LAS VEGAS (AP) — Becky Hammon wasn’t quite ready to look ahead, Sunday’s 76-62 loss to the Liberty that ended the Aces’ season in the WNBA semifinals still too fresh in her head.
But she acknowledged if Las Vegas was to return to championship form, the organization couldn’t sit still.
“We’ve never done exit meetings,” said Hammon, who just completed her third season but first without the league title. “We’ve done exit partying. So we’re going to have to get together and figure it out, but obviously we have to get better. We have to really take a sharp look at ourselves in the mirror, see our shortcomings.
“You’ve got to make the moves necessary, whatever that means, to put (out) the best product we possibly can. It’s not going to be the same group probably next year. It just won’t. And I’m sad about that because I really like that group.”
New York used the Aces as motivation to be the team that holds the trophy aloft at season’s end, and it was Las Vegas that did just that on the Liberty’s floor last year.
Now the roles are reversed, and Hammon spent much of this season lamenting that her team didn’t play with the same edge that helped it become the first club since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001-02 to win back-to-back championships.
She made the point Sunday that she expected this loss would fuel her team’s hunger to return to the top.
But it’s about more than grit, and the Liberty exposed the Aces up front. A’ja Wilson was named MVP for the third time, but she needed help to contend with the likes of a Liberty frontcourt that includes Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones. Both players combined for 33 points and 20 rebounds on Sunday.
The Aces, however, also received inconsistent play from their backcourt, which wasn’t helped as point guard Chelsea Gray needed time to work her way back from a foot injury suffered in last year’s WNBA Finals. She had her moments in Game 4 with six assists and scored seven points.
Jackie Young made just one of 10 shots and Kelsey Plum was 5 of 16.
New York, by contrast, actually shot higher from the 3-point arc (41.7%) in the deciding game than overall (39.4%).
Hammon could only marvel that the Liberty followed the Aces’ script of spreading the floor and shooting 3-pointers in bunches.
“We’ve changed the way this league plays,” Hammon said. “That’s something that our team can be proud of. We sped it up and spaced it out. I think it’s been great for our game.”
Now the Aces will head into the offseason with a lot to think about, from management to the coaches to the players.
They no longer are the target for everyone else. That will belong to whichever teams succeeds the Aces as champions.
Hammon will have to, at long last, handle exit interviews.
“Three-peats are hard,” Wilson said. “They’re hard as hell. But I think this year set the tone for us about how we want to handle things.”
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