Aces fall again despite A’ja Wilson’s return from concussion: Three takeaways from Las Vegas’ loss to Storm

A’ja Wilson registered a double-double in her return to the Las Vegas Aces‘ lineup Friday, but her team still suffered a 90-83 loss to the Seattle Storm. The Aces continue to struggle and are now on a three-game losing streak while dropping to 5-7 in the season.

Although the Aces entered halftime with a 44-38 advantage after overcoming an early 10-point deficit, the Storm, now 8-5, won the game with Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins combining for 49 points.

Jackie Young led the Aces’ efforts with 22 points while Wilson tallied 20 points and 14 rebounds. Wilson said she was still “getting back into the swing of things” after missing three games while in concussion protocol, but also admitted she was not content with her performance. 

“I feel good. I just gotta honesty start putting the ball in the hoop and stop giving it away to the other team,” Wilson said postgame. “That’s unacceptable on my end, so I gotta be better on Sunday and moving forward for my team because that is not how I wanted to come back.”

The Aces will be back on the court Sunday when they host the Indiana Fever. Before that, here are three takeaways from the Aces’ loss to Seattle.

Wilson made uncharacteristic mistakes

Wilson got the 104th double-double of her career while also adding two assists, two steals and three blocks.  Those are good stats for a player who has missed the last three games, but there were certainly some areas that could have been better. 

Wilson had a season-high seven turnovers Friday. She also went 8 of 13 from the free throw line, which is uncharacteristic for her because she had been shooting 91.4% from there. 

The free throw woes were particularly hurtful late in the game because with under 40 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Wilson drew a foul while the Aces were down 88-83. It was a good opportunity for one last punch from Las Vegas, but she missed both attempts and the Aces didn’t score again. 

“I thought she was a bit rusty today,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “Seven turnovers is extremely unusual for her. She gets a little bit of a grace period on this one, coming off and not having played for a while.”

Third quarters still a struggle for Aces

One of the biggest struggles for Las Vegas this season is it can’t stay consistent for 40 minutes. Although the team found some momentum late in the first half, the Aces allowed Seattle to come back in the third quarter with six turnovers in those 10 minutes.

“It’s more than an Achilles’ heel. It’s a thing,” Hammon said when asked about her team’s pattern of struggling in third quarters. “Maybe I’ll just start a different five in the third quarter, we’ll see. Anything is on the table at this point because it’s gross.”

The coach was particularly bothered by her team’s defense.

“Our defense was atrocious, again in the third quarter, and that was the first five, not that second unit,” Hammon said. “I actually thought our second unit had a good run there from the end of the first into the second. It can’t get worst than that first five in the third quarter. I’m going to discuss it with some of my coaches, but yeah, I might change who we start in the third quarter.”

The rookie tied her career high with 13 points Friday while going 5 of 9 from the field and 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. She was one of the players who helped spark some runs for the Aces with her energy. Hammon saw her effort in the first three quarters and started her in the fourth. 

Her defense is still a work in progress, but Nye seems to be building chemistry with the veteran players on her team and also gaining more trust from the coaching staff.

“She gets minutes because she plays hard,” Hammon said. “Her effort is there every time. I can’t say the same down the line.”