The Las Vegas Aces moved closer to their third appearance in the WNBA's Commissioner's Cup final with a 100-97 victory over the Minnesota Lynx on Saturday. It ended Minnesota's eight-game winning streak, while Las Vegas has now won six in a row.
The battle between the top two teams in the WNBA standings went down to the wire at Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas, with the Aces going 7-of-7 from the line in the last 44.3 seconds. The victory pushed the Aces to 5-0 in the Commissioner's Cup Western Conference standings with two games left: at Dallas on Monday and at Phoenix on Wednesday.
The Commissioner's Cup, which began in 2021, is an in-season competition. The teams from each conference that have the best records in Cup play will meet in the final on June 30. The New York Liberty currently lead the Eastern Conference Cup standings at 4-0. Cup games run from June 1 to 17.
The Aces have played in the Cup final twice before, winning it in 2022 and losing to the Liberty in 2023. The Cup final has a $500,000 prize pool for the players, plus charitable donations that go to organizations that the teams choose.
"It's kind of like a midseason measuring stick," Las Vegas guard Chelsea Gray said of the Cup final. "It's always good to play for charity and a bigger purpose, and you know everybody likes money, right? If we can get a couple more wins, we put ourselves in a pretty good position to do that."
Gray has been on fire for the Aces. She hit six 3-pointers Saturday after tying a WNBA single-game record with nine against Portland on Thursday. Her 15 3s over two games also ties a WNBA record. Minnesota's Kayla McBride (2024) and former Phoenix star Diana Taurasi (2020) also achieved it.
The Aces made 11 of 25 3-pointers (44%) and shot 54% from the field (36-of-67) Saturday. They were 17-of-19 (89%) from the foul line. A'ja Wilson had 24 points and 10 rebounds for the Aces. Gray finished with 23 points and seven assists, and Jackie Young had 16 and 10.
Rookie of the Year favorite Olivia Miles had 29 points to lead the Lynx, who are 4-1 in Cup play. Both the Aces and Lynx are now 10-3 overall.
"These are two really good teams just going blow for blow," Aces coach Becky Hammon said. "I'm sure both me and [Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve] are going to be looking at the defensive end. She's not happy giving up 100, and I'm not happy giving up 97. At the end of the day, it was probably fun to watch. But one of those games that, as a coach, probably drives you crazy."