![\"Dana](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/gettyimages-2239117615.jpg\"\/)
<\/a><\/p>\nDana Evans scored 21 points in Game 1 of the 2025 WNBA Finals. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Back in his days as a podcaster, Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick described Derrick White, an ancillary two-way guard for the Boston Celtics, as the \u201cultimate Alfred,\u201d a reference to Batman\u2019s beloved butler. Redick enthusiastically cited a scene in Batman Begins where Bruce Wayne is trapped under a wooden beam, his life at the mercy of a roaring house fire. Alfred runs through the flame-engulfed mansion to find Wayne, flipping the scorched beam off of his chest with his bare hands. Never the hero himself, Alfred always found a way to contribute. Sometimes it was as simple as calling the Batmobile. Sometimes he saved the day.<\/p>\n
While Dana Evans isn\u2019t asked to scavenge any intel on A\u2019ja Wilson\u2019s arch nemesis or tend to the Batcave in her absence, she has that rare ability to scale up her impact when it\u2019s needed the most. In Las Vegas\u2019 12-game postseason, she averaged 8.5 points and three assists on 47\/53\/100 shooting splits while only turning the ball over once per game. Her lone statistical weakness is her 2-point percentage, which hovers around 40 percent, but that\u2019s not what the Aces need from her 5-foot-6 frame. It\u2019s also worth noting that only 24 percent of her 2-point attempts are assisted, which is by far the least on the team. For comparison, over 56 percent of fellow guard Loyd\u2019s 2-point attempts come via assist. Alfred isn\u2019t asked to fight the Joker, nor is Evans asked to attack the basket.<\/p>\n
What Evans is asked to do is lead the offense when Chelsea Gray takes a breather\u2014and she excels. She has a loud, confident approach to the point guard position that is rarely found off the bench. Her 21-point, five 3-pointer performance in just 25 minutes during Game 1 of the Finals set a standard for the rest of the Aces backcourt.<\/p>\n
After such a high-volume outing to start the series, most players would force the issue in the next game, testing the endurance of their hot hand. Evans took the high road in Game 2, checking into her stabilized role off the bench as if nothing had ever happened. She took just five shots, dished out five assists and the Aces won by 13. Evans\u2019 quiet ability to both scale up to the moment and settle down into her role makes her a coach\u2019s dream. Las Vegas won the reserve minutes with Evans on the floor in nine of their 12 playoff games. Evans also was a key scorer in the Indiana series, which can\u2019t be understated as that five-gamer could have cut short Las Vegas\u2019 run. She had timely baskets down the stretch in big games, and they never seemed to come easy. Late shot-clock midranges and contested 3s, both of which she landed with confidence, are absolutely backbreaking for opponents.<\/p>\n
Repeating Finals greatness is a struggle as old as basketball itself. To secure late-postseason contention, teams like the Aces become big spenders through free agency and trades. Going all-in on marquee core of big names, they often lose the ability to find important ancillary pieces in the following years. Only then do they realize how important those kinds of players are. Las Vegas fell flat last year, and their lack of solid role players took a chunk of the blame. As she left Chicago in February, Evans\u2019 value was uncertain. Now, with a second trophy in hand, there are 13 other teams that would love to have their own Dana Evans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since the Las Vegas Aces won the 2025 WNBA Finals, the legends and legacies of A\u2019ja Wilson, Jackie…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[99,434,70908],"class_list":{"0":"post-221938","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-wnba","10":"tag-wnba-playoffs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221938","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=221938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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