The Las Vegas Aces walked onto their home court with something to prove.
Just 24 hours earlier, they suffered a historic 53-point loss to the Minnesota Lynx at home. The Aces were mad and embarrassed. And now, the closest team to a dynasty the WNBA has seen in the past 10 years was fighting for its pride against the expansion Golden State Valkyries.
"We funneled every inch of our energy into that," Aces point guard Chelsea Gray told ESPN.
The Aces tied a franchise record with 18 3-pointers and beat the Valkyries by 24 points, the largest turnaround in back-to-back games in WNBA history, according to ESPN Research.
"When things aren't going well, it can make you question some things that maybe you thought you were super strong in," Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon told ESPN. "When things aren't going well, it has to go back to the foundations. What is the base problem here?"
For the first two months of the season, the Aces were in and out of the playoff picture, suffered a three-game losing streak and were .500 at the All-Star break. The only team to win consecutive titles in the past 20 years, the Aces performed far below preseason expectations.
But Las Vegas turned it around after its Aug. 2 loss to Minnesota. The Aces have won seven consecutive games and pulled even with the Phoenix Mercury for fourth place in the WNBA standings. A'ja Wilson added to her dominance. The league's reigning MVP is averaging 26.1 points and 13.3 rebounds during the win streak and has scored at least 30 points in three of the past four games.
The Aces look like they can contend. They might host a first-round playoff series. But the challenge is sustaining the momentum.
"You get excited because you see the potential. You see what they are capable of," Hammon said. "Now, it's that consistency. In basketball, anyone can be good for a night. But the great ones, they are good every night."
AS THE ACES tried to recover from their embarrassing loss to the Lynx -- Minnesota set a WNBA record for largest road win -- Hammon had a new assignment for the team: The players had to create their own scouting reports.
Before the start of each practice session, the Aces, led by Wilson, shared their preferred matchups, schemes and flow of the game. Hammon poked holes in the presentations and encouraged the Aces to challenge her prep, too.
Hammon hoped the collaboration would ignite a new level of engagement and attention to detail. It led to immediate success.
"This has helped us jell together to where we can all hold each other accountable," Wilson said.
In the loss to the Lynx, Hammon called the Las Vegas defense "atrocious." Since that defeat, the Aces have had a top-five defense and been the league's second-best rebounding team. And it helped unlock the Las Vegas offense, which has led the league in offensive rating for the past two weeks.
Hammon's new assignment has also helped create familiarity and chemistry, something the Aces needed to evolve after Kelsey Plum left for Los Angeles in free agency and Natalie Nakase and Tyler Marsh -- the Aces' top two assistant coaches -- took head coaching jobs at Golden State and Chicago, respectively. That trio had helped Las Vegas win WNBA titles in 2022 and 2023.
With six-time All-Star Jewell Loyd and four other new players added to the roster, this year's team looked and operated differently. But the Aces didn't anticipate how long it would take to come together.
"Our offense and defense are so fluid that we had to take time to learn and understand new habits," Gray said. "It's only when you learn those habits, you can start to form as a team."
Loyd set a single-season mark for scoring two seasons ago with Seattle, but struggled to find a rhythm with the Aces. She was limited to single digits in six of 11 games in July while shooting 33.6%. Hammon tinkered with different combinations in the starting lineup, but nothing helped. Loyd suggested she come off the bench, but Hammon was reluctant to make the switch.
After Loyd went scoreless in a loss July 25, the guard was adamant that she be removed from the starting unit.
"I didn't want her to feel like I was giving up on her or losing confidence in her because that was not the case," Hammon said. "I made that very clear with her. .... As a coach, when a player says they need change, you've got to find a change."
Although Loyd is playing five fewer minutes, she's scoring five more points per game coming off the bench, averaging 14.6 points in 25 minutes during her 10 games as a reserve.
"We know how to weather storms right now. In the beginning, we couldn't get that. We didn't understand that we have a whole new group, top to bottom," Wilson said. "That takes time and it takes giving each other a lot of grace and a lot of communication."
WILSON SENT A group text to her teammates after the Aug. 2 loss to Minnesota. The message was simple: flush this game and move on, but don't forget the way it made everyone feel.
It wasn't her first pep talk of the season. The Aces' early-season struggles led to Wilson becoming a more vocal leader, which has been one of the most important developments of Las Vegas' season.
"It's easy to lead when you are winning. Winning disguises a lot of different things" Wilson told ESPN. "But when you are in the trenches and things aren't going well -- when it feels like everyone has something to say about this Aces team -- how do you lead that? How do you get all of these minds in one accord to stay poised through the noise?"
For most of her career, she built her leadership style on her playing abilities. The three-time WNBA MVP can take over games. Last week, she became the first player in WNBA history to record a 30-point, 20-rebound game. She's averaging 22.3 points, 10.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists, 2.1 blocks and 1.6 steals this season, and has scored at least 27 points in five of the past six games. But Wilson is making a point not to force the action.
"I told myself out of All-Star break to just let the game come to me," Wilson said after a win over Phoenix on Friday. "It's going to be what it's going to be. If I try to harp on it or force it because I want this win so bad for my team, it's like forcing a fart. All you get is s---."
According to Hammon, Wilson's growth in her game and leadership has kept the Aces' locker room intact.
"A lot of times it can fall apart when there is hard time after hard time or you are so close and you lost another one. It's easy to lose the locker room, not only with myself but them with each other," Hammon said. "They haven't done that. They have dug in. My leaders have led when it's hard and difficult."
Maintaining trust allowed the Aces to stay confident as they worked out their issues. With nine games left in the regular season, they're riding the longest active winning streak in the league and vying to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs, which begin Sept. 14.
"This is what it takes to win championships. You have to do it right nine out of 10 times, 10 out of 10 times," Hammon said. "Just keep demanding that greatness."
