The Aces had a historic season, led by A'ja Wilson and her teammates. There is a time and a place for it.
A year ago, the Las Vegas Aces suffered a season-ending loss that burned all the way into this season. The city of Las Vegas won its first major professional sports championship on Sunday, as the Aces beat the Connecticut Sun 78-71 in the fourth and final game of the league's Championship Series.
"We didn't like the way we felt last year," said Gray, who was named the Finals Most Valuable Player.
It is the first time that the franchise has been called the Utah Starzz since it started in 1997. The team moved to San Antonio in 2003 and had only one previous appearance in the finals. The head coach for Las Vegas is also a former player for San Antonio.
She is the first head coach to win a title in her first year. Van Chancellor had been a college and high school head coach for more than 30 years before he became the first coach to win a WNBA title.
In the last 60 years, five NBA rookies have won the title. Nick Nurse was a head coach for several years at other levels of basketball before he was hired by Toronto.
Mark Davis hired her last December to take over the team after she was an assistant to Popovich for eight years. She joined the Aces after the Spurs' season ended in April and they played their first game on May 6.
The top seed in the playoffs goes to the team with the best regular- season record. The in-season Commissioner's Cup trophy was won by A'ja Wilson, along with a first-team All-WNBA performer, and a second-team All-WNBA player. The coach and player of the year were named by their peers.
Without a title, the awards would have felt hollow for this team. Led by Gray with 20 points and six assists, reserve Riquna Williams with a season-high 17 points, and Wilson with 11 points and 14 rebound, the Aces closed out the series in front of a loud crowd. The Connecticut forward had 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebound for her second straight triple-double in the finals.
Wilson was the top pick in the draft and the team moved to Las Vegas. The team had the top pick in the draft and chose Washington's Mason Plum, who is the all-time leading scorer in NCAA women's basketball. Young, out of Notre Dame, was added to the No. 1 pick.
When the season was played in a COVID-19 bubble in Florida, the Aces made the finals. Seattle beat Las Vegas. Plum missed that season with an injury, but she came back in the year 2021. There were four gold medal winners in the Tokyo Olympics last year.
On Gray's 29th birthday, the team lost the decisive Game 5 of the semifinals to Phoenix. It was the most difficult loss of her career.
Coach Bill Laimbeer retired, center Liz Cambage left as a free agent for Los Angeles, and another former player, Natalie Williams, became the general manager. Without Cambage, who averaged 14.2PPG and 8.2RPG, the Aces were forced to take more 3-pointers. The team went from 343 of 962 last season to 343 of 962 this year.
Wilson had only made one 3-pointer her first four seasons in the league, but she made 31 this year. Wilson, who turned 26 in August, has a gold medal from the Olympics, as well as two NBA titles and two Most Valuable Player Awards.
She is just now entering her prime years. The learning curve is just this year. She learned a lot of new stuff. The foundation she's put in will allow her to excel like this in the future. Her game is going to get better. I'm not sure how good she can be, but she's already here. I would not place a cap on her.
South Carolina fans still cheer on Gamecock program legend Wilson despite the fact that the women's basketball team won the national title. South Carolina beat Connecticut in April to win the NCAA women's title, and Aliyah Boston is expected to be the top pick in the NBA draft in three years.
Boston came back the next year to win a title after losing in the semifinals of the NCAA tournament. Wilson is expected to join the US team in Australia for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup, which is similar to the situation in the NBA.
With all of their key players, including Dearica Hamby, returning for next season, the Aces have a chance to repeat as champion.
Gray said it was a commitment to want to keep a group together. It's a commitment to excellence and wanting to leave a legacy that's what the teams in the past have done.
Our bond became a little tighter and stronger with a first-year head coach. When you're talking about a more legendary franchise, the organization needs to understand what it takes to do it multiple times. We hope that is what we can be.
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