FSM Essential Recap: Aces vs Fever - Game 30 - 2022

FSM Essential Recap: Aces vs Fever – Game 30 – 2022

Franchise Sports Media

Las Vegas Aces (22-8)  |  Indiana Fever (5-27)

 

The Las Vegas Aces finished off their two-game mini-series in Indiana with a 94-69 win over the Fever on Sunday. The win helped them keep pace with the defending champion Chicago Sky for the WNBA’s No. 1 overall seed in the standings.

 

RECAP

 

Sunday afternoon in Indiana looked identical to Friday night. In a similar script, the Indiana Fever played the role of upset-hopeful in what looked to be another trap game for the Aces before they hit the road again for a date with the Washington Mystics. A hard-playing, well-connected Fever defense made life pretty weird for the visiting team throughout the first quarter and a half. Indiana limited the WNBA-best Las Vegas offense to only 31 points until Dearica Hamby‘s layup at the 3:15 mark. The bucket spurred an 8-0 run near the end of the quarter to expand the Aces‘ four-point lead to 41-33 at the half.

And yet again, Kelsey Plum (and her 17 points) ignited a dominant third quarter to separate the championship-favorite Aces from the league’s last-place team. The lead ballooned to 23 by the end of the third, then 30, and eventually 39 points before the final horn sounded and the Aces ended with a 94-69 win.

CHELSEA GRAY! NO YOU DIDN’T!!

Off the inbound?! 😳🫡@cgray209 // @JackieYoung3

#POINTGAWDDDDD pic.twitter.com/vXhrRACuuV

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) July 31, 2022

 

NOTES

 

• For the second game in a row, no Aces player played more than 28 minutes. The importance of keeping the players’ minutes low can’t be underscored enough. The five-person lineup of Hamby, Plum, Wilson, Gray, and Young leads all other 5-person-units in the WNBA by a wide margin. If Vegas is going to put together a deep playoff run, it’ll need its best players in tip-top shape by then. This two-game stretch in Indiana was perfect.

 

• The blowout meant rest for everyone, which also meant fewer minutes for A’ja Wilson to extend her 20-point streak of games from eight to nine. Wilson‘s 13 points in 22 minutes left her seven points shy, but her impact (+22) was obvious.

 

• Vegas played Indiana three times in the past couple of weeks, and each time, it increased its scoring while allowing fewer points. You have to take it with a grain of salt, being that it is the Fever (who are now without their best player due to injury), but being able to play more dominantly against the same team is hard to do.

 

• The Aces‘ bench was good. It scored 32 points, led by Theresa Plaissance’s 13 points in 15 minutes.

 

 

KEY PERFORMERS

 

A’ja Wilson (Las Vegas Aces) – 13 PTS, 5 REBS, 4 ASTS, 2 STLS

Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas Aces) – 26 PTS, 3 REB, 1 AST, 3/4 3PT

Jackie Young (Las Vegas Aces) – 13 PTS, 7 REBS, 1 AST, 1 STL, 1 BLK 1/2 3PT

NaLyssa Smith (Indiana Fever) – 20 PTS, 13 REBS, 1 AST, 2/4 3PT

Destanni Henderson (Indiana Fever) – 16 PTS, 2 REBS, 4 ASTS,

Emma Cannon (Indiana Fever) – 8 PTS, 4 REBS, 1/1 3PT

 

The Aces have a day in between games before taking on Elena Delle Donne and the Washington Mystics in the nation’s capital on Tuesday, August 2nd. Be sure to follow the action live at 4 pm PST on Facebook, and then come back here for a full game recap.

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-Cole Huff– Franchise Sports Media