NFL
By: Brock Vierra
The Las Vegas Aces literally dropped the ball against the Phoenix Mercury as the defending champs lost in a rematch of the season opener, 98-88. I’m not trying to talk my stuff but in my first article on the team, I said that “for the Mercury, the shots are there” and that’s exactly what happened on Tuesday. Kahleah Cooper proved once again why she is one of the deadliest sharpshooters in the league with 37 points off of 15-23 shooting including five three-pointers.
Cooper capped off a phenomenal team display that saw Diana Taurasi not have to take the starring role as she scored only 9 points on 3-13 shooting. A poor shooting performance from the legend. Cooper may have taken over offensively but the ball does not flow without guard Natasha Cloud. Cloud had 10 assists and 7 rebounds to go with her 11 points. Teammate guards Sophie Cunningham and Sug Sutton came off the bench for a combined 21 points. Cunningham has 9 rebounds of her own.
For first-year head coach Nate Tibbetts, the longtime NBA assistant is turning the Mercury around slowly but surely. Back-to-back wins for the team spells change but back-to-back scoring performances of 38 and 37 from Kahleah Cooper spells transition. If Taurasi is able to supplement her scoring off of Cooper’s game, watch out. Center Natasha Mack is filling in nicely for Brittney Griner and a massive difference maker in the matchup was Tibbetts use of his bench compared to Becky Hammon’s.
Let’s talk Aces
For the Aces tonight, they got blitzed and they melted. Something to pay attention to is the fatigue levels of Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum and A’ja Wilson. Unlike Tibbetts who deployed a 10 woman rotation, Hammon employed only 8. Out of those 8, that included rookie Kate Martin who looked completely lost on the court. This is not an insult or judgement but simply a glaring observation. You can’t blame Martin for not understanding the nuances of WNBA defensive schemes in only her second ever career game but it does highlight two major red flags. One, Vegas has no depth at the moment and the team’s stars will suffer because of it and two, the Aces desperately miss Chelsea Gray.
Gray, the leader, communicator, shot caller and veteran, her presence is noticeably missed in both the defensive rotations and offensive off-ball movement. It felt slow, it felt stale and the Mercury felt the same way. Until Vegas fixes both of those problems, dynasty may have to wait on standby.
Or maybe perhaps it was something else all together that could account for the Aces’ poor display. Maybe they didn’t drop the ball as much as they took their eye off of it. Make no mistake, this weekend could potentially mark one of the most pivotal moments in the future success of the WNBA. The Aces host Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever on Saturday.
Prime time, six p.m. west coast time. The two time defending champs on the verge of their dynasty verses the young college star and her upstart group of co-horts. This feels like Jordan verses the Celtics. No. This is Star Wars.
Clark, the young Padawan, embarks on a journey west to prove herself and defeat the mighty empire. The Aces, the empire. The dark force. I mean the team’s colors are silver and black for goodness sake. The Fever, beaten and bruised. 0-4 to start the season. Is this the reality of 2024 or the lumps taken in training before their major battle. What happens? Who wins? Tune in and find out.
But this ain’t a movie and the Aces perhaps prioritized headlines instead of the challenge that laid ahead. No matter the reason, the Aces were exposed against Phoenix and their success in shutting down A’ja Wilson, who scored only 21 points and was tied with two other teammates in fourth for rebounds, revealed the holes in the Aces. Now it’s chin check time. Let’s see how tough they really are. I’m betting Aces win in a blowout.
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