FSM Essential Recap: Aces vs Storm - Game 19 - 2022

FSM Essential Recap: Aces vs. Storm – Game 19 – 2022

Franchise Sports Media

Las Vegas Aces (14-5)  |  Seattle Storm (12-7)

The Las Vegas Aces dropped their third game in four tries when they went into Seattle on Wednesday night and lost 88-78. The loss dropped Vegas out of first place in the WNBA standings. Here are five takeaways from the night:

1. Las Vegas’ issues are defending the 3-point line.

The Aces‘ Achilles heel is defending the 3-point line, and how effectively or ineffectively their opponent shoots it is most often the barometer between Aces’ wins and losses. In wins, they’re allowing just 7.9 makes per game on 29.4 percent shooting from deep. Conversely, in Vegas‘ five losses on the year, that average opponent’s 3-point total creeps up to 11.0 on 41.7 percent.

So it should come as no surprise that Seattle‘s 14 made threes were enough to beat the Aces on Wednesday. Whether it was Sue Bird pulling up off the dribble as Kelsey Plum went under screens, Jewell Loyd and Stephanie Talbot being the beneficiaries of the dribble-drive, or Breanna Stewart catching and launching from the top of the arc, Becky Hammon‘s squad couldn’t find a solution to the problem. It cost them another win.

2. Turnovers are an issue.

And if the 3-point shot was the main reason Vegas fell in defeat, turnovers were a close second. The Aces gave up the ball 17 times on Wednesday night, which turned into 23 Seattle points on the other end of the court. Kelsey Plum‘s six giveaways were particularly costly, albeit unlike her.

But it wasn’t just her. There were more than a few times in which Aces would throw the ball out of bounds to the sidelines and baseline, expecting teammates to be in spots they didn’t end up occupying. You can credit some to the Storm‘s ball pressure and ability to fluster Vegas a bit. Yet, many turnovers felt like miscues on the Aces‘ behalf.

It certainly wasn’t one of their cleanest games.

3. Iliana Rupert’s coming-out party

In just her third WNBA game, 2021 draft pick Iliana Rupert put up 11 points, five rebounds, and made three 3-pointers in 16 minutes of action against a Storm roster with some of the best bigs in the W in Ezi Magbegor and Tina Charles. Rupert looked extremely comfortable on both sides of the court and ended up a team-best plus-9 in those 16 minutes. She was arguably the second or third-best player on the night and the best-performing bench player for the second game in a row.

Nearly two months of the season, not much good has come from the Las Vegas bench. Riquna Williams has spent most of the season on the sideline nursing injuries. Kiah Stokes and Theresa Plaisance haven’t provided much outside of some occasionally made jump shots, and the rookies aren’t ready for the moment quite yet. But it only took a couple of games for Rupert to become the best thing that’s happened to the second unit.

Las Vegas will head to Minnesota for its third game of a four-game road trip. The Aces will look to get back in the win column this Friday, July 1st, against the Lynx before running it back on Sunday, July 3rd. You can catch Friday’s game live at 5 p.m. PST on NBA TV. Check back with us after the game.

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-Cole Huff– Franchise Sports Media