No “Three-peat” for Las Vegas Acesbeaten 3-1 by the New York Liberty in the semifinals of the WNBA playoffs. Despite the start of Game 3, A’ja Wilson and her teammates were this time simply weaker than their opponents, who knew how to make the right adjustments to end the series.
“We didn’t have what we needed in terms of address” notes Becky Hammon after the defeat (76-62) of her team, which finished the match with 33% shooting success, including 23% from distance. It’s indeed difficult to win with Jackie Young at 1/10 shooting, Kelsey Plum at 5/16 and Alysha Clark at 1/5…
“But I'm very proud of this group because we changed the way the league plays. We picked up the pace, spread the game” continues the former assistant of Gregg Popovich. “And I think it’s very good for our game. We see a lot of great individual performances. It's fun to play that way and it's our core of four players (A'ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young) that started it.”
“Three-peats” are difficult and rare
On the New York side, we admit that beating the Aces, two-time defending champions, looks like a “rite of passage” in Jonquel Jones' own words.
“They made us a better team”recognizes Sabrina Ionescu, who wanted revenge for the defeat suffered during the last Finals. “They laid the foundation and continued to motivate everyone in the league to be better and want to win championships. »
The Liberty thus made adjustments, notably with the recruitment of Leonie Fiebich, to better face the Aces who, for their part, lacked energy and determination this season.
“Yes, the result is not what we wanted, but I think there are things that we can take away and that we should not completely reject”concludes A'ja Wilson. “Three-peats are difficult. It's very hard. That's why it doesn't happen often. But I think this year has allowed us to set the tone heading into the offseason on how we want to run things (next year). »
