Aces defeat Dream to clinch WNBA Playoff berth

Becky Hammon says she does not care that the Las Vegas Aces have clinched a playoff spot.

The Aces' 83-72 win over the Atlanta Dream on Friday locked up at least a No. 8 spot in the postseason, but Hammon believes that the Aces' best basketball is still ahead of them.

"We have to have carryover when there's correction," Hammon said. "Great, we're in the playoffs, but I don't care. I care about Phoenix next."

A'ja Wilson threw down 26 points and had 16 boards becoming the second fastest player to record 2,000 career rebounds. Tiffany Hayes recorded her first double-double (20 points and 10 rebounds) in six years. Hammon was also content with the Aces' defensive performance for the first time in what's felt like weeks.

She feels that the Aces are one or two "raindrops" away from "making it flood."

"It's that final push until we start really kind of get flowing, and it can seem kind of like stuck in mud at times. I know (it feels that way) for me," Hammon said. "That dig-down factor of being solid on both ends of the floor when it gets like that, that's really what I'm looking for at the end of the day."

The win over Atlanta also came without one of the Aces' star players: Jackie Young. Hammon said that Young needed to rest and was not happy that she had to sit out.

But the fatigue factor from the Olympics was setting in on Young and Hammon made the executive decision to sit her.

"Sometimes you have to help save these athletes from themselves," Hammon said. "She (Young) had some aches and pains, and I just thought that she needed to rest because she really didn't get any over the break ... I made the executive decision to sit her."

"She was not happy and is still not happy with me, but that's all right. We'll get through it."

The veteran Hayes got the opportunity to start against the team she played with for a decade and set a stat line she hadn't met since 2018.

When she was told it was her first double-double in six years, Hayes celebrated with a fist pump.

"It's really hard to come by, but just doing it here with this new team that I'm on in that game ... It just feels good," Hayes said.

It was the first game since the Olympic break where the Aces felt like they were on the upswing.

The Aces have won twice prior since returning from the Olympic break. The win over the Los Angeles Sparks on Aug. 18 was overshadowed by Sparks forward Dearica Hamby's lawsuit against the organization and Hammon's comments after the game that bullying against Hamby "did not happen."

The buzzer-beating win over the Chicago Sky on Aug. 25 saw the Aces struggle on offense, shooting just 38% from the floor.

Against the Dream, there was a shared attitude that things were finally beginning to click but there was still work to be done.

The Aces travel to Phoenix on Sunday, a team that is four wins away from clinching a playoff spot. That game is quickly followed by a matchup against the Chicago Sky on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena.

Despite sitting in fourth place, a game ahead of the Seattle Storm, the Aces still have the opportunity to clinch a higher playoff seed...or fall lower.

"We're the defending champs. Everyone wants to see what we're going to do," Wilson said. "Some people want us to fail and some people want us to succeed, so the pressure's going to always be there."

"Within our locker room, we lean on each other now more than ever. This is the time when you have to lock into one another."