Aces hope to get back on track hosting Minnesota tonight in Las Vegas

The Las Vegas Aces are narrowly holding onto the No. 4 seed, a game ahead of the Seattle Storm and two games behind the Minnesota Lynx and Connecticut Sun, with about one month left in the WNBA season.

The quest to move up in the standings continues at 6:30 p.m. today when the two-time defending WNBA champions host the Lynx. And on Friday, the teams play again in Minnesota.

“We haven’t played our best basketball. We know that and the good news is we have time to start playing our best basketball,” coach Becky Hammon said. “It’s about peaking at the right time.” 

Hammon compared the Aces’ goal of “peaking at the right time” to the 2021 Chicago Sky, who went 16-16 in the regular season before winning the league championship. 

“They (the Sky) were a very average team throughout the course of the season,” Hammon said. “The playoffs came, they hit another gear and they just kept rolling.” 

“I feel like we have that capability in this gym as well.” 

The Aces have 14 regular season games left, 10 of which are against teams that are battling for playoff positioning. Stopping Minnesota’s high-powered offense won’t be easy, guard Kelsey Plum said. 

“Minnesota’s been a great team all year,” Plum said. “They’re No. 1 in assists and shoot the ball at an incredibly high level. We know that we’re in for a battle.”

The Aces and New York Liberty are still considered the favorites to win the league title. They met in the finals last season.

First, the Aces (17-9) need to start playing winning basketball on a consistent basis.

“In this league, every game is super important,” Plum said. “You’ve got to do your work just in the present moment because you can’t look far past into the playoffs. If you don’t handle business right now, there won’t be an option for the playoffs.”