The last time the Las Vegas Aces and New York Liberty met, Becky Hammon’s team celebrated their second-consecutive WNBA title on the Barclays Center floor.
Courtney Vandersloot had airballed a game-winning shot from the corner as time expired in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals, which headlined a second half which the Liberty coughed up a nine-point lead in a matchup they entered as 5.5-point favorites.
And a Liberty second-half lead in the Finals only occurred at home at Barclays Center. They held a lead throughout the entire second half in the Game 3 victory over the Aces at Barclays Center.
The home-court advantage presented a clear boost to home teams in that series in 2023. In the second halves of the first two Finals games in Las Vegas, the Liberty led for just 1:59 of 40 regulation minutes.
That daunting Finals experience and a clear chance of gaining an edge for securing home-court advantage down the road is enough motivation for the Liberty when they face the Aces for the first time this season at Michelob Ultra Arena Saturday afternoon. And this is the perfect time to do it.
The Aces will enter Saturday with a subpar 6-5 record. They’ve also suffered a three-game skid in June, the longest losing streak of the Hammon era. They’ve been without star guard Chelsea Gray, who was listed as questionable and didn’t play in Thursday’s win against the Phoenix Mercury. Star Jackie Young hasn’t been healthy through the start of the season and aside from MVP frontrunner A’ja Wilson, the Aces are searching for consistent and reliable production. Young, though, seems to be on track after making seven treys and logging a career-high 34 points Thursday night.
“We’re a fun group but losing sucks,” Hammon said after the team lost it’s fifth game of the season to the Minnesota Lynx Tuesday. “We gotta put the work first. The trust — I’m not quite sure why the trust isn’t there.”
On the other hand, the Liberty (11-2) are on a seven-game winning streak and in position to steal a game from an Aces squad that’s expected to eventually overcome their issues. A win would put Sandy Brondello’s team 1-0 in the season series (three games) and just one step closer to home-court advantage in the postseason. The two teams are again favorites to reach the 2024 WNBA Finals.
Coincidentally, the two teams would face off in a first-round matchup if the season ended before Thursday’s slate of games.
Home-court advantage clearly aided the two teams in last season’s matchups. All of the regular-season matchups between the two superteams in 2023 ended with the home team winning comfortably. The Liberty lost by an average of 15 points in regular-season games at Michelob Ultra Arena while the Aces lost by an average of 23.5 points in game at Barclays Center, including the 38-point beatdown on Aug. 6.
The lone outlier was the Liberty’s Commissioner’s Cup Championship win on the road against the Aces.
And in the WNBA Finals, the Liberty didn’t stand a chance in Sin City. Their stars were ineffective in the 17-point loss in Game 1 and 28-point blowout in Game 2. If it wasn’t for Jonquel Jones’ surge in Game 2, her team would’ve lost by 40.
The Liberty regained life after returning home to Brooklyn and winning Game 3 by 14 points. And a Game 4 win was within reach but even if they protected home court, the Liberty had yet to prove of being capable of winning a do-or-die Game 5 in Las Vegas.
That’s why securing home-court advantage against a tested Aces squad should be priority No. 1.
And the Liberty have no excuse not to get the job done against the Aces Saturday, as New York enters Sin City with Jones playing some of her best basketball with the team, the league’s best offense clicking and five full days of rest. The Liberty’s last game was on Sunday against the Washington Mystics and the Aces have been busy since then: a road loss to the rebuilding Los Angeles Sparks last Sunday, a 14-point defeat to the Lynx Tuesday and a road win against MVP candidate Kahleah Copper and the Mercury Thursday night.
The schedule also works in the Liberty’s favor down the line if they secure a win Saturday. Following the Olympic break, the Aces would have to even the season series on the second game of a back-to-back in a matchup in Las Vegas on Aug. 17. The Libs have a road game against the Sparks two days prior.
The final regular-season matchup is on Sept. 8 after the Libs get two days of rest. The Aces will go into that matchup suiting up for the fourth time in seven days. And they’ll have to deal with physical title contenders — Connecticut Sun — two days before the Liberty matchup.
There’s no guarantee that the WNBA Finals will again feature the Liberty and Aces, who hope to become the second team in league history to win three straight titles — the Houston Comets won four straight from 1997-2000. There’s no guarantee they’ll face off in the postseason at all.
But the Liberty can do their best to control their destiny. And that begins Saturday.
