Watch Washington Mystics @ Las Vegas Aces Game 3 live on Sky Sports Arena on Sunday at 10pm
Saturday 21 September 2019 11:17, UK
The Las Vegas Aces face elimination in Game 3 of their playoff semi-final against the Washington Mystics but the five-game series is far from over, writes WNBA analyst Huw Hopkins.
If there were questions about whether Game 1 ended fairly between the Las Vegas Aces and the Washington Mystics, the team with the best regular-season record put to bed any quarrels about who the best team was in this second match-up.
It's not like the contest was completely lopsided, but even when Las Vegas came back from a double-digit deficit in the second quarter, and took the lead briefly in the second half, you never felt like Washington were ever in any trouble.
In the previous single-game elimination round against the Chicago Sky, the Aces' rotation of three bigs - the dominant Liz Cambage, the skillful A'ja Wilson and the Sixth Woman of the Year Dearica Hamby - just looked too much against Chicago's rotation of perimeter players. However, against the Mystics so far, Vegas head coach Bill Laimbeer has been unable to make the most of all three being in the floor at the same time.
His Washington counterpart Mike Thibault has a formidable frontcourt rotation of his own. While no one from the trio of LaToya Sanders, Elena Delle Donne and Emma Meesseman can match Cambage for height or strength, they each possess unique assets on that end of the court that can make life difficult for their big opponents.
Sanders lacks height but has great wingspan, length and speed, Delle Donne has the smarts to outperform anyone of offense and that comes in handy when defending, and Meesseman is extremely intelligent and incredibly tough - after a physical game earlier this year, the Belgian had bruises and scratches all over her, but she just said: "I guess they like getting manicures."
When the Mystics are on offense, no team in the league can defend the two-woman game between their all-world talents at the power forward and center position. Delle Donne and Meesseman can play with their back to the basket, shoot from the outside with the best of them - Meesseman has hit seven of her 11 three-point shots so far against Las Vegas - and both of them have sneaky-quick first steps to get past their defenders.
And while Kristi Toliver has struggled to get up to speed in her first two games back from a knee injury that ruled her out for five weeks, the former WNBA champion has enough smarts to be effective on the floor.
It all contributed to a 103-91 win in which Meesseman scored 30 points while five of her team-mates also produced double-digit scoring efforts.
While the Aces might be at a low, you wouldn't want to bet against them back in Las Vegas, where the series now shifts. After Game 2, Cambage said: "We get to go home now, where our crowd lifts us up. We're not done, this is just getting started."
There are still plenty of positives to be taken from each game. Cambage has been strong in both contests, averaging 21 and 11. In Game 2, Wilson appeared to have drifted off to sea and only managed to score on open lay-ups and fast breaks. For the most part, the Mystics defended her well, but she is too good to keep down.
The trump card in the pack is Kelsey Plum. She is the all-time leading scorer in the history of college basketball but has struggled in the WNBA. When asked what's changed in the past two games, during which she is averaging 17, 9 and 6, she simply said: "Playing point guard."
Plum is at her best with the ball in her hands, and she has turned into one hell of a defender, something that was considered a weakness coming into the league.
Offensively, Las Vegas did well mostly. Tamera Young stepped up for stretches when Wilson struggled, but everything went in during the opening quarter and the Aces stormed back when they faced a deficit later in the game.
But there were moments when the team looked terrible defensively. On multiple possessions, the Aces schemed to defend Sanders with zone principles in the low post, but they left Delle Donne open on the weak side for an easy jump shot or drive. The plan was new to the team, and it wasn't the only occasion when Laimbeer attempted something new - Cambage was not pleased with some of the rotation decisions.
But these issues are fixable. The Aces have three All-Stars, two or three other players who can play at that level, and a decent bench of veterans. Perhaps they just need a bit of luck, and if that's the case, there's nowhere like Las Vegas.
Watch Washington Mystics @ Las Vegas Aces Game 3 live on Sky Sports Arena on Sunday at 10pm
