Becky Hammon sums up Aces’ loss: ‘They just kicked our ass’

The Connecticut Sun came out swinging Thursday night in the WNBA Finals, completely overpowering the Las Vegas Aces in their must-win Game 3.

In the 105-76 win against the Aces, the Sun put on a dominant offensive performance that represented a reversal from the team’s sluggish Game 1 and 2 outings.

Anchored by a historic triple-double from Alyssa Thomas, Connecticut cruised past Las Vegas, outshooting the Aces 55.8% to 45.0% and outrebounding them 38 to 24.

Or, as Aces coach Becky Hammon summed up the proceedings: “They just kicked our ass in every way possible.”

“There’s no two ways about it,” Hammon continued. “If there was a stat on mental toughness and physicality, they would have kicked our ass there, too.”

The 2021 MVP @jus242 is putting in work in the paint tonight 😤 pic.twitter.com/GjlMmUivDF

— Just Women’s Sports (@justwsports) September 16, 2022

Connecticut’s physicality held Chelsea Gray to just 11 points after the Aces star notched 21 points each in Games 1 and 2. On the other side of the ball, the Sun’s tenacity down low lifted Jonquel Jones to a team-high 20 points behind 66.7 percent shooting.

“If there’s one thing that this team, if you could encapsulate Connecticut, it’s physical, and very resilient,” Hammon told reporters. “They are physical and they are resilient, and they have kind of a battle-type mentality, and we didn’t match that tonight, in any category.”

The finals series remains in Connecticut as the teams gear up for Sunday’s Game 4, which will air on ESPN at 4 p.m. ET.