The Las Vegas Aces are one loss away from their hopes of winning a third straight WNBA championship coming to an end. The Aces lost to the New York Liberty in Brooklyn on Tuesday night in their best-of-5 semifinal series, which put the Liberty ahead, 2-0, as things shift back to Vegas.
While the Aces have an uphill climb ahead of them, this is a team with championship experience, a deep roster, a great coach, and the best player in the world. And yet, in the aftermath of Game 2, Becky Hammon spoke candidly with the media about how difficult it is to win three titles in a row, and how distractions have followed the team throughout the year.
Here is the full answer from Becky Hammon, including the quote below and a reference to the Spurs/Heat 2013/2014 NBA Finals.
A pretty massive quote here from Becky. #WNBA https://t.co/Hbj9YImENX pic.twitter.com/c5c0ZudyQW
— Tyler DeLuca (@TylerDeLuca) October 2, 2024
“Well, quite frankly, we haven’t had the edge all year,” Hammon said. “Now, we found it the last month, I feel like we’ve gained a lot of ground, but the feel was different from the jump. And this is why three-peating is hard. Let’s be real. The whole league has been pissed off for the last eight months, and my players are in commercials and this and that, and being freakin’ celebrities. And you get distracted. That’s why it’s hard. Because human nature is distracting.”
Hammon drew a parallel between the Liberty and her old team, the San Antonio Spurs, namely their series against the Miami Heat in 2013 which they lost in large part due to Ray Allen’s legendary shot at the end of Game 6.
“They lost it that year, the next year, they came back with so much drive, so much discipline, so much focus, that there was no way someone was beating them in 2014,” Hammon said. “That ball was popping. But they took a huge loss. Liberty took a huge loss last year, and I liken it to that a little bit where they had it, they felt like they had it, and we walked away with it. I did think we were the better team, but we were dealt a really freakin tough hand last year in the Finals, losing Chelsea and Kiah. So, I’m sure they feel like something was stolen, a little bit.”
The Aces will try to get the series back on track on Friday night, when they play host to the Liberty in Game 3.
