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The Las Vegas Aces have not had the 2025 WNBA season that they originally imagined. Las Vegas is 8-9 nearing the halfway point of the regular season, a large regression from their 27-win season in 2024. The Aces did not help matters with a terrible performance against the Fever on Thursday night.
The Aces lost 81-54 against the Fever in a game that head coach Becky Hammon called “one of the worst games I've ever seen.”
Hammon ripped into her team in her post-game comments.
“That's a complete lack of professionalism to come here with that effort,” Hammon said after the game. “They played better yesterday in practice by a lot. I don't know how you step onto the floor with 20,000 people in the stands and perform like that. It is the worst offensive night I've ever seen [since] I've been here in the last four years.”
The Aces won back-to-back WNBA titles in 2022 and 2023. Las Vegas made the semifinals in 2024, but lost to the eventual champions from New York.
This season, on the other hand, has the playoffs looking like no guarantee at all.
“They were in the paint [getting] downhill layups all night,” Hammon said. “I don't really have any answers for you. The effort and the focus just were not there. I thought they were grabbing and holding us, so it's a rugby match. My team doesn't want to play rugby, so we get our ass kicked. There has to be some fight back if they're going to allow that kind of physicality. My team has to step up and match that physicality, period.”
The Aces could not generate offense against the Fever. They shot a pitiful 26.2% from the floor and were dominated both in the paint and on rebounds.
“One team is fickle, and one team is not,” Hammon added. “One team is three steps behind, one team is not. They got all the 50/50 balls. They busted our ass in every kind of way. There's just no bones about it. It's one of the worst games I've ever seen.”
Hammon admitted that her team's lack of passion worried her the most.
“They just wanted it more than us, and I think that's the most disturbing thing, when people want it more than you,” Hammon concluded. “Because that's effort and that's heart.”
Next up for the Aces is a trip to Connecticut to take on the Sun on Sunday afternoon.
