3 issues the Aces need to solve after disappointing loss to the Lynx

The Las Vegas Aces’ loss to the Minnesota Lynx on Wednesday night at Michelob Ultra Arena marked the third loss in a stretch of four straight home games for the two-time defending WNBA champions. Instead of using this time at home to rally the troops and get back on the right track for a playoff push, the Aces seem to be moving in the opposite direction.

This was an opportunity for the Aces to make a statement against one of the best teams in the league. Instead, they lost 98-87 and allowed the Lynx to shoot neatly 60 percent from the field and from beyond the arc, with all five Minnesota starters in double-figures.

Glaring problems have been on display for the team since the beginning of the season, but many thought these issues would be ironed out with the return of Chelsea Gray. Her return sparked an initial run for the squad, but the same shortcomings are still holding the team back now.

What are these issues? They’re quite simple: the Aces need to get back to the basics on defense, clarify their role definition, and find a sense of leadership and identity.

3. Little things matter on defense

Everyone knows that the Aces are an offensive spectacle, as evidenced by being the WNBA’s highest-scoring team every year since 2019. But their back-to-back championships only came to fruition through an equal focus on the defensive side of the ball. In 2024, the Aces have lost this.

While Las Vegas does have some of the best defensive pieces in the league, the entire picture is still missing. Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum, and Sydney Colson are among the best guards in the league at pressuring ball handlers. A’ja Wilson is the best rim protector in the WNBA, and Kiah Stokes also averages over one block a game. Chelsea Gray is even a tremendous shot blocker for a guard. 

But the problem is not individual talent; the problem is buying into being a sound defensive unit. Instead of taking chances in passing lanes, the Aces need to be more fundamentally sound. Immense ball pressure and rim protection does no good if the team constantly ends up in disadvantaged situations.

Little things like matching up in transition or boxing out and preventing multiple efforts by the offense matter. In the recent loss to the Liberty, the team relinquished so many offensive rebounds that it could not even catch up to a New York team that was shooting at an incredibly inefficient clip. 

It’s cliché to say that defense wins championships, but in the case of the Aces, they actually do. These little things are issues but there are big problems also plaguing Las Vegas, like an inability to guard ball screens or to recognize the opponent’s personnel. 

Courtney Williams dominated the Aces in the pick and roll on Wednesday, but the team made no adjustments to stop her or throw off her rhythm. She was clearly looking for mid-range jumpers and pocket passes to the big, but they still could not stop her from getting where she wanted to go. Kelsey Plum even noted that she had no answer for her:

Napheesa Collier is one of the premier players in the WNBA, and probably the only player with any semblance of a chance to challenge Wilson for the MVP. But she got far too many wide-open looks in the paint tonight and was able to free herself up for multiple open 3-point attempts as well.

Cecilia Zandalasini has the league’s second-highest 3-point shooting percentage, but the Aces still gave up two wide-open looks to her, both of which she knocked down. 

Simply put, the attention to detail on the defensive end is just not there for Becky Hammon’s team right now, and if she wants to run back a third championship, she needs to get her players to buy in a bit more. The offense is still atop the league, but this defensive effort won’t cut it. 

2. The Aces desperately need role definition

All great teams have a game plan, and most of the time, it requires players to be themselves and do what they’re good at. Championship teams are constructed very carefully, and the Aces are no different. But the problem is that the members of the team are not playing in a style that jives with the teams construction. 

A’ja Wilson is the best player in the world, and the offense should flow through her. I know that each night presents a unique challenge in the W, but there is no excuse for her taking the third-most shots on the team. She should touch the ball on almost every possession that she is in so that she can stay in the groove and not feel the need to play hero ball after being frozen out of the game for so long. 

Kelsey Plum needs to be an attack-first player. She is so effective at getting to the rim with a variety of footwork and finishes that it blows my mind when she does not make this a focal point of every game. Her jump shot, while not as effective as last year, is still an incredible weapon in her game and only gets more valuable the more often she gets to the rim. She is simply too skilled and talented to settle for bad shots.

Jackie Young was at her best in Wednesday’s contest. When she is confident and decisive, she is one of the best scorers in the league and can fill it up in a hurry. She needs to have this mindset every night because if the defensive effort does not pick up, the Aces will have to put up serious numbers on the offensive end to win the important games, and they cannot do this without an assertive Jackie Young.

As for the rest of the Aces’ roster, they need to stay within themselves. For starters like Chelsea Gray and Kiah Stokes, it means supplementing the elite trio of scorers already on the floor. Stokes needs to make hustle plays and focus on making great cuts and setting good screens. Gray needs to take care of the ball and deliver it on time. She still has some wiggle and shot creation in her game to keep the defense honest, but her biggest contribution to this team is as a distributor.

For the bench unit, they need to focus on providing a spark. Tonight was an excellent example of this as they did everything from knocking down open shots to taking charges inside the paint. If these players can commit to taking care of the ball, shooting open shots, and making heads-up plays on the defensive end, then they will clobber almost every opponent’s second unit. 

1. Who do the Aces want to be?

Every championship team has a clear vision of who and what they want to be, and they know exactly how they intend to achieve this. The Aces seem aimless in this department and that is why they are not playing at a championship level right now.

Coach Hammon may piss off fans by sounding the alarm constantly with her frequent timeouts, but to an extent, I get it. The Aces give up far too many big runs to their opponents that end up coming back to bite them, and sometimes even a timeout is not enough to stop the bleeding.

When things get difficult in games, the issues stack up and they snowball onto the Aces instead of being mitigated as they pop up. For a team that has won two straight titles, their ability to bounce back from hardship this season has been alarming. I understand that they have won quite a bit over the last few seasons, but they have to be able to deal with adversity better.

Part of that is focusing on the Aces, and not on external factors like the refs. Plum and Wilson absolutely get fouled more than the numbers would indicate, but both of them need to do a better job of controlling their emotions on the court. Complaining to refs never helped a player get better calls, and this energy should be focused instead on troubleshooting with their teammates. 

The best players have to be held to the highest standards, and so do the best teams. The Aces have to ask themselves who they want to be and how they intend to get there because if not, this season could slip away from them.

Being great in the WNBA is not an easy thing, but the Aces have all the pieces to be the best team in the league this season. Another championship would cement this team among the greatest dynasties in the W’s history, but they have to adapt their approach to get there.

I still have faith in Becky Hammon’s squad, but they need to address the things that are holding them back. They have another chance on Thursday against the Lynx to show that they can take this step and steer the ship toward a third consecutive championship.