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Michael Voepel
PHOENIX — The Las Vegas Aces defeated the Phoenix Mercury 97-86 in a dominant performance Friday night to win their third WNBA championship four years and cement their status as the league’s reigning dynasty.
The Aces completed a 4-0 sweep of the Mercury in the first best-of-seven WNBA Finals in league history.
Aces superstar and league MVP A’ja Wilson led the way in Game 4, finishing with 31 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 blocks en route to earning Finals MVP honors. She said ahead of the clincher she thinks Las Vegas can set the bar even higher.
“That’s a good steppingstone to a dynasty-type of feel,” Wilson said. “Obviously, you want to win more to really solidify it. But this is something you can never take away from us.”
The Aces won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 as the No. 1 seed after having the best record in the league. This season, they were .500 on Aug. 2 following a 53-point loss.
But through a subsequent 16-game winning streak to end the regular season, the Aces secured the No. 2 seed and weathered challenging first-round and semifinals series that went the distance, before putting together a dominant Finals run that solidified their super-elite status.
“This team has been through hell and back,” said an emotional Chelsea Gray. “Everyone stepped up … we got the best player in the world in A’ja Wilson … we champions.”
