{"id":109456,"date":"2025-08-25T18:33:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T18:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/109456\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T18:33:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T18:33:08","slug":"aces-look-to-stay-hot-in-the-windy-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/109456\/","title":{"rendered":"Aces Look to Stay Hot in the Windy City"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"\"<\/a>A\u2019ja Wilson and the Aces are shooting for an 11th straight win in tonight\u2019s visit to Chicago (Photo credit: Chris Poss)<\/p>\n

Las Vegas will try to push the WNBA\u2019s longest regular-season win streak in four years to 11 in a row as it visits the Sky. The Aces are the first team to win 10 in a row in the same regular season since 2021, when both the Sun (14 in a row) and Mercury (10) were on double-digit win streaks that spanned all of August and into September (the Sun\u2019s actually started in July before that year’s Olympic break). It\u2019s the second-longest win streak in one regular season in the franchise\u2019s history, trailing only a 12-game streak by the 2012 San Antonio Silver Stars with current Aces coach Becky Hammon starring as a player. They\u2019ll face a Sky team coming off a hard-fought loss over the weekend, but one which has been much more competitive since Angel Reese returned to the lineup last week.<\/p>\n

This is the middle game of a three-game road trip for the Aces which wraps up with a massive game at Atlanta (24-13) on Thursday. The Aces can pull into a theoretical tie with the Dream with a win tonight (they\u2019d each be six games back of Minnesota), but they will be behind in the all-important loss column heading into Thursday\u2019s matchup regardless. If the Aces win their next two games, they\u2019ll be in great shape relative to the Dream as they\u2019ll have swept the season series and pulled even in the loss column.<\/p>\n

Las Vegas has posted a triple-digit offensive rating in every game during its win streak, most recently putting up a mark of 113.8 points per 100 possessions in a 91-81 win at Washington on Saturday. By comparison, the Aces had only 12 games with triple-digit offensive ratings during the first half of the season, with their recent performance bringing them up to 102.1 points per 100 possessions for the season. That still only ranks sixth in the WNBA after they\u2019d led the league in that category for the last five seasons, but it seems to be good enough for a team that is 2-10 (.167) when held to offensive ratings below 100 compared to 22-4 (.846) when posting a triple-digit rating.<\/p>\n

Chicago\u2019s had triple-digit offensive ratings in all three of its games since Reese got back on the floor. That includes a season-high 115.2 points per 100 possessions in a win at Barclays Center last Thursday and more recently a mark of 103.7 in Saturday\u2019s home loss to Connecticut. The Sky never did better than 100.0 points per 100 possessions while dropping six of seven games during Reese\u2019s absence. They\u2019re 2-15 (.118) since improving their record to 7-12 (.368) in a win over Minnesota on the Saturday before the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

Reese was playing like an MVP candidate earlier in the season and may well be one in the future, but there\u2019s no question that A\u2019ja Wilson\u2019s play of late has put her squarely back into the race for this year\u2019s top individual honor. They\u2019ll square off tonight as two of three players tied for the league lead in double-doubles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sometimes a game is so lopsided that it\u2019s not even worth pointing out a run here or there because the whole game is the run. Wilson\u2019s whole career is the run, because all anyone really needs to know to understand her greatness is that she\u2019s averaging 21.3 points (highest in WNBA history), 9.3 rebounds (third-highest) and 2.0 blocks (fourth-highest). She\u2019s on pace for her third 21\/9\/2 season in a row, which would bring the total number of those seasons in WNBA history to four \u2014 Lauren Jackson had the only other one in 2007, when she won the second of her three WNBA MVPs. That said, Wilson is on a phenomenal run even by her standards, averaging 28.4 points and 13.0 rebounds per game while hitting 51.8% from the field and 90.6% at the line over her last nine games with at least 30 points in five of them. Four of those 30-pieces have come in her last five games, most recently a 36-point, 13-rebound outing on 14-for-22 from the field in the win at Washington on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Reese scored 11 points in the Sky\u2019s loss at Connecticut over the weekend, matching her fewest in a game since late June, but she hit 5-of-10 from the field and pulled in 11 rebounds for her customary double-double. She and Wilson both recorded their 19th double-doubles of the season on Saturday, pulling back into a tie with Alyssa Thomas after she\u2019d put her nose ahead with her19th double-double of the season (and sixth triple-double) on Friday night. This span is interrupted by multiple absences, one of which lasted for about three weeks, but Reese\u2019s numbers over her last 19 games remain eye-popping: 16.5 points, 12.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists per game while hitting 51.1% from the field and 80% at the line. Her 3.9 turnovers per game in that span are an issue, but that number is down to 3.0 over her four outings since giving it away nine times in a game against Minnesota last month.<\/p>\n

The Liberty are looking to remain a game behind the Aces in the loss column as Las Vegas heads into a game at Atlanta and then one at home against Minnesota, but more importantly the Liberty just need a win after a second straight ugly loss on Saturday. They\u2019ll face a Sun team playing its best basketball of the season and looking to split a season series which started with a 48-point loss in June.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to be as disappointed with the Liberty\u2019s loss on Saturday as I was with their loss to Chicago on Thursday. In Saturday’s loss, the team was without Sabrina Ionescu, who was injured on Thursday, and only had a couple minutes of Natasha Cloud\u2019s services after she took an elbow to the face early in the third quarter. There\u2019s some good news on the injury front today, as both Ionescu and Breanna Stewart are officially available<\/a> after being listed as questionable yesterday. Isabelle Harrison is still questionable but participated in shootaround as she makes her way back from a concussion, Cloud wasn\u2019t at shootaround and Nyara Sabally isn\u2019t with the team in Connecticut, but the news is at least starting to improve. Still, it\u2019s never great when your injury report comprises a playoff-caliber starting five.<\/p>\n

Connecticut has turned its first back-to-back wins of the season into its first three-game win streak after Saturday\u2019s win at Chicago, and it has won four out of five dating back to another win over the Sky two Thursdays ago. The Sun have been significantly better since the All-Star break than they were before it by just about any measure, but the simplest metrics often tell the best stories. They\u2019ve already won twice as many games in 14 games after the break (6-8) as they won in the 22 games before it (3-19). It once seemed like a foregone conclusion that the Sun would finish the season with the WNBA\u2019s worst record, but as it stands they\u2019re tied with the Sky and have a two-game lead on Dallas in the loss column. It\u2019s not a ninth straight semifinal appearance, but I think Sun fans probably feel better about their second half than Liberty fans (as a Liberty fan, I think they should).<\/p>\n