PHOENIX \u2014 Aces star A\u2019ja Wilson is worthy of the attention that comes with being a four-time league MVP, two-time WNBA champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist at the ripe age of 29.<\/p>\n
She welcomes it, too.<\/p>\n
Her teammates call her a lovable goofball. Her coach says she\u2019s special. Her family, friends and fans adore her.<\/p>\n
But what separates Wilson from the rest of the pack is her ability to inflict fear into opposing teams like an apex predator staring down its prey.<\/p>\n
Her 6-foot-4 frame clogging the paint deters the foes from going her way. When she has the ball in her hand, it feels like it\u2019s game over.<\/p>\n
Jewell Loyd has had the privilege of playing and working among some of the biggest names in the game. She won championships with Sue Bird and Breanna Stewart and was the mentee of the late Kobe Bryant.<\/p>\n
But Wilson\u2019s motor, her daunting presence, is something that can\u2019t be replicated. Her strength, power and finesse is discouraging even to the most valiant rivals.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a lion, you know?\u201d Loyd said. \u201cIt\u2019s intimidating and it\u2019s something that she just has in her. And she does it with grace, as well. And it\u2019s not arrogance, it\u2019s not trying to get that attention; it\u2019s just who she is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Aces are two wins away from potentially winning their third title in four years, and Wilson, fresh off of winning a record fourth MVP award, is again at the center of it.<\/p>\n
A\u2019Ja Wilson shoots over Alyssa Thomas during the Aces Game 2 victory over the Mercury in the WNBA Finals. Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
Wilson had 21 points and 10 rebounds in the series opener last week \u2014 a stat line Mercury coach Nate Tibbetts said he\u2019d take \u201cmost nights\u201d from the world\u2019s best player. In Game 2 on Sunday, Wilson recorded 28 points and 14 rebounds in another show of her dominance.<\/p>\n
With the Aces leading 2-0, the best-of-seven WNBA Finals series is shifting to Phoenix, with Alyssa Thomas & Co. desperate to avoid the sweep and dig themselves out of this gaping hole.<\/p>\n
But to do that, the Mercury have to find a way to slow Wilson, who\u2019s shown no signs of relenting until she\u2019s drenched in a cocktail of champagne and beer.<\/p>\n
Thomas\u2019 solution?<\/p>\n
A\u2019Ja Wilson celebrates during the Aces Game 2 win over the Mercury in the WNBA Finals. Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got to make every shot difficult,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s the nature of the beast.\u201d<\/p>\n
If only executing that was as simple as saying it aloud.<\/p>\n
Tibbetts thought the Mercury did a good job decelerating Wilson in Game 1, but, with Thomas in foul trouble Sunday, Phoenix struggled and Wilson made them pay.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s so good, you can\u2019t give up the easy ones and we did that,\u201d Tibbetts said. \u201cAnd we will be better in Game 3.\u201d<\/p>\n
Las Vegas Aces star A\u2019Ja Wilson stretches during practice in preparation for Wednesday\u2019s Game 3 of the WNBA Finals. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the hope at least.<\/p>\n
For the Aces, though, they relish in having a front-row seat to Wilson\u2019s dominance on any given night.<\/p>\n
Chelsea Gray has witnessed it for the past five years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt never ceases to amaze me,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m in awe all the time how great she is on both ends of the floor. I\u2019m appreciative of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A\u2019Ja Wilson shoots a free throw during the Aces Game 2 win over the Mercury in the WNBA Finals. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
\u201cI never want to be dull to her greatness,\u201d Aces coach Becky Hammon said. \u201cThere are nights this year where it\u2019s like, \u2018Oh man, she had 35 but it just became so normal for her to have 35.\u2019 She\u2019ll do things within the course of the game, two, three times on both ends, and I think she\u2019s probably the only player in the world who can make just ridiculous plays two, three times a game on both ends where \u2026 she can get you off your feet.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson is one of those generational players. The stuff of legend who inspire the next cohort. A person who can be simply referred to on a first- or last-name basis or, even quite simply, with a goat emoji.<\/p>\n
She has the Aces tracking toward a stretch of dominance not seen since perhaps Cynthia Cooper, Sheryl Swoopes and Tina Thompson ran the league with the now-defunct Houston Comets during the WNBA\u2019s infancy years.<\/p>\n
For Las Vegas to be successful in this pursuit, it\u2019ll need Wilson continuing to do things only she seemingly can do.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe has a feel for the game. She knows when we need a big stop, a big block, when we need that and that\u2019s a skill,\u201d Loyd said. \u201cAnd so if your best player is down on the floor, there\u2019s no excuse that we can\u2019t either, right? We know the sacrifice that she goes through and all the work she puts in, so you don\u2019t have a reason to take plays off because she doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 Aces star A\u2019ja Wilson is worthy of the attention that comes with being a four-time league…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[4677,99,434,70908],"class_list":["post-211806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-las-vegas-aces","tag-sports","tag-wnba","tag-wnba-playoffs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211806","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=211806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}