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Las Vegas Aces

Aces Host Sky in Winner-Take-All Second Round Playoff Game, Sunday, at Thomas & Mack

September 14, 2019 - Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)
Las Vegas Aces News Release


LAS VEGAS - The Las Vegas Aces begin their 2019 postseason this Sunday at the Thomas & Mack Center as they host the Chicago Sky beginning at 2 pm PT. It is the first postseason appearance for the franchise since 2014, when the team was in San Antonio.

The Aces finished the regular season in fourth please, earning themselves a first round bye in WNBA Playoffs 2019. The Sky finished just one game behind Las Vegas in fifth place, and upended Phoenix at home, Wednesday, 105-76 (box score) in their first round playoff game.

Las Vegas won two of its last three games heading into the postseason, with both wins coming against playoff teams- Los Angeles and Phoenix.

The Aces defense is their calling card, as Las Vegas led the WNBA in Defensive Efficiency, Defensive Field Goal Percentage, Defensive Three-Point Field Goal Percentage, and Defensive Rebound Percentage. Despite those team accomplishments, no member of the Aces made either the first or second WNBA All-Defensive Teams.

Two-time WNBA All-Star A'ja Wilson led the Aces in scoring this season at 16.5 points per game. Three-time All-Star Liz Cambage, acquired in a preseason trade from Dallas, was just behind her at 15.9 points per game, while grabbing a team-high 8.2 boards per game. Three-time All-Stara Kayle McBride and her 42.8 percent shoot from long distance helped Las Vegas lead the league in three-point field goal percentage, while Sixth Woman of the Year candidate Dearica Hamby averaged 11.0 points and 7.6 rebounds.

Chicago is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2016, when they completed a four-year run that saw them advance to the Eastern Conference Finals twice, and the Eastern Conference Finals and WNBA Finals once each. Las Vegas' Tamera Young was a member of all four of those Sky playoff teams.

Diamond DeShields leads Chicago in scoring at 16.2 points per game, but she makes 39.9 percent of her shots from the field and 31.6 percent from long distance. Allie Quigley is the team's most potent offensive threat, averaging 13.8 points, while making 49.3 percent of her field goals, and 44.2 percent from long range.

Courtney Vandersloot gets the offense going with a league-record 9.1 assists per game. She also averages double figures in scoring at 11.2 points per game. Jantel Lavender rounds out the quarter of Sky double-digit scorers at 10.0 points per game, and leads the team in rebounding with 6.9 boards per game, but had surgery late in the season after injuring her foot and is not expected to play in the postseason.

All that adds up to the second most efficient offense in the league. Chicago's two Achilles Heals on offense are that they turn the ball over more than the average WNBA team, and they are second to last in the league in Offensive Rebound Percentage.

Defensively, the Sky boast the third best Defensive Field Goal Percentage, but they force the second fewest turnovers as a percentage of possessions in the W.

Las Vegas took two of three from the Sky in the regular season, splitting the two games at Mandalay Bay Events Center while picking up a 15-point win in the Windy City.

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