Two games into the best-of-five 2024 WNBA semifinals, and the back-to-back defending champion Aces are staring down elimination while the Lynx evened the score last night.
With Friday's Game 3 offering a venue change, Las Vegas will need every ounce of their home-court advantage to continue their playoff run, while Minnesota's aim will be to silence the Connecticut crowd.
Aces on the brink of elimination after Game 2 loss
Tuesday's second-straight loss, an 88-84 defeat by the No. 1 seed Liberty in Brooklyn, has No. 4 seed Las Vegas on the brink of playoff elimination. The Aces are now the first reigning champions to ever fall to a 0-2 deficit in a WNBA playoff series.
Las Vegas has yet to conquer the Liberty this season, falling a franchise record-tying five straight times to same opponent, all after defeating New York in the 2023 WNBA Finals.
New York's Sabrina Ionescu and Las Vegas's A'ja Wilson led their teams in scoring with 24 points each, while Liberty guard Courtney Vandersloot provided a crucial spark off the bench.
Should Las Vegas turn things around when the series moves back to Nevada on Friday, they'd become the first team to ever bounce back from 0-2 to reach the WNBA Finals.
Aces guard Chelsea Gray put a positive spin on the challenge, saying "I love being in the history books, so might as well try to start there. That's going to be our mentality."
Lynx level up with Game 2 semifinal win in Minnesota
No. 2 seed Minnesota evened their semifinal score with No. 3 seed Connecticut on Tuesday, earning a 77-70 win in Minneapolis to send the series back East at one victory apiece.
Courtney Williams led the Lynx in scoring with 17 points, while a physical Minnesota defense held the Sun to less than 40% shooting from the field.
In the loss, Sun forward DeWanna Bonner became the third all-time leading scorer in WNBA postseason history. She also inked her name into the league record books as the player with the most appearances in playoff history at 83 games and counting.
Friday kicks off a guaranteed two-game run in Connecticut, with the home side on a mission to reach the Finals for the first time since 2022.
How to watch Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals
Las Vegas and Minnesota will look to pick up critical wins in Friday's Game 3, with the Aces facing a must-win scenario in front of what promises to be a rocking home crowd.
The Lynx will travel to Connecticut for a 7:30 PM ET tip off on Friday, October 4th, followed by a Liberty vs. Aces showdown in Las Vegas at 9:30 PM ET. Both games are scheduled to air on ESPN2.
Welcome back to Fast Friends with Kelley O'Hara and Lisa Leslie! In today's episode, our hosts cover the WNBA playoffs, three-time MVP A'ja Wilson, the Defensive Player of the Year debate, Kelley's somewhat sudden retirement, and the NWSL playoff race.
Coming off the success of JWS's Olympic commentary show The Gold Standard, Fast Friends features two legendary athletes serving up insider insights and unique takes on the biggest stories in women's sports every week.
Subscribe to Just Women's Sports on YouTube to never miss an episode.
With Aces star A'ja Wilson snagging her third MVP honors last weekend, the 2024 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award has now taken centerstage. Both Wilson and Lynx standout Napheesa Collier are frontrunners, sparking heated debates.
Aces coach Hammon speaks out on A'ja Wilson
Last Thursday, Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon called out ESPN journalists who revealed their 2024 WNBA votes. Notably, Hammon went to bat for players not on her roster, like New York's Sabrina Ionescu, but particularly took voters to task for giving their DPOY nod to Collier.
"They got the MVP stuff right," she told the press. "The Defensive Player of the Year? If you have to, as a journalist or a reporter, go down a rabbit hole to find somebody else to be in the conversation, you already have the answer."
Lynx coach Reeve fires back in support of Napheesa Collier
As the previously scheduled guest on Monday’s episode of Good Game with Sarah Spain, Minnesota head coach Cheryl Reeve was asked if a DPOY vote for Collier “is a vote deserving of anger.”
In response, Reeve — the 2024 Coach of the Year favorite — explained that while she had not seen Hammon's press conference, "most people that I talk to think [Collier's] a unanimous decision."
"You look at the top three or four defensive teams — in A'ja's case, can you be the Defensive Player of the Year when your defense isn’t in that?" Reeve continued. "She's had an incredible year, but she can have MVP and Napheesa Collier is Defensive Player of the Year."
Who deserves to win WNBA Defensive Player of the Year?
Reigning back-to-back DPOY Wilson, whose 451 rebounds set the WNBA's new single-season rebound mark this year, has certainly made her case for a threepeat. She led the league in blocks per game, plus recorded a career-high steal rate this season.
Collier, who slightly trails Wilson in rebound and block rate this season, shines in steals, with a per-game average good for second in the league. But it's the Lynx forward's ability to defend multiple positions, plus her role in positioning Minnesota as the WNBA's second-best defense per possession — a measure that sees the Aces claim fifth in the league — that reportedly is giving her the edge with DPOY voters.
Ultimately, the choice between the two stars seems to be about individual prowess versus team contribution. It's a decision Reeve summed up as simply, “it depends on what you value when you vote.”
Las Vegas Aces center A'ja Wilson became just the second player in WNBA history to be unanimously crowned MVP on Sunday, claiming the 2024 title shortly before the league playoffs began.
In a record-breaking season league-wide, Wilson's 451 rebounds set the WNBA's new single-season rebound mark. She also inked herself in the history books as the first WNBA athlete to post 1,000+ points in a season.
Stat sheet aside, it's her commitment to her team that Aces head coach Becky Hammon says sets Wilson apart.
"We always talk about, 'Make your teammate great, and then in the process you become the greatest,'" Hammon explained.
"A'ja is...the greatest, because she's so authentically committed to that: pulling greatness out of other people. She's amazing. She's the best player in the world, and she's one of the best people in the world."
The 28-year-old now joins retired WNBA legends Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, and Lauren Jackson as the only players to ever earn three career MVP awards. She previously won in 2020 and 2022.
Lynx forward Napheesa Collier finished second in 2024 MVP voting, followed by 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart, Indiana rookie Caitlin Clark, and Connecticut Sun vet Alyssa Thomas.
Top seeds hold court in first WNBA postseason games
In Sunday's postseason tip-off, all four top-seeded WNBA teams managed to avoid upsets. First, in the league-leading Liberty's 83-69 win over No. 8-seed Atlanta, New York guard Courtney Vandersloot made postseason history by notching her 365th career playoff assist to break Sue Bird's all-time playoff record.
Making postseason history of her own, Connecticut's Marina Mabrey scored a playoff-record 27 points off the bench to help the No. 3-seed Sun top the No. 6-seed Fever 93-69.
The aforementioned Collier — this season's MVP runner-up — also impressed by putting up 38 points for the No. 2-seed Lynx in Minnesota's 102-95 victory over No. 7-seed Phoenix.
In arguably Sunday's most dramatic ending, No. 5-seed Seattle went cold against reigning champs Las Vegas in the fourth quarter. After leading the No. 4-seed Aces by as many as 12 points, the Storm failed to score a single last-quarter field goal, ultimately handing Las Vegas the 78-67 win.
The second bouts in the WNBA's best-of-three first round will take the court on Tuesday and Wednesday, with if-necessary third games slated for Thursday and Friday.
On Wednesday morning, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert announced that the WNBA would be adding a 15th team to its roster, with the league awarding Portland, Oregon its own expansion franchise.
Portland joins Golden State and Toronto as the latest WNBA additions, as the league capitalizes on this season's surging popularity. Golden State will begin play next season, with Toronto and Portland set to tip off in 2026.
The Rose City was an obvious choice to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, who said, "Portland has been an epicenter of the women’s sports movement and is home to a passionate community of basketball fans."
Notably, this is not Portland's first WNBA team. The city originally hosted the Fire, which competed for three seasons before folding in 2002.
The expansion team will be primarily owned by the Bhathal family, who also recently purchased the NWSL's Portland Thorns.
A'ja Wilson adds WNBA rebound record to 2024 stats
Aces superstar A'ja Wilson added yet another feat to her 2024 WNBA MVP campaign on Tuesday, breaking sidelined Chicago rookie Angel Reese's single-season rebounds record in Las Vegas's 85-72 win over Seattle.
Wilson, who didn't know she'd claimed the record until asked about it in the post-game press conference, reacted with nonchalance. "That's cool," she told reporters. "I don't hunt rebounds, so it's not something that's always on my mind... I'm focused on putting the ball in the hoop."
Her explanation had head coach Becky Hammon visibly rolling her eyes, saying she's had to remind Wilson that "the other half of [her] job is to freaking rebound."
Ultimately, Wilson acknowledged that the record is "a blessing," saying "this league is tough, so if my name can be in the record books in some sort of way, it's a blessing."
Rebound record is Wilson's third WNBA feat in one week
Wilson's written her name in the WNBA record books three times in the last six days. Her latest rebound accomplishment comes just two days after Wilson became the first-ever WNBA player to score 1,000+ points in one season, and less than one week after she shattered the league's single-season scoring record.
Tuesday's win also handed the defending back-to-back champion Aces at least the fourth playoff seed. That top-four spot secures them home court advantage for their first postseason round.
This year's WNBA MVP favorite A'ja Wilson reached yet another milestone on Sunday, becoming the first player to ever record 1000+ points in a single season.
The superstar's latest feat — achieved in her 29-point performance in the Aces' 84-71 win over Connecticut — comes just days after she shattered the league's single-season scoring record.
All-but-guaranteed to finish 2024 as the WNBA's single-season points leader, Wilson has put together one of the most impressive statistical campaigns in league history. As of today, she's only three rebounds away from breaking Angel Reese's new single-season rebounds record, set before the Chicago rookie's season-ending injury.
Rookie Caitlin Clark captures two more WNBA records
Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark added two more records to her historic rookie season this weekend, breaking the league's single-season assist record on Friday night before setting the single-season rookie scoring record on Sunday.
The Rookie of the Year frontrunner surpassed Alyssa Thomas's 2023 record of 316 assists in Friday's 78-74 loss to the Aces. Clark extended her hold on the league's new record on Sunday, now boasting 329 dimes on the season with one game left.
Also in Sunday's 110-109 Fever victory over the Wings, Clark put up a career-high 35 points, including one that officially broke Seimone Augustus's single-season rookie scoring record of 744 set in 2006. Clark now has 761 points across Indiana's 39 completed games.
Notably, the WNBA's expanded 40-game schedule means that four-time WNBA champion Augustus still holds the rookie record for points per game, as her fallen record was in a 34-game season.
Three-way team tie adds to WNBA playoff race drama
With the Sky's two weekend losses plus the Mystics and Dream splitting their two weekend contests with one win apiece, Chicago, Washington, and Atlanta all sit with 13-25 season records. All three are still in postseason contention with the final WNBA Playoff spot up for grabs.
League tiebreakers give Washington, who currently sits in the coveted eighth-place position, the postseason edge. The Mystics will try to maintain their tenuous hold on that spot when they face the league-leading Liberty tomorrow before closing out their season against a tough Indiana team on Thursday.
The ninth-place Sky and 10th-place Dream face equal uphill battles to usurp the Mystics this week. After playing each other on Tuesday, Chicago will close out their 2024 regular season against the third-place Sun while Atlanta does the same against the Liberty on Thursday.
The WNBA has a new single-season scoring champ in A'ja Wilson, who surpassed Jewell Loyd's 2023 record of 939 points by dropping 27 against Indiana on Wednesday, boosting her season total to 956.
With four games left in Las Vegas's season, Wilson could easily become the first WNBA player to ever record 1,000+ points in one season.
"She's not just the best player in the world, she might be the most loved and adored by her teammates. I mean, this woman is special," commented Aces head coach Becky Hammon after the game.
2024 has been the year of the broken WNBA record
Thanks to achievements at both the individual and team level, the 2024 WNBA season has already left a lasting impression on the record books. In addition to Wilson's points tally, Chicago Sky rookie Angel Reese set a new single-season rebound record before a wrist injury cut her season short.
Just five assists away from setting a new single-season assists record, Indiana rookie Caitlin Clark is on the brink of joining the bar-raising party.
While adding games likely plays a role in these feats, 2024 — the league's second 40-game run — has seen all three major stats fall in record time. Reese broke Sylvia Fowles's rebound record in 32 games this season, Wilson surpassed Loyd's scoring record in 35, and Clark is looking to break Alyssa Thomas's assist record in 38.
Final WNBA playoff spot on the line in last regular-season weekend
Tonight, Wilson and Clark will face off in their last regular-season matchup, as Indiana tries to earn their first win against the reigning champs this year.
Meanwhile, the race for the final playoff spot has never been tighter. Wednesday's huge win over Chicago putting the 10th-place Mystics just one game outside of postseason contention. With two games against ninth-place Atlanta this weekend, Washington could officially rise into that last playoff spot by Sunday night.
As for current eight-spot Chicago, the Sky will try to maintain their position by bouncing back against second-place Minnesota tonight before the top four teams in the standings battle for survival on Sunday.
The New York Liberty became the first WNBA team to clinch a postseason spot with a big 79-67 victory over the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday. The result marked New York's second win over Las Vegas this season, with the Liberty looking to put their 2023 Finals loss behind them.
New York's upward tick has in part revolved around big performances by Sabrina Ionescu, who led the team in scoring on Saturday with 23 points.
"This second half of the season is really important. And there's no excuses. Nobody cares if we just came off the Olympics and have a game four days later and a nine-hour time zone change," Ionescu told reporters after the game.
Other WNBA teams target 2024 playoff positions
The WNBA saw numerous teams soar over the weekend, all jockeying for position as the league enters the regular season's home stretch.
The Atlanta Dream are now 2-0 in post–Olympic break play, notching impressive wins over both Seattle and Connecticut as they push to overtake Chicago for the eighth and final spot above the playoff line. Indiana also looked strong on their home court, taking down first Phoenix and then Seattle as they solidify their playoff berth.
Other teams struggled, however, as the Mystics, Wings, Storm, and Sparks continue to look for a win in the WNBA's return to action. And with the regular season's clock ticking, the race to the playoffs will only grow more fierce with every showdown.
Standout solo showings point to WNBA award races
Noteworthy individual performances abounded on the WNBA court this weekend, led by MVP frontrunner A'ja Wilson. After dropping 24 points for the Aces in Saturday's loss to New York, Wilson elevated Las Vegas over the Sparks with 34 points and 13 rebounds on Sunday.
The Rookie of the Year competition has also stayed hot, with Fever star Caitlin Clark breaking Ticha Penicheiro's 1998 record for most assists in a rookie season in Sunday's win over the Storm. That same day, Chicago rookie Angel Reese became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 20 career double-doubles in the Sky's loss to the Mercury.
The WNBA makes its official return on Thursday, after having paused the regular season for the 2024 All-Star Game and the Olympics. When play resumes, the season will be more than halfway over, with regular season games running until September 19th.
Liberty leads league as playoffs loom
With Olympic medals secured and plenty of time to practice, the race to the finish is on as all 12 teams push to claim their place among the postseason-bound top eight.
As the only team to crack 20 wins on the season, the New York Liberty currently hold the number one spot in the league standings. They're followed by the Connecticut Sun, Minnesota Lynx, Seattle Storm, Las Vegas Aces, and Phoenix Mercury.
Indiana and Chicago are currently hovering just above playoff contention, still hoping to boost their respective records to .500.
MVP, Rookie of the Year awards up for grabs in late-season push
Individual ambitions will also resume, as now two-time Olympic gold medalist A'ja Wilson reclaims her spot as the frontrunner for 2024 MVP while her Las Vegas club sits in fifth place.
Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese will also continue their Rookie of the Year battle, as both newcomers attempt to propel their squads above the playoff line.
WNBA standings on the line on Thursday
Thursday's trio of games could ultimately impact the overall standings — with a heaping side of history.
Olympic gold medal game hero and Mercury guard Kahleah Copper will return to Chicago for the first time since requesting a trade from the team where she won her first WNBA Championship.
After a historically slow start has them sitting below the playoff line, the Mystics will visit the Western Conference–leading Lynx.
Then, the LA Sparks will host the Liberty, looking to gain an edge on the league-leaders by relying on their developing starting core.
USA Basketball won an historic eighth-straight Olympic gold in the final team event of the Paris Games on Sunday, narrowly taking down host nation France by a wildly tight score of 67-66.
While the US entered the game as heavy favorites, France led in the second half by as many as 10 points, with defensive sturdiness and a raucous home crowd propelling them to a wildly tight 67-66 final score.
French defense nearly upsets Team USA
It was Team USA's closest game in Olympic history, only avoiding overtime thanks to Team France star Gabby Williams's foot touching the three-point line as she sunk the final bucket.
The US came into the matchup boasting a massive point differential, but France almost immediately flipped the script, forcing the defending champs into 19 turnovers — 13 in the first half alone.
The US had scored just 25 points by halftime — the lowest recorded in Paris — but France also struggled to capitalize on turnovers, shooting below 30% from the field in the first half.
Bench boosts USA to Olympic gold medal win
While it took some time for tournament stars A'ja Wilson and Breanna Stewart to find their footing, the US saw key contributions off the bench in the second half. First-time Olympian Kahleah Copper became the spark the team needed, adding 10 fourth-quarter points and taking control alongside Kelsey Plum and fellow first-timer Sabrina Ionescu.
Wilson ultimately bounced back, recording 21 points, 13 rebounds, and four blocks to close out the slim win, with 15 of those points coming in the second half.
Olympic MVP A'ja Wilson leads all-tournament team
Wilson was crowned Tournament MVP after the final whistle, joined on the all-tournament team by USA teammate Stewart, France's Williams, Belgium's Emma Meesseman, and Australia's Alanna Smith.
Diana Taurasi, who didn't see any playing time on Sunday, earned a record sixth Olympic gold medal, breaking a tie with longtime teammate Sue Bird for the most in Olympic basketball history.
Ultimately, the game's further professionalization around the globe produced Team USA's toughest Olympic battle yet. But despite the late-tournament challenge, they managed to carry the weight of a now-61-game winning streak all the way to the gold.