BROOKLYN — There’s a motive why no skilled basketball workforce has accomplished a three-peat because the Los Angeles Lakers did it within the early 2000s. After Tuesday night time’s Sport 2 loss towards the New York Liberty, Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon make clear what makes holding a championship-level consideration to element for 3 consecutive seasons so tough, acknowledging how human nature comes into impact.
“Fairly frankly, we haven’t had the sting,” Hammon mentioned. “We discovered it within the final month, I really feel like we’ve gained loads of floor. However, the texture was totally different from the leap.”
A scarcity of an edge is one thing that Hammon has spoken about various events this season. It seemingly performed a task in why the Aces started the yr with a 6-6 report, and and why they dropped Sport 1 — a loss that Hammon deemed effort-related. And, whereas the hassle was higher in Sport 2, Hammon acknowledged that the efficiency nonetheless left quite a bit to be desired.
“The quantity of layups we gave up was obscene,” Hammon mentioned after the 88-84 loss.
Although the Aces completed the common season with an undeniably higher focus than they started it, they nonetheless weren’t the identical workforce that dominated the WNBA en path to back-to-back championships in 2022 and 2023.
Now, they discover themselves in an 0-2 gap within the semi-finals, a deficit that no WNBA workforce has ever overcome — although it’s not one the workforce believes is insurmountable.
“I really like being within the historical past books,” mentioned Chelsea Grey, the Aces’ 2022 Finals MVP. “May as properly type of begin there.”
Nonetheless, the clutch-time Barclay’s Heart loss was a full-circle second for Las Vegas
Final yr, the Aces secured the WNBA championship on the highway, defeating the Liberty in 4 video games and clinching the collection with a one-point victory at Barclay’s Heart. That got here regardless of the absences of Chelsea Grey and Kiah Stokes — each rotation gamers who have been misplaced to damage — and ended with Courtney Vandersloot airballing a possible game-winning jumper within the waning seconds.
The heartbreaking loss has famously served as gasoline for New York all season, and Hammon and the Aces have constantly acknowledged that Liberty got here again higher this season — each bettering a person degree, and including rookie standout Leonie Fiebich, who has been a seamless match within the beginning lineup.
“New York is quite a bit higher than they have been final yr, plain and easy,” Kelsey Plum mentioned forward of the semi-finals match-up. “When you go down the road, like pound for pound, individually — all of them are higher.”
After the Sport 2 loss, Hammon acknowledged that whereas different groups improved, her workforce handled distractions within the wake of their extended success.
“The sector was totally different from the leap, and that is why three-peating is tough,” Hammon mentioned. “Let’s be actual, the entire league has been pissed off for the final eight months, and my gamers are in commercials, and this, and that, and being freaking celebrities — and also you get distracted. That’s why it’s arduous, as a result of human nature is distracting.”
Hammon additionally drew a parallel between the 2024 Liberty-Aces semi-finals rematch and the 2014 Finals rematch between the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Warmth. Hammon, who served as an assistant coach underneath Greg Popovich, watched the Spurs fumble a championship once they didn’t safe a defensive rebound on the conclusion of Sport 6 of the NBA Finals in 2013, permitting Warmth sharpshooter Ray Allen to sink a nook three when the collection would have in any other case ended.
The Warmth finally secured the title within the subsequent Sport 7, one of many extra surprising comeback wins in fashionable skilled basketball. However, the Spurs got here again to decisively win all of it the next yr.
“They lose an absolute heartbreaker, in Miami, off a fundamental factor, [an] offensive rebound, kick out three,” Hammon mentioned. “We [the Spurs] ought to have walked away with the title that yr. The following yr, they got here again. They got here again with a lot drive, a lot self-discipline, a lot focus, that there was no means any person beat them in 2014.”
Hammon likened the Liberty’s 2023 loss to the Spurs’— and in addition in contrast the 2 groups’ responses to the heartbreak.
“I nonetheless assume we [the Aces] have been the higher workforce, however we have been dealt a very freaking powerful hand final yr within the Finals, dropping Chelsea [Gray] and Kia, so I’m positive they really feel like one thing was stolen a little bit bit.”
This season, the Liberty are 5-0 towards the Aces, together with the 2 playoff wins.
“On the finish of day, in two years, we’ve gained right here one time,” Hammon mentioned. “Sport 4. Apart from that, they’ve kicked our ass.”
Nonetheless, the Aces aren’t carried out but
One interpretation of Hammon’s postgame feedback might have been that the adorned head coach was coming to phrases with the truth that a three-peat may not be within the playing cards.
However, she made sure to state the collection was removed from over — and that Las Vegas was going to place up a struggle.
“On the finish of the day, we haven’t both misplaced, or gained a championship. Nothing has been gained tonight,” Hammon mentioned. “Now, do we’ve an uphill battle? Completely, we do. There’s little question about that. Nevertheless, all New York did was do what New York ought to do, which is defend their house courtroom. It’s a collection. We absolutely intend on pushing it 5 video games, however we acquired to take it quarter by quarter — can’t get forward of ourselves.”
The Aces will head house to the Michelob ULTRA Heart for Sport 3, which is able to happen on Friday at 9:30pm ET. A win would prolong the collection to 4 video games. A loss would finish the search for a three-peat, as soon as and for all.
“Let there be little question,” Hammon mentioned, wrapping up an impassioned 13 minutes on the podium. “We’re in for a struggle. And a giant one.”
