Reserves power Aces to regular season finale win over Wings

Las Vegas Aces PA announcer Chet Buchanan said A'ja Wilson's name just once on Thursday to indicate that she wasn't playing.

The Aces star center had the best recorded regular season in WNBA history, and she sat courtside in her team's final game against the Wings before the playoffs begin.

Wilson, Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young watched tonight, resting for Sunday's playoff game against the Seattle Storm while the reserves took over.

However, there was no drop-off as the Aces' bench powered them to a 98-84 victory over the Dallas Wings, flexing the team's depth days before the start of the postseason.

"We're deep. I think that's really important, especially going into the playoffs," Megan Gustafson said. "You never know what's going to happen, whether there's foul trouble or whatever it is, we have to be ready.

"This game showed that we can all play together, no matter who's on the floor."

Gustafson, who's been floating between the fifth starter position and off the bench the entire season, threw down a career-high 24 points, shooting nearly 60% from the field. She was the lead performer in a cast of reserves that made it rain inside Michelob Ultra Arena. The Aces tied their season best in 3-pointers made in a game with 15, with Tiffany Hayes, Sydney Colson and Kierstan Bell combing for nine.

The 3-point shooting onslaught led to 60 points in the first half, which is a season-best.

"There's not really anybody in the gym that can't shoot," Aces coach Becky Hammon said. "They (Dallas) were going under a lot of pick and rolls, but I really loved our pace, especially in that first half. The ball was just popping, and the bodies were flying around."

Bell had her best performance season, logging 24 minutes of action and scoring 12 points. Hammon said Bell hadn't even "sniffed" the court this season and was sick on Wednesday.

"She (Bell) was on her death bed the other day, sicker than a dog and to come out after not having played in a live game like that, I thought she was so good," Hammon said.

Over the last 25 days, the Aces have hit their stride, going 10-2 to close out the regular season and on a five-game win streak. The ability to rest their core four players while picking up a 14-point, nearly triple-digit victory gives the Aces an even more dangerous look going into the postseason.

A rested starting four our of five and a confident bench is just what the Aces are looking for heading into their Sunday matchup against the Seattle Storm.

"I'll just say my thought process was, I'm always going to do what I think is best for my team," Hammon said. "What was best for my team was to get those four rest and to get the rust off those other ones, but they weren't very rusty."

"They just came out and started playing and hooping. We wanted to fine-tune out bench and get them ready, because we know anybody's number can be called over the next month."

It's a best-of-three series against the Storm, with the Aces getting to host Games 1 and 2, but Hammon is well aware of what Seattle is capable of calling them "a very scary team." The Aces tip off against the Storm at 7 p.m. on Sunday and 6:30 p.m. Tuesday for Game 2. 

Jewell Loyd, Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins-Smith are all averaging 15+ points and have taken a game from the Aces earlier this season.

"They're (Seattle) well coached, so I expect nothing but a dog fight," Hammon said. "My early thoughts are, if we don't take care of a few actions, and personnel things, they can beat you, they can run it up and they can put a lot of points on the board fast."