Here’s hoping the teams meet in the Finals. That way, we can get a definitive answer to the question: Who’s best?
Perspective can be a good thing. The Las Vegas Aces apply that well, understanding the challenge of being a championship team after creating a dynasty by winning three of their last four championships in recent years. There’s no statement game for them.
This is why it’s easy for them to shrug off a 98-87 loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday afternoon at Target Center, in what was hyped as a heavyweight match between two WNBA title contenders. They know they won’t be defined by whether they won or lost that game.
They wanted to beat the Lynx on the road, which is always a key attribute of being a championship team. But they’re not going to be down after this setback. They know they are good enough to beat the Lynx or any contender in the fall when it really matters.
The same can be said about the Lynx. Even if they went 0-2 against the Aces, it won’t define them. The Lynx and Aces are the best teams in the league by far, and what we saw Saturday may be a WNBA Finals preview.
The Aces’ pedigree is undeniable, and A’ja Wilson is the clear frontrunner for the WNBA MVP award. The Lynx are a well-coached team under Hall of Fame coach Cheryl Reeve, who’s the best coach in the league. Reeve knows how to find the right players to execute her offense and play with cohesion, and she continues to field championship teams despite losing future Hall of Famers such as Seimone Augustus, Lindsay Whalen, Sylvia Fowles, and Maya Moore to retirement.
The Aces will have to go through the Lynx to repeat as champs and make a dynasty claim. On Saturday, Lynx star Napheesa Collier did an excellent job defending Wilson, who had to work for all of her 16 points in this contest. Despite scoring 23 points, Jackie Young wasn’t efficient as usual based on her 6-of-13 shooting and 3-of-6 3-point shooting. Chelsea Gray couldn’t get anything going after scoring nine points on 4-of-9 shooting with a 3-pointer to show for it.
But the difference maker in this game was Lynx rookie standout Olivia Miles, the overwhelming favorite to win the WNBA Rookie of the Year. Whenever the Aces would cut the deficit to four or six points, Miles answered with a couple of shots to extend the Lynx’s lead. She would also break down the Aces’ defense to score. You just knew this would be her day along with the Lynx when she hit the half-court heave to end the first quarter.
Miles scored a game-high 26 points on 11-of-23 shooting. She played like a veteran rather than a rookie, and watching this young star makes a basketball wonk wonder if she’s a top five player in the WNBA right now. She was that good against the Aces. She certainly introduced herself to them as a player to reckon with this fall.
This game was more about Miles than the Aces and Lynx. She had to prove to herself that she can fare well against the best, and she gave the Lynx and their fans reason to believe why the Lynx can dethrone the Aces if they meet up in the WNBA Finals. She’s a major reason why the Lynx are the best team in the league record-wise.
That said, let’s realize this was a tired Aces team that showed fatigue after playing four road games in eight days — five in nine games when they lace it up against the underachieving New York Liberty on Sunday. That’s why I predict the Aces should play much better against the Lynx when they meet again in Las Vegas on Saturday evening.
The Aces are the team to beat until they are beaten, and the Lynx are a team primed to win it all. Here’s hoping the two teams meet in the Finals. That way, we can get a definitive answer to the question: Who’s best?
