By Amy Tennery
NEW YORK (Reuters) -The Las Vegas Aces flipped the odds to lift their third WNBA championship in four years on Friday, sweeping the Phoenix Mercury in four games to put a golden finish on a season that once appeared to be a bust.
A’ja Wilson earned her second Finals MVP honor in Phoenix after putting up a record 112 points during the championship series, embracing the trophy in a scene few could have imagined only two months ago.
“This one hits different because it was different,” said coach Becky Hammon. “There was probably a lot more adversity than any of us anticipated.”
After going 11-11 in the first half of the season, the Aces suffered the worst home defeat in the history of the WNBA, losing 111-58 to the Minnesota Lynx on Aug. 2. To some, it marked the end of a once-promising dynasty in the making.
“We did everything at a Grade F,” was Hammon’s grim, post-game analysis at the time.
But the 53-point drubbing marked the turning point, as the Aces closed out their regular season with a 16-game winning streak, silencing the critics before claiming the second seed in the postseason.
“We understood we had enough in the locker room but we had to really believe in one another and look in the mirror and hold ourselves accountable,” Wilson told reporters on Friday.
“That’s what it took – it woke us up. We were like ‘Never again. We don’t want to be embarrassed like that ever again.'”
The Aces are far from the only comeback story to be found in the WNBA, a once-underdog league that has transformed into a mainstream figure in U.S. sports.
The Chicago Sky famously lifted the trophy in 2021 after going 16-16 in the regular season while the now-defunct Detroit Shock recovered from a dreadful 9-23 campaign in 2002 to win the title the following year.
But few had expected the 2022 and 2023 champions to be part of any comeback narrative this year after reaching the postseason for a sixth straight season in 2024.
“To be here right now and where we were in May and June, there was a lot of doubt, besides in that locker room,” said point guard Chelsea Gray. “I’m really proud of how we stayed the course and trusted the process.”
The championship run also added to Wilson’s legend: On Friday, she became the first player to win the scoring title, league MVP, Finals MVP and Defensive Player of the Year in a single season.
“When you’re compared to greats, when you’re compared to legends, that means you’re doing something right,” said Wilson, whose performance in the finals earned comparisons to the NBA’s retired great Michael Jordan.
“I would never be who I am without my teammates – they’re really the true MJs.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
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