FSM Essential Recap: Aces vs Sun - Game 25 - 2022

FSM Essential Recap: Aces vs Sun – Game 25 – 2022

Franchise Sports Media

Las Vegas Aces (18-7)  |  Connecticut Sun (16-9)

For the second time in a matter of days, the Aces secured a season series against a potential playoff opponent. Their 91-83 victory over the Sun gave Las Vegas a three-game winning streak, its longest since the middle of June.

It had been nearly a month and a half since the Las Vegas Aces, and the Connecticut Sun had last seen one another. But it didn’t take long for two of the league’s mainstays at the top of the standings to get reacquainted. The Aces and Sun did what they do best when they play one another — compete.

You can almost copy and paste each prior matchup into the next when these teams go to battle. Size and physicality take the lead over all things, with A’ja Wilson and Dearica Hamby being met by the brute strength of Brionna Jones, Jonquel Jones, and Alyssa Thomas. Likewise, in the backcourt matchups of Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray going up against Natisha Hiedeman and Dijonai Carrington.

And recently, the outcomes have gone Connecticut‘s way (4-1 in the last five meetings vs. Las Vegas), leaving little doubt who’s style reigned supreme in this matchup. But the tables turned on Sunday.

Simply put, Las Vegas beat Connecticut at its own game. The Sun thrive in taking the ball from their opponent and turning those opportunities into points on the other end. They’re amongst the league’s best, as shown by the statistics (they lead the W in points off of turnovers). So, it indeed was a nightmarish and unfamiliar feeling for Kurt Miller‘s squad to watch the Aces force his team into 22 turnovers and score 33 points off them. As one would imagine, Becky Hammon felt quite differently.

Obviously, the defense won us the game tonight,” said Hammon following the game. Creating turnovers and just getting more shots for ourselves on a night that we kind of struggled to shoot the three.

Yet, the game remained close despite the turnovers department’s one-sidedness. But the difference in close games can sometimes be as simple as which team’s superstars have superstar moments. Connecticut mostly lacked them when it mattered most — DeWanna Bonner had a couple of moments, but not nearly enough. For the Aces, it was a Chelsea Gray game, a type of game that has come repeatedly since the All-Star Break.

Not a single member of the Sun had any ability to close the curtains on the show that Gray put on. Her ten first-half points and four assists kept the Aces in it long enough for the offense to wake up and smell the coffee during the last 20 minutes of Sunday’s outing. She aided a tremendous third-quarter run and then helped close the show en route to a 21-point, 9-assist, 3-steal game.

“Big win for us coming out of All-Star Break to get three on the road,” said Hammon. “We said, coming into this, we’re not coming to get one. We came to get three on this road trip.”

With the 91-83 win, the Aces are now 3-0 since returning from the break. They now head home for three straight games at Michelob ULTRA Arena, with the first coming on Tuesday, July 19th, against Rhyne Howard and the Atlanta Dream. Follow the action live at 7 pm PST on NBA TV, and then be sure to come back here for a recap.

Aces vs Sun                Aces vs Sun               Aces vs Sun              Aces vs Sun               Aces vs Sun               Aces vs Sun           Aces vs Sun                                                                      

-Cole Huff– Franchise Sports Media