A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young were downgraded to out for the Las Vegas Aces’ game at the New York Liberty on Sunday.
A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, and Jackie Young were downgraded to out for the Las Vegas Aces’ game at the New York Liberty on Sunday. All three are listed as rest on the injury report.
Sunday is the second half of a back-to-back and the fifth and final game of a road trip that began in Chicago on Aug. 1. Las Vegas lost 98-87 at Minnesota on Saturday afternoon, tipping off at 12 p.m. CDT, and Sunday’s game in Brooklyn tips at 12:30 p.m. ET on ABC.
Wilson had 16 points and 8 rebounds on 5-of-17 shooting on Saturday. Young led Las Vegas with 23 points, shooting 6-of-13 from the floor and 8-of-8 at the free throw line. Gray finished with 9 points and 6 assists.
Aces coach Becky Hammon said Saturday’s loss was one of Las Vegas’ poorest defensive execution games of the season.
“Yeah, there’s gonna be some rotation things for sure, probably,” Hammon said. “It’s just too many minutes on our players. So I’ll meet with my staff and we’ll discuss how that’s gonna look.”
Cheyenne Parker-Tyus remains in concussion protocol and Justine Pissott is out with a right leg injury. Both missed Saturday’s game.
Las Vegas went 2-2 over the first four games of the trip. The Aces lost 84-83 at Chicago on Aug. 1 and beat Atlanta 109-87 on Aug. 3. They trailed by 20 points in Indianapolis on Aug. 6 before they came back to win 86-84 on a pair of Gray buzzer-beaters.
Jewell Loyd scored 10 points against the Lynx and passed Lisa Leslie for 15th on the WNBA career scoring list. She has 6,272 points. Dana Evans added 11 points, her most in a game since coming back from injury on June 12. NaLyssa Smith had 14 points and 11 rebounds for the only double-double in the game. Stephanie Talbot and Brianna Turner each scored 2.
Young said it is an honor to represent Team USA and that she will share her first World Cup with two teammates.
“I think not getting too high or too low. Obviously it’s a quick turnaround. We’ve been playing about—I mean, every other day,” Young said.
“I think we had a couple days before Indiana. But it’s a quick turnaround, you know, so just kinda having a short-term mindset and just trying to build off of each game, not letting things that didn’t go well stick too long. And then just trying to flip our mindset and get ready for the next one.
“But at the same time just trying to build off of the things that we’re doing well. And then obviously the things that we know we need to do a little bit better, just trying to work on that, and learn from those areas.”
Las Vegas is 22-10 and third in the Western Conference. New York is 19-13 and fourth in the East.
Sunday is the third meeting between the teams this season, and the first in Brooklyn. New York won 87-76 in Las Vegas on June 23. The Aces won the rematch 104-99 on July 30, the last home game before this trip started.
Wilson’s streak of 55 straight games in double figures is the longest in the league. She reached 6,507 career points on Saturday and is the second player in league history to record 6,500 points, 2,500 rebounds, and 500 blocks. Gray has handed out at least 4 assists in 20 consecutive games.
Las Vegas returns home to host Washington on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET and again on Thursday. The Aces host Minnesota on Aug. 15 in the third meeting between those teams in eight days.
