Celebrations didn’t last long for A’ja Wilson, who secured her record-setting fourth WNBA MVP award, only to watch the Las Vegas Aces stumble in a stunning Game 1 loss to the Indiana Fever.
Indiana, riding momentum and confidence, rolled to an 89-73 win over the No. 2 seed. Golden State Warriors forward and four-time NBA champion Draymond Green even suggested that Wilson’s award presentation right before tip-off may have played into the upset.
“The Fever did exactly what they were supposed to do,” Green wrote on Threads. “When you have an MVP crowned before a playoff game, it’s something weird about the energy that the team usually can’t shake in that game. The Fever capitalized.”
He continued, “It’s very hard to put the excitement for the MVP aside for the team and move forward with energy. Usually results in an extremely flat team.”
The Aces looked flat indeed. Indiana shot an even 50% from the field while holding Las Vegas to 40.8% overall and just 29.6% from deep. A’ja Wilson, meanwhile, struggled to back up her newly minted MVP status, finishing with just 16 points on 6-for-22 shooting across 34 minutes.
“I thought it was really poor”: Hammon calls out A’ja Wilson and the Aces after Game 1
Coach Becky Hammon, who had promised to showcase the Aces’ brand of elite basketball before the series began, didn’t mince words after the loss. She put the blame on both ends of the floor, starting with the inability to slow down Kelsey Mitchell.
“You can start on the defensive end,” Hammon said. “I mean, clearly, we had no answer for Mitchell. Couldn’t even attempt to slow her down a little bit. I thought it was really poor.”
She added, “Our problem was on the defensive end, and then not moving the ball at all on the offensive end. It was — we’ll have a talk about it.”
While Wilson edged out Mitchell and other stars for MVP honors, it was Mitchell who stole the spotlight. The Fever guard erupted for 34 points in 34 minutes — the second-highest scoring performance in franchise playoff history — putting Indiana one step closer to the Finals.
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Dan has been active in sports since 2016 and has worked behind the scenes as a scriptwriter for basketball, volleyball, and other sports. At a time, Dan has also been working as a sports commentator for CBA Pilipinas. During the pandemic, he has also been actively writing betting articles for CashBet and BetNow.
