On Aug 2, 2025, the Minnesota Lynx took their league-best record to Las Vegas and trounced the Aces in every sense of the word.
The 111-58 blowout loss looked like not only the end of Las Vegas’ WNBA season, but of the strongest run of form over the last six seasons of any other franchise.
As the WNBA playoffs pick up, Las Vegas has not only rebounded from a slow start, but they are playing like a team destined for its third title in four seasons.
The Aces entered the postseason on a 16-game winning streak[1] that began after that one-sided matchup against the Lynx to start August.
In that run of form, the second longest streak in WNBA league history, Las Vegas beat six of the other seven playoff teams, including a 10-point win against Minnesota on Sept. 4 with Napheesa Collier back in the lineup after going down injured against Vegas in August.
On Sunday, Las Vegas began another playoff run by showing the league its full capabilities in a 102-77 lopsided blowout victory of their own, the first win of nine the Aces need to pick up another WNBA Championship.
A’ja Wilson, who has played like she is on her way to a fourth WNBA MVP award, continues to lead the way.
Wilson was a force on both sides of the ball this season, leading the league in points, free throws, rebounds, points per game, rebounds per game and blocks per game.
In win shares, an estimate of how many wins a player contributes to on both offense and defense, Wilson leads the league on both sides of the ball with 6.2 wins on offense and 3.3 on defense and the gap between first and second is wider than anyone else in the top 10.
During the 16-game winning streak, Wilson averaged 26.1 points and 12 rebounds per game, above her already league-leading 23.4 points and 10.2 rebounds per game averages, both of which are above what will be her Hall of Fame career averages.
How impactful is Wilson? In multiple away arenas during the streak to end the season, opposing fans chanted “MVP” for the Aces star.
Wilson also showed after their Sunday victory that the winning streak is not a distraction[2] for the team,
“You guys celebrate this more than we do,” Wilson said. “The streak stopped in the regular season.”
It is not only a lone superstar or the right mindset that gives Las Vegas an edge over other teams in the playoffs.
What makes Las Vegas so dangerous is a group of playmakers that turned the Aces into one of the deepest teams in the league.
Jackie Young became the youngest and fastest player to hit 3,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 rebounds in a career and sits behind Wilson as Vegas’ second-best playmaker at 16.5 points and 5.1 assists per game.
Only Chelsea Gray has more assists on the Aces at 5.4 and when Gray is not finding teammates with pinpoint and often circus-like passes, she is the glue at point guard holding Las Vegas’ attack together.
The three-time WNBA champion entered this year’s playoffs averaging seven assists in the 16-game winning streak, nearly doubling her season high.
Then there are new arrivals like Jewell Loyd and NaLyssa Smith.
Loyd came to Las Vegas from Seattle and after hiccups to start her season, moved to the bench and became a reliable scorer off the bench and enters game two of the playoffs on a three-game streak scoring in double-digits.
The Dallas Wings traded Smith to Vegas at the trade deadline to not much fanfare, but Smith earned a spot in the starting lineup and can score both in the paint and developed strong shooting from deep, shooting 37.5 percent from beyond the arc as a 6-foot-4 big.
Championship experience is another key advantage for the Aces should they meet the Lynx in the WNBA Finals, because Las Vegas has it in droves with the trio of Wilson, Young and Gray all winning multiple titles with the franchise over the last four seasons.
Minnesota is talented, has an MVP candidate in Collier and a strong lineup featuring three all-stars, but no starter has a WNBA championship.
Las Vegas has been there before and have the strongest chance of being there again, and this time they can win the whole thing.
References
- ^ entered the postseason on a 16-game winning streak (deadspin.com)
- ^ the winning streak is not a distraction (www.espn.com)