With 29 points from Kelsey Plum and 24 points and 13 rebounds from A'ja Wilson, the Las Vegas Aces defeated the Seattle Storm 83-76 on Tuesday night to make their sixth straight trip to the WNBA playoff semifinals. After winning the best-of-three series, Las Vegas Aces which has won 11 straight home games in the playoffs set up a rematch with top-seeded New York in the 2023 WNBA Finals, which will begin on Sunday. The Aces are attempting to make history by being the first club to win three straight championships since Houston did it in the first four seasons of the league from 1997 to 2000.
After surpassing Candace Parker and Tamika Catchings in her 13 career post-season games, Wilson set a new WNBA record with 20+ points and at least 10 rebounds. After missing her opening six shots in Game 1, the WNBA MVP went 5 of 7 from the floor in the opening quarter and ended 9 of 17.
With a jumper from the free-throw line, Chelsea Gray responded on the opposite end to give her team an eight-point advantage. Chelsea Gray played a key role since coming back from injury. After the game, she was in tears as her team is again going to semi-spot and will be aiming for another final of WNBA.
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Chelsea Gray was emotional after advancing to the Semifinal ❤️
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) September 25, 2024
She missed the Finals last season with an injury.
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Chelsea Gray won WNBA Finals MVP award
With 46 seconds remaining, Tiffany Hayes clinched the deal with a layup in traffic. For Las Vegas, Gray finished with 12 points and 9 assists. After being limited to only two points in the first game, Kelsey Plum made 11 of 15 from the field. During 2022/23 WNBA Finals Chelsea Gray was injuried and was not able to play into the finals. Due to a leg injury she had he remain out of the game for a long time. Now ahead of the finals, Chelsea Gray is back with the team and Las Vegas Aces are heading into the semi-final round of WNBA.
She averaged 15.6 points and 6.8 assists in the playoffs last season, and at the time of her injury, she had been named the WNBA Finals MVP two years prior. As Las Vegas spent more than four minutes without shooting a field goal, Seattle Storm embarked on a 9-0 run in the second quarter to close the gap to 39-38. With 2.8 seconds remaining, Wilson's two free throws gave the Aces a 6-0 run to end the half.