LAS VEGAS \u2014 With the clock winding down in the first quarter, Chelsea Gray received the ball on the left wing.<\/p>\n
The reigning WNBA Finals MVP sized up her defender, New York Liberty reserve wing Kayla Thornton, before driving right, toward the free-throw line. A dribble hesitation created some space, and Gray elevated for a trademark mid-range jumper at the top of the key over Thornton.<\/p>\n
The high, arcing shot kissed off the front of the rim before settling gently in the basket with 2.6 seconds remaining. It was the Aces\u2019 38th and final point of the quarter.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur physicality went up another level starting the game,\u201d Gray said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The top-seeded Aces\u2019 first-quarter barrage made WNBA Finals history Wednesday, part of a dominant 104-76 Game 2 win against the No. 2 Liberty at Michelob Ultra Arena. The Aces can secure a series sweep and become the first repeat champions in 21 years with a win in Game 3 at noon, Sunday, at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the highest-scoring first quarter of a Finals game in league history. Only the Detroit Shock, who scored 39 points in the fourth quarter against the Phoenix Mercury in 2007, have scored more in a quarter during the Finals. The Aces\u2019 14 made field goals and 12 assists also tied the league\u2019s single-quarter Finals records.<\/p>\n
Two-time MVP A\u2019ja Wilson led the Aces with 12 points in the quarter, while All-Star Kelsey Plum scored nine. All five starters made a 3 as the team went 6 of 10 from range. Coach Becky Hammon\u2019s team also shot 70% from the field and outrebounded the Liberty 10-7.<\/p>\n
They achieved an almost unbelievable offensive rating of 190. For context, the Shock\u2019s offensive rating during their record-setting quarter was 162.5.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe trust all of us to make the right read, and whoever it is, they\u2019re going to knock it down,\u201d Plum said after the game. \u201cWe have a lot of faith in each other like that. I think it\u2019s just a testament of playing team ball.\u201d<\/p>\n
Perhaps no sequence demonstrated their willingness to share the ball like Gray\u2019s buzzer-beating 3 with 3:52 remaining in the quarter. The possession began with a Wilson cut, which was defended by the Liberty. But the Aces kept the ball through Plum, who then drove baseline to collapse the defense before kicking out to Young when New York brought a double team.<\/p>\n
After a quick exchange with Wilson, Young attacked the lane to force help from Liberty center Jonquel Jones and found a wide-open Alysha Clark in the right corner. As the New York defense scrambled to rotate, the reigning Sixth Player of the Year swung the ball to Gray on the wing, who hit the 3 as the shot clock expired to push the Aces\u2019 lead to 24-7.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose girls hooped today,\u201d Hammon said in her postgame interview. \u201cJust hooped.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yet the Aces\u2019 defense in the first quarter might have been even more impressive. New York shot 30% from the field while going 2 of 10 from 3. Breanna Stewart led New York with seven points in the quarter. No other Liberty player scored more than four or made more than one field goal.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we\u2019re great defensively,\u201d Hammon said, \u201cwe\u2019re great offensively.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a92023 Las Vegas Review-Journal. Visit reviewjournal.com.<\/a>. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/a> <\/p>\n KeyWords:: 1a9e8518-c09d-445f-b643-500f3953bb98 LAS VEGAS \u2014 With the clock winding down in the first quarter, Chelsea Gray received the ball on the left wing. The reigning WNBA Finals MVP sized up her defender, New York Liberty reserve wing Kayla Thornton, before driving right, toward the free-throw line. A dribble hesitation created some space, and Gray elevated for a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31015","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31015","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=31015"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31015\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31016,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31015\/revisions\/31016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n1a9e8518 c09d 445f b643 500f3953bb98
\nBC-BKL-ACES-OFFENSE:LV
\nBC BKL ACES OFFENSE LV<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"