{"id":205630,"date":"2025-10-11T17:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T17:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/205630\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T17:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T17:48:09","slug":"inside-las-vegas-2025-championship-run","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/205630\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Las Vegas\u2019 2025 Championship Run"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an elimination game in the Semi-Finals against the Indiana Fever, something shifted for the Las Vegas Aces. It wasn\u2019t just an A\u2019ja Wilson lock-in that helped the Aces get over the hump that was the ridiculously resilient Fever, but contributions from her \u201csupporting cast\u201d that got Las Vegas to yet another championship series \u2013 their fifth appearance since the calendar turned to 2020.<\/p>\n

Supporting cast is also a highly disrespectful way to describe the talent of Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young, two veterans who have now experienced three championships in four years with one another, and with Wilson. The duo lifted the Aces past the Fever in overtime in that series, both combining for 49 points, 16 assists, four steals, and six rebounds in the win.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Those three, as talented as they are, were also led and supported by one of the greatest coaches in WNBA history in Becky Hammon. She\u2019s a huge part of why the Aces can never, ever, be counted out. Along the way this year, as Wilson said in her postgame press conference following the team\u2019s series win, Hammon\u2019s leadership was key to keeping this team afloat through a tumultuous 2025.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Head<\/p>\n

Head Coach Becky Hammon, A\u2019ja Wilson #22, Chelsea Gray #12 and Jackie Young #0 of the Las Vegas Aces speak to the media following Game Four of the 2025 WNBA Finals<\/p>\n

\u201cBecky has done tremendous things for this franchise. And, it\u2019s not just her basketball mind. It\u2019s the way she can form relationships and bonds with people, and I think that\u2019s what you see in winning cultures. Your leader is so important to you. You want to win and play for her. So, we\u2019re grateful, obviously. You keep bringing championships to Vegas. We\u2019re just happy to be on the ride with you,\u201d said Wilson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In addition to Wilson and Hammon\u2019s elite leadership throughout this year, Gray, who is going to go down as one of the best point guards in WNBA history, finished up her immaculate postseason by moving up to 7th place all-time on the Finals scoring list with 298 points. She also moved into 3rd place all-time in steals in the Finals with 34, 8th all-time for total playoff games played with 65, and 3rd all time in Aces franchise history postseason scoring with 616 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Young, to boot, tied Sue Bird during the postseason with the most postseason games with at least five assists in the first quarter of a contest with four.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This big three, which at one was part of an Aces team headed into the All-Star break heralding a\u00a0 14-14 record and an abysmal chance at even making the postseason, let alone winning the Finals, seemed to become a different team. They won 16 straight games after experiencing a 53-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx back in August, motivated to not let the year end on such a low note.<\/p>\n

\"A'ja<\/p>\n

A\u2019ja Wilson #22, Jackie Young #0, and Chelsea Gray #12 of the Las Vegas Aces pose for a photo with the 2025 WNBA Championship trophy<\/p>\n

When asked what made this championship a bit sweeter for all involved, Gray said the journey \u2013 with its .500 twists and streaky turns \u2013 has led to this Finals victory becoming one for the books for Las Vegas.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be here right now, and where we were in May and June, there was a lot of doubt in that locker room. But, we had confidence in each other. I\u2019m just really proud of how we stayed the course and trusted the process the entire time.\u201d<\/p>\n

That confidence, oozed mainly by Wilson en route to her fourth Most Valuable Player victory and another Defensive Player of the Year honor, changed the landscape of the postseason entirely. Las Vegas, previously sleepwalking through the season, had suddenly emerged as a powerhouse to fear once again. They climbed over the Atlanta Dream and New York Liberty in the stands, snagging the 2nd seed after nearly landing on the outside looking in.<\/p>\n

In addition to Wilson, Gray, and Young completely re-shaping the outcome of the Aces season, smaller moves that underwhelmed some ended up becoming paramount to their resurgence. Signing Dana Evans, a championship-experienced veteran guard, and NaLyssa Smith, a proper backup forward to Wilson, ended up helping Las Vegas solve one of their biggest issues headed into the 2025 season \u2013 the lack of a cohesive bench unit.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Evans finished up the postseason averaging 8.4 points per game and 2.9 assists per game on 53.3 percent shooting from three point range and 46.8 percent shooting from the field overall. Smith, on the way to winning her first championship in her fourth season in the WNBA, averaged 7.1 points per game, five rebounds, and one block in 23 minutes per game.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Adding another former champion in Jewell Loyd to that bench \u2013 acquired in a blockbuster trade to kick off the season \u2013 was simply unfair. She managed to spark the Aces\u2019 offense in key moments along their playoff run, hitting threes at a clip of 41.3 percent on 5.3 attempts per game. Someone of Loyd\u2019s talent getting moved to the bench could\u2019ve been a misfire \u2013 instead, it brought her back to life on the court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Dana<\/p>\n

Dana Evans #11 of the Las Vegas Aces holds up the 2025 WNBA Championship trophy<\/p>\n

This Finals series was set to be a far more competitive one. A sweep was seemingly out of the question between a 2 seed and a 4 seed. You would\u2019ve been hard pressed to find a prediction regarding this series that didn\u2019t include the phrases \u201cit\u2019ll be hard fought,\u201d or \u201cthis is going to seven games.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Phoenix Mercury, with their own hardware and history, looked primed to get their first championship trophy since 2014. Health was on their side to begin this series \u2013 but, it was also on the side of the Aces. In a postseason of attrition, we were seeing the two teams that managed to stay relatively healthy in the Finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

While we did get to see some competitive bouts between these two squads in this series \u2013 Game 3 ending on a game-winning shot from Wilson, and Game 1 being decided by just three points \u2013 you knew that this was the Aces series to lose.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their big three came out as the most consistent against Phoenix\u2019s own star trio in Alyssa Thomas, Kahleah Copper, and Satou Sabally. Sabally, who unfortunately went down in Game 3 with a scary concussion, couldn\u2019t get back in time for Game 4 and Phoenix\u2019s last push to try and prevent a sweep.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Las Vegas, as they have in their last three championships, came out as the most cohesive, chemistry-filled, and motivated team between the two vying to hoist the championship trophy at halfcourt. Their dynasty is officially set in stone. And, you can just tell they\u2019re not done dominating with this core just yet. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In an elimination game in the Semi-Finals against the Indiana Fever, something shifted for the Las Vegas Aces.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[629],"tags":[49,48,82,630],"class_list":{"0":"post-205630","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-wnba"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}