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That wasn’t it. The New York Liberty went into Tuesday night’s game against the Las Vegas Aces hoping to pull off the upset and keep their road trip on a positive note. That didn’t turn out to be the case as Vegas pulled away and won by 22 points on Tuesday night.
The Aces have one more game with the Liberty as this wraps up their season series. This is the first leg of a back-to-back as they’re heading to Minnesota to face the Lynx tomorrow night.
Where to follow the game
CBS Sorts Network on TV. Late night party so we rolling after 10 p.m. Another double-header.
Injuries
Sabrina Ionescu, Natasha Howard, and Jocelyn Willoughby are out.
Angel McCoughtry and Iliana Rupert are out.
The game
You can’t afford to turn it over against elite opponents. NY turned it over 18 times and Vegas got 24 points off of those turnovers. Mistakes are extra painful when you’re shorthanded against one of the best teams in the league.
Here’s a groovy stat from my guy Nekias Duncan of Basketball News:
A quick Aces update: the A’ja Wilson-Liz Cambage pairing has a plus-10.1 net rating in 230 minutes together. It still pales in comparison to Wilson and Dearica Hamby (plus-15.7 in 205 minutes), but it’s nice to see the Twin-Towers look working well.
The Aces were able to take full advantage of NY’s size disadvantage by scoring a season high 58 points in the paint. Not having an elite rim protector like Howard makes for tough sledding inside. Wilson and Cambage are such fantastic scorers and players and for Vegas, they’re hoping to get out to a huge lead so they can save them as much as they can for tomorrow night’s game.
Life is difficult when you’re the main shot creator and distributor. Without Ionescu, Betnijah Laney is running the show for Walt Hopkins and friend. She went 7-12 from the field on Tuesday, but the Aces forced her into a career high eight turnovers. It’s tough sledding trying to get through and over a lengthy team like the Aces, so how Laney adjusts tonight will determine if the Liberty can pull off the upset.
Player to watch: Kelsey Plum
Similar to Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets and Breanna Stewart of the Seattle Storm, Plum recently returned to action following an Achilles tear. She spoke about her recovery from it with Stewie and KD last summer
Now that she’s back, she’s playing the best basketball of her pro career. She’s getting to the rim a lot more this season as compared to years past and is shooting a career best 81.8 percent from inside of three feet. Couple that with quality three point shooting and perfect free throw shooting and Vegas has another excellent player to help them compete for a title.
Sami Whitcomb has been a rock solid acquisition since coming over from Seattle in the winter. She gives the team good perimeter defense and a career best 47.5 percent from deep this season. She only played 17:08 on Tuesday and with two days off before the last game of the road trip, she might be good for an extended appearance tonight.
From the Vault
The latest Verzuz featured Eve and Trina. We feelin’ good today so let’s take it back to 2001
More reading: Swish Appeal
- New York Liberty Game Notes - New York Liberty
- Las Vegas Aces Game Notes - Las Vegas Aces
- Cambage says Aces’ potent offense nowhere near its potential - Sam Gordon - Las Vegas Review-Journal