FSM Essential Recap: Aces vs Lynx - Game 20

FSM Essential Recap: Aces vs. Lynx – Game 20

Franchise Sports Media

Las Vegas Aces (14-6) | Minnesota Lynx (11-7)

 

 

After losing to the Minnesota Lynx exactly two weeks ago, the Las Vegas Aces had a chance to avenge their loss at Michelob Ultra Arena on Friday night. Unfortunately, they’d drop another game to the Lynx, 77-67, after playing from behind all game long.

 

RECAP:

 

As Brittney Griner did to the Aces in their 99-90 loss to the Mercury on Wednesday night, Damiris Dantas attacked Vegas out of the gates with a pair of catch-and-shoot jump shots. Riquna Williams and Jackie Young scored the Aces’ first six points, but more perimeter jumpers from Sylvia Fowles and Napheesa Collier put the Lynx out to a 15-6 lead before Bill Laimbeer had to burn a timeout. Williams came out of the timeout with consecutive jumpers made, including a corner three, but Dantas knocked down another two perimeter shots of her own on the way to 14 first-quarter points. To add to the Minnesota offensive onslaught, former Ace Kayla McBride drilled a deep three in her return to Michelob Ultra Arena, which gave the Lynx a 33-18 lead after one.

Sylvia Fowles and Bridget Carleton scored four quick points for Minnesota, and their lead blossomed to 19 points less than a minute into the quarter. Dearica Hamby helped weather the storm with a couple of layups at the rim, but four early-quarter turnovers offset any momentum that Vegas tried to build. Although the Aces were able to put together a couple of mini-runs of 4-0 and 6-0, they still remained down by 13. Finally, the home team got out in transition once they forced a few stops, which led to some easy layups for Kelsey Plum, A’ja Wilson, and Hamby towards the end of the quarter. Still, Minnesota took a 49-37 lead at the half.

 

Minnesota continued to lock down on the Aces’ offense, forcing a lot of pass-less Vegas possessions that ended in turnovers and misses out of some late-clock isolations. The Lynx’s offense wasn’t much better, but they were able to get production from nearly every player that got time. Fowles was her usual dominant self in the low-post, Clarendon played bully ball against the smaller Aces guards, and Rachel Banham came in and hit a timely three. Kelsey Plum scored five of the Aces’ 12 third-quarter points down the final minutes of the quarter to leave Vegas in a 15-point hole with one quarter left to play.

Not much changed regarding the results to begin the fourth quarter. The Lynx scored every time that Vegas finally created some offense, and the Aces continued to commit unforced turnovers. Perhaps a result of tired legs, but many shots were repeatedly front-rimmed the Aces, who had just come off an overtime loss just 48 hours ago. That didn’t stop Minnesota from their aggressive attack on both ends of the court, however. Vegas was never able to cut the Lynx’s lead to single digits, and they’d lose 77-67 — their second loss in a row and first back-to-back losses of the season.

 

POSITIVES:

 

Stopping the Bleeding – Minnesota scored 33 points in the first quarter, having made seven threes, but for the remaining three quarters, the Lynx scored just 44 points. Vegas did a great job of adjusting to the pick-and-pop and figuring out the Lynx’s offense, but it was their own offense that was to blame for the loss. 

. @cgray209 👉 @JackieYoung3 👉 @_ajawilson22 #ALLIN ♦️♠️ pic.twitter.com/VrD0RIG031

— Las Vegas Aces (@LVAces) July 10, 2021

 

NEGATIVES:

Ball Movement – The Aces’ scored 67 points largely due to their lack of ball movement. Plenty of possessions were wasted holding the ball and playing one-on-one towards the end of possessions. Credit the Lynx for their defense, though, and their ability to confuse Vegas for the majority of the game.

Defending the Three – This could be a direct copy and paste from the previous game against the Mercury, as the Aces failed to defend the three-point line. This time, Damiris Dantas burned Vegas with a ton of pick-and-pop threes. Eventually, Vegas began switching screens to eliminate the pop threat, but a lot of damage had already been done.

 

 

The Aces play their final game before the all-star break on Sunday, July 11th in Texas against the Dallas Wings. Tune into ABC at 10:00 a.m. PST to follow the action live, and make sure to catch the next recap here at Franchise Sports Media.

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