“ It was a hell of a game. I don’t know if I’ve ever experienced anything comparable. Big shot after big shot, both sides really. “By staying eight years with Gregg Popovich, Becky Hammon has yet experienced great moments with the Spurs. But the last seconds of this Game 3, between his Aces and the Seattle Storm, will remain as a defining moment in his coaching career.
Seattle has yet thought to regain the advantage in this series. Less than two seconds from the end, Sue Bird (17 points and 8 assists) converted an award-winning shot from the corner to give her team a two-point lead (92-90). The scenario written by the leader, who is due to retire at the end of the season, seemed perfect.
Seattle Standing KO
It was without counting on a final possession, poorly defended by his team, which saw Jackie Young equalize at the buzzer and send everyone into overtime. An additional period during which the Aces will not go into detail and end up winning largely in the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle (98-110).
“ It was really frustrating. We had the game in hand and we gave them, that’s all “, cowardly annoyed Breanna Stewart, top scorer on her team (20 points and 15 rebounds), who still had a four-point lead ten seconds from time.
” We live for these moments. We work hard for these big games, just stay in it and realize we’ve worked to get where we are “, Welcomes the star of the Aces, A’ja Wilson, who finished with a career record in the playoffs (34 points and 11 rebounds).
This was well supported by Chelsea Gray (29 points and 12 assists) who, like the other protagonists, went through all the emotions at the end of the game: “’Oh no, they’re going to win, oh we’re going to overtime.’ This is basketball in the playoffs. “
Candace Parker and the Sky continue
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, quoted by ESPN, there had never been such a series of decisive shots in the last three seconds of a WNBA playoff game. It has never happened in an NBA playoff game in the last 25 seasons either.
Next Tuesday, the Aces will therefore have a first opportunity to qualify for the WNBA final, and this for the third time in the history of the franchise (finals lost in 2008 and 2020). The Las Vegas franchise could find the Chicago Sky there, which also won a second round against the Connecticut Sun (76-72), in a much less flamboyant encounter (37% overall success).
Author of 16 points and 11 rebounds, Candace Parker continues her huge playoff campaign and equals Tamika Catchings for the greatest number of “double-doubles” in the playoffs (27). His Chicago team is now four wins in total (including a possible final) of becoming the first team to do the double since the Los Angeles Sparks, in 2001 and 2002.
