LAS VEGAS (AP) — A return home helped Las Vegas stave off elimination by New York and look like the team that has won consecutive WNBA championships, while Connecticut couldn’t stop Minnesota and take advantage of their homecourt.
Both the Aces and Sun now will try to avoid seeing their seasons end on Sunday when they host Game 4 of their semifinal series.
Las Vegas beat New York 95-81 on Friday night in Game 3 of the best-of-five semifinal series. The Aces still trail 2-1. Connecticut got down early and never really was able to get close to Minnesota, falling 90-81. The Sun are also down 2-1.
The Liberty entered their matchup having gone 5-0 against Las Vegas this year, including 2-0 in the postseason. But like in last year’s WNBA Finals when a short-handed Aces team won the title on New York’s floor, the Liberty know eliminating the champions is not that simple.
“We have to keep our heads up because Game 4 is coming very, very quickly,” Liberty star Breanna Stewart said. “But we need to learn quickly as well and be ready for the next game because it’s not going to get any easier from here. This is the playoffs.”
The Liberty can expect another hostile atmosphere, and the Aces fed off their crowd to help stay alive.
But, more importantly, Las Vegas turned up the defensive intensity, outscoring the Liberty 42-28 in the lane and holding Sabrina Ionescu — who entered the game averaging 24.5 points — to four points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Aces coach Becky Hammon credited Kelsey Plum for helping devise the game plan that helped limit Ionescu. But the Aces know the Liberty will make their own adjustments, and how Game 4 plays out could be considerably different than Game 3.
But, for the Aces’ sake, at least there’s another game to play.
“The minute you get comfortable, that’s when you get exposed,” Las Vegas point guard Chelsea Gray said. “We executed this game, we executed for four quarters, and so we start all over again Sunday. We’re still down 2-1. We haven’t done anything.”
Like Las Vegas, Connecticut will have the home crowd support, but needs to play better on the defensive end. The Sun allowed Minnesota to shoot 57% from the field and didn’t pose much of a challenge on the defensive end.
“We didn’t come to compete. It didn’t matter what we were in defensively,” Sun forward Alyssa Thomas said. “We got to look in the mirror and want it. If we’re not going to come out there and compete this is the result.”
Connecticut has been to the Finals twice since Minnesota’s run, the last time coming in 2022. The Sun lost both times.
“We’re playing for an opportunity to play in the WNBA Finals,” Connecticut coach Stephanie White said. “Our back is against the wall and we know that we have to be better.”
The Lynx know closing out the Sun on the road won’t be easy.
“Obviously it’s a hard thing to do. And we have to be a lot better in the areas that we really need to play against,” Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said of finishing off the series on Sunday.
The Lynx will try and reach the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2017. That year the team won the fourth of its championships in a seven-year span.
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Doug Feinberg contributed to this story from Uncasville, Connecticut.
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