Last season, the Las Vegas Aces compiled the oddest, most outlier season in WNBA history.<\/p>\n
They authored the ultimate \u201cflip the switch\u201d season, going from mired around .500 to hitting their nadir with a 53-point home loss to closing out the regular season with 16-straight wins before sweeping their way to the organization\u2019s third WNBA championship.<\/p>\n
This season, the Aces also aren\u2019t opting for the expected.<\/p>\n
But rather than the clear, contrasting segments of their 2025 season, 2026 has featured a scramble of up, downs, inconsistencies and unknowns. Their last two games, the second of which occurred over a week ago on July 12, are illustrative of the Aces\u2019 incredible inconsistency.<\/p>\n
On a home back-to-back, they obliterated the Phoenix Mercury, 106-58, before getting dismantled by the Indiana Fever, 109-75.<\/p>\n
Vegas finally returns to action north of the border, making their first-ever visit to Toronto to play the Tempo (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN).<\/p>\n
These conditions seem perfect for a championship-caliber showing.<\/p>\n
Another curiosity of this season\u2019s Aces is the disparity between their home and road records. Conventional wisdom suggests teams are better at home. The Aces, again, defy convention. Vegas is just 7-5 in games held on the Strip. Elsewhere, they\u2019re an outstanding 10-2.<\/p>\n
They\u2019ve achieved that away excellence by embodying the mantra, \u201cDefense travels.\u201d Of course, such a sentiment usually implies that team is solid defensively regardless of location.<\/p>\n
The Aces, further fulfilling their anomolous status, are a much better defense on the road than at home.<\/p>\n
For the season<\/a>, the Aces rank eighth on defense overall with a 106.8 defensive rating. On the road<\/a>, their defensive rating tightens up the tune of 104.0, the third-best road defense in the W. At home<\/a>, they slip to the 13th-best defensive rating at 109.6.<\/p>\n The instinct is to attribute to such a defensive disparity to effort. The Aces are dialed in when away, whereas they appear to lack the requisite level of focus at home.<\/p>\n The underlying stats, however, don\u2019t severely implicate the Aces.<\/p>\n Mostly, opponents are enjoying a bit more shooting luck in Vegas<\/a>. When the Aces are at home, their opponents shoot better from 2-point range (52.34 percent home vs. 46.13 percent road), 3-point range (35.6 percent home vs. 34.65 percent road) and the foul line (82.21 percent home vs. 78.0 percent road).<\/p>\n More specifically, the stats suggest that opponents are feasting in the midrange when playing in Vegas. At home<\/a>, the Aces are allowing opponents attempt a top-three number of midrange shots and covert them at a top-three percentage. On the road<\/a>, Aces\u2019 opponents are making midrange shots at a bottom-three rate.<\/p>\n As most basketball analysts agree that rim and 3-point attempts produce more efficient offense than midrange shots, the shot profile that Vegas is allowing at home should, in the long run, result in less efficient offense for their opponents, and improve their defensive metrics.<\/p>\n That two of the Aces\u2019 biggest stinkers\u2014their opening loss to the Mercury and their latest loss to the Fever\u2014came at home could also be skewing the still-small sample size.<\/p>\n