3 things the Aces need to do to break their losing streak

The last time that the Las Vegas Aces lost three straight games, Bill Laimbeer was still the head coach. That was back in August of 2019, and just the second season after the franchise relocated to Vegas.

Entering this WNBA season, the Aces are the two-time defending champions but they find themselves struggling to keep up their top-tier status. Sitting at 5-5, having lost four of their last five games, something needs to change in a hurry for the Aces.

With four players named to the U.S. Olympic team, the Aces still have plenty of talent and star power. While they haven't looked like themselves this season since the retirement of Candace Parker, they still have the roster to win games. Here are three things Las Vegas needs to do to get back to their winning ways.

1. Get Chelsea Gray back on the court

The Aces need a key player healthy — three-time champion Chelsea Gray. She suffered a leg injury in the Game 3 loss to the New York Liberty in last season's WNBA Finals and has yet to play this season. Gray averaged 15 points and a career-high seven assists last year. She also helped Vegas own the second-best assists per 100 possessions (19.3) and fastest pace (98.58) in the entire W.

And now, without Gray running the offense for the Aces, the team's assists per 100 has dropped to 17.5. Without her, the team also lacks a leader and a point guard.

"I think [Hammon] gave a really good analogy the other day -- this is not an excuse -- but when you bake a cake, or you make anything, really, and you take a main ingredient like Chelsea Gray out of the equation, the food tastes different," Aces guard Kelsey Plum said Tuesday to CBS Sports. "There are some just like schematic things that are different. I think people are guarding us differently because she's not out there."

The Aces' offense has been going, but the players and Hammon feel it could be more organized with its leader. Gray had the ability to read and play-call on offense, picking apart the defense. When a football team is missing its starting quarterback, it struggles. And when the Aces miss their starting quarterback in Gray, they also struggle.

Although they are still averaging 88.7 points per game without Gray, their field goal percentage is ninth in the league at 41.9 percent. Last season, they finished first at 48.6 percent. When Chelsea Gray returns they should get more open shots.

2. Play better defense

After allowing 97.7 points per 100 possessions last season, the best mark in the league, the Aces are allowing 102.1 this season.

"We have four of the best defensive players in the league. That's two games in a row that I thought we were not very good defensively at all," Hammon said after a game early in the season, per ESPN.

A'ja Wilson, who has been the WNBA's Defensive Player of the Year for the past two seasons, was also honest.

"We have enough on the offensive end," she said. "It's the defense that could make us or break us."

Wilson is the one player who has been consistent on the defensive end, but she can't be the only one holding it together. She has at least one blocked shot in every game this season. She is also leading the team in steals, averaging 1.9 per game.

While they are led by one of the best defensive players in the WNBA, it helps, but it doesn't do it all.

3. Lock in and be accountable

Wilson accounts for 33 percent of the Aces' offense through 10 games. The Aces score nearly 40 percent of their points in the paint, but no post player has more than 100 total points other than Wilson. But Wilson's frontcourt partner, Kiah Stokes, has been absent on offense. She needs to do better than 2.1 points per game to help Wilson in the paint.

A'ja is putting up huge numbers that have her in early MVP conversations, but placing all your eggs in one basket is not enough to win in the WNBA. The Aces are at their best when they're balanced, with the strengths of each of their stars accentuating that of the others.

The Aces have lost games mainly down the stretch. They keep it close until the last quarter and then fall apart. Hammon knows it's frustrating for the players, but they need to hold one another accountable and realize that winning is not as easy as they once thought.

“We’re one team in Minnesota,” coach Becky Hammon said after a loss at Los Angeles on Sunday night, per AP. “We’re another team in Atlanta. We’re one team in Dallas; we’re another team against Seattle.”

That is a major issue for the Aces. They must stay consistent and play together as one, which they have not been doing in recent games. The team and Wilson aren't concerned about the team's rough start to the year, and it might not be too much to worry about just yet.