The Las Vegas Aces took a stranglehold on the WNBA Finals on Wednesday night, holding off a furious comeback from the Phoenix Mercury to win 90-88 and move within one win of a third WNBA title in four years.
The Aces controlled the game for most of the night despite playing in front of a hostile crowd on the road. A'ja Wilson was dominant for the entire game, setting records galore for both her performance in Game 3 and across the entirety of these playoffs.
When the Mercury battled back to tie the game in the final seconds, Wilson slammed the door shut with a contested jumper in the mid-range with less than one second remaining to send the Aces home winners.
After the game, Aces head coach Becky Hammon revealed what she told her team in the timeout huddle with just five seconds to go, via Hayden Cilley of ClutchPoints.
“Get the ball to A'ja and get out of the way,” Hammon said.
The Aces got the ball back in a tie game with under 20 seconds to go, and Hammon decided to let them play at first. However, with the possession going nowhere, she burned a timeout with five seconds left to get the ball to Wilson. The four-time WNBA MVP did not disappoint, delivering one of the defining moments of her career thus far and moving within a victory of her third title.
Wilson is on track for yet another Finals MVP award if she can close the series out after a couple of stellar performances to open the series against the Mercury. She saved the best for Game 3, finishing with 34 points on 11-for-20 shooting and 14 rebounds, making impact plays on both ends of the floor all night long.
This is the first time ever that the WNBA Finals has moved to a best-of-seven series, so the Mercury will have to win the next four games over the red-hot Aces in order to take the trophy. Las Vegas has only lost three games in the last two months after getting off to a slow start this season, so it is a very tall task that awaits Phoenix over the next few days.
