it into the net. The Las Vegas Aces claimed a 70-69 comeback victory at the Barclays Center after being down at the half.
With a score of 39-30 at the half in the Liberty’s favour, the series had looked like it was going back to Las Vegas for one final game.
Cut to the end of the third quarter, the Aces led by a basket, 53-51, and were 10 minutes away from another championship.
Less than two minutes into the fourth quarter, the Aces suddenly had a seven-point lead, while the Liberty seemed to not have an answer defensively to stop the momentum the Aces had built in the second half.
Vandersloot continued to fight, with the Liberty cutting the deficit back down to one point and even blocking a basket from A’ja Wilson that would have made it a three-point game with less than 20 seconds to play, but their first franchise title will still have to wait.
Here are some other takeaways from the 2023 WNBA Finals.
Wilson puts the Aces on her back
Losing both Chelsea Gray and Kiah Stokes to injury, the Las Vegas Aces became the first team in Finals history to lose two starters from one game to another.
Gray, the Aces’ floor general, had been solid in the playoffs thus far, averaging 15.6 points and 6.8 assists, and as head coach Becky Hammon said, you can’t just replace a player of Gray’s calibre.
Yet when you have the speed, size and skill of A’ja Wilson, there tends to be little doubt on just how much she can change the game even when other players who usually help lighten her load are out.
Down nine points at the half, Wilson and Alysha Clark combined to take the Aces on a 9-0 run to close out the quarter and lead by a basket, outscoring the Liberty 23-12, with the tunnel vision of a repeat championship ten minutes away.
With less than 1:30 to play, Wilson hit a turnaround jumper over Jonquel Jones to go up by six points, a pivotal moment showing Wilson’s skill and push for a championship even when the Liberty fought back.
She finished the game with a double-double, tallying 24 points, 16 rebounds a steal and a block, and showed exactly why she was not only in the MVP race, but why she was a top-three finalist in voting — and maybe even why she should have received more votes.
Wilson was named Finals MVP for the first time in her career after clinching the back-to-back title, adding to her two-time DPOY, two-time MVP, five-time All-Star and Olympic gold medal accolades.
Aces bench steps up to make the difference
In her first year back in the WNBA since 2018, Cayla George found herself in and out of Hammon’s rotation on the Aces, averaging 2.3 points and 1.8 rebounds in 32 games this season.
And with starting centre Kiah Stokes out, Las Vegas desperately needed George to step up in her absence.
George played 30 minutes in Game 4, finishing with 11 points, four rebounds and three assists in the win, being unafraid to shoot as she took 10 three-point attempts against the Liberty. George had shot 42 per cent from three during her past season with the Melbourne Boomers in the NWBL.
Another player who stepped up in light of injuries was Sydney Colson, who battled along the perimeter, played tight defence and finished with a +17 efficiency, +16 higher than any other player on the Aces in the win.
Clark, the WNBA’s Sixth Woman of the Year, also played a crucial part with her 10-point, eight-rebound performance. She also played MVP Breanna Stewart defensively to hold her to 10 points, less than half of her 21-point performance in Game 3.
Young plays the part in second half
At halftime, Wilson had nine points on 4-9 shooting, Jackie Young had five points on 2-6 shooting and Kelsey Plum had five points on 2-8 shooting.
Throughout the finals Gray, Wilson, Young and Plum had combined to average 75 of the team’s 88 points a game in the playoffs. And without Gray, the other three would need to step up if they wanted to close out the series.
With Kelsey Plum contributing just seven points going 0-of-4 from deep, unlike her usual 23-point or more performances seen in the first three games against New York, Young stepped up and scored 11 second half points.
Also stepping up in Gray’s absence, Young notched seven assists while also grabbing two steals, keeping up the theme of strong defence across the Aces and keeping the Liberty to less than 70 points for the first time since their semifinal loss to Connecticut.
“A’ja and, late in the game, Jackie got to the rim. We had some open looks that we missed, too,” said Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello, praising the work of Young in the fourth quarter.
Laney, Vandersloot try to keep Liberty’s dreams alive
When the regular season MVP goes 3-17 from the floor, other players are going to need to make big plays in order to keep their title dreams alive.
“I think they were just throwing whatever defence they had at us, make sure it was ugly, sometime we lost our flow and our ball movement, but we were confident behind all the shots we got, they just didn’t go in,” said Stewart.
Even sharpshooter Sabrina Ionescu was just 5-of-12 from the floor for 13 points, with the Liberty bench combining for only six points in their limited time on the floor.
Vandersloot and Betnijah Laney were the two who stepped up when needed most, as the team’s leading scorer was Vandersloot with 19 points including four made three-pointers, while Laney added 15 points, four rebounds and four assists in the win.
Stewart and Jonquel Jones still dominated on the defensive boards for the Liberty to keep the game close, but with Jones held to six points and just eight shot attempts, the Liberty did not have enough to overpower Wilson and the Aces in Game 4.
“I hope (the fans) know that we gave it our all. It didn’t end the way we wanted,” said Vandersloot.
“We look forward to building on it in the future.”