The stage is set for a battle in the paint between Aces star A\u2019ja Wilson and Indiana Fever center Aliyah Boston in Game 5 of their semifinal series with a trip to the WNBA Finals at stake.<\/p>\n
But the Aces will need to give their MVP center help defensively to reach their third finals in four years when the teams meet Tuesday at Michelob Ultra Arena.<\/p>\n
Boston and guard Kelsey Mitchell combined to power the No. 6-seeded Fever to a 90-83 win over the No. 2 Aces on Sunday to avoid elimination.<\/p>\n
A postseason-high 24 points and 14 rebounds from Boston was the difference for Indiana, while Mitchell finished with 25 points to the soundtrack of \u201cMVP\u201d chants on her home court.<\/p>\n
As the league\u2019s actual MVP, crowned recently for an unprecedented fourth time, Wilson scored 31 points while being primarily guarded by Boston in another bounce-back performance from her second outing in the series with fewer than 20 points.<\/p>\n
Following Sunday\u2019s loss, Wilson offered some words regarding the matchup with Boston that quickly circulated around the women\u2019s basketball world.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to ask Aliyah that question,\u201d Wilson said when asked about what worked so well for Boston in Game 4. \u201cBut Aliyah did say I have a special whistle. She shot 13 (free throws) today \u2026 so we\u2019ve just got to play better defense. Make her looks a little difficult and kind of go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson clarified that Boston made the comment as trash talk during the Aces\u2019 84-72 Game 3 win Friday, presumably a reference to Wilson having led the league in free-throw attempts per game (7.3) in the regular-season.<\/p>\n
Taking center stage<\/p>\n
It was a glimpse into an intense competition between Wilson and Boston, two University of South Carolina products who led the Gamecocks to NCAA titles during their separate tenures, then entered the WNBA as No. 1 overall picks.<\/p>\n
The matchup has pulled the best out of Boston and tested Wilson, with Boston admitting that she\u2019s made it her mission to get under Wilson\u2019s skin.<\/p>\n
\u201c(I\u2019m) just trying to kind of be annoying a little bit, because A\u2019ja is a pretty great player,\u201d Boston said in a broadcast interview during Game 1 . \u201cJust trying to make sure my presence is felt.\u201d<\/p>\n
Still, Sunday marked Wilson\u2019s 17th 30-point playoff game and put her one such performance away from the league record shared by Diana Taurasi and Breanna Stewart. Wilson also became the seventh player in league history to hit the 1,000-point mark in her playoff career with 1,024.<\/p>\n
But Boston is also making an impact, joining former Fever guard Tamika Catchings on Sunday as the only players in franchise history with a 20-point, 10-rebound and five-assist playoff game.<\/p>\n
Officiating aside<\/p>\n
Although Wilson and Aces coach Becky Hammon lamented the officiating following Sunday\u2019s loss, they agreed it wasn\u2019t the largest issue. And the Aces can\u2019t afford for it to be the focus in Game 5.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re better when we play out of our defense,\u201d Hammon said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t get a lot of stops. They shot a lot of free throws. We didn\u2019t. That all affects the flow of the game, but it was us on the defensive end.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Aces shot 11 free throws to the Fever\u2019s 34. Boston had 11 attempts in the third quarter alone.<\/p>\n
Wilson burst into a shocked \u201cOh, my God,\u201d when told that reserve center Megan Gustafson had four fouls in only 15 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s interesting,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cBut we\u2019ll do better. We\u2019ve got to play better defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guards Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray were both called for five fouls. Gray also had five turnovers to her nine assists and emphasized Wilson\u2019s sentiment that defensive preparation will be the top priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cDefensively, we got to be a lot better as guards and (with) our pickup points,\u201d Gray said. \u201cIn helping rebound, I\u2019ve got to be better. I can\u2019t have so many turnovers and let them go out and transition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com<\/a>. Follow @CallieJLaw<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n Up next<\/p>\n Who: Indiana Fever at Aces<\/p>\n What: Game 5, WNBA semifinals<\/p>\n When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday<\/p>\n Where: Michelob Ultra Arena<\/p>\n TV: ESPN2<\/p>\n Radio: KWWN (1100 AM, 100.9 FM)<\/p>\n Line: Aces -8; total 158\u00bd<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The stage is set for a battle in the paint between Aces star A\u2019ja Wilson and Indiana Fever…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191125,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434],"class_list":["post-191124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191124\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}