LAS VEGAS (August 15, 2024)—The Las Vegas Aces begin their 34-day sprint to the playoffs this weekend with back-to-back home games against New York (21-4), Saturday, Aug. 17 at 1:00 pm PT, and vs. Los Angeles (6-18), Sunday, Aug. 18 at 3:00 pm. Saturday’s game is being broadcast nationally on CBS, while Sunday’s game will be broadcast locally on Fox5 and the Silver State Sports & Entertainment Network.

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Las Vegas has 16 regular season games left on its docket, which means it will play an average of 3.29 games per week to close out the 2024 campaign. No team in the league has a busier schedule over the final 34 days of the season.

Heading into the weekend, the Aces are in 5th place, a half game back of 3rd place Minnesota and Seattle at 17-8, 2 games behind the second-place Connecticut Sun (18-6), and 4.5 back of front-running New York (21-4). Of the Aces remaining 16 games, 7 are at home and 9 are on the road; 12 are against teams who would make the playoffs as of today; 8 are against teams with winning records; and 7 are against teams who are ahead of Las Vegas in the standings.

	W	L	GB	Home	Road
New York	21	4	—	Aug. 17	Sept. 8
Connecticut	18	6	2.5	Sept. 15	Sept. 6
Minnesota	17	8	4.0	Aug. 21	Aug. 23
Seattle	17	8	4.0		Sept. 17
Las Vegas	16	8	4.5
Phoenix	13	12	8.0		Sept. 1
Indiana	11	15	10.5		Sept. 11, 13
Chicago	10	14	10.5	Sept. 3	Aug. 25

Atlanta	7	17	13.5	Aug. 30
Los Angeles	6	18	14.5	Aug. 18
Washington	6	19	15.0
Dallas	6	19	15.0	Sept. 19	Aug. 27

New York travels to Los Angeles on August 15 before making its way to the Sports & Entertainment Capital of the World. The Liberty won 4 straight games and 9 of their last 10 heading into the Olympic break. Two of their most recent victories came against Connecticut, helping put some distance between themselves and the Sun in the standings.

New York has the most efficient offense in the WNBA this year, averaging 107.5 points per 100 possessions, slightly ahead of the Aces 107.1 OER. The Liberty make 45.3 percent of their field goal attempts (2nd in the W), 34.7 percent of their 3-pointers (4th), and 83.0 percent of their free throws (3rd). They also turn the ball over less frequently (16.8 TO%) than any team but Las Vegas (14.4 TO%).

Breanna Stewart continues to be the linchpin of the Liberty offense, ranking second in the WNBA in win shares (5.1 to A’ja Wilson’s 7.0), 7th in scoring (19.3 ppg), 7th in rebounding (9.0 rpg), 13th in assists (4.0 apg), 3rd in steals (2.0 spg) and 6th in blocked shots (1.5 bpg). The one downturn in Stewart’s game from previous seasons is her 3-point shooting percentage. She entered the 2024 campaign as a career 36.6 percent shooter from distance. This year, she is making just 22.9 percent from beyond the arc, which is the lowest percentage in the league among statistical qualifiers.

Sabrina Ionescu is averaging a career-high 19.8 points per game, which is 6th in the league. She also ranks among the top 20 in the WNBA in assists (6.1 apg, 5th), and free throw percentage (.909, 4th). Jonquel Jones has upped her scoring average from 11.3 to 15.3 points per game in 2024, to rank 20th in the W in that category. She is also 6th in the league in rebounding (9.1 rpg), 19th in assists (3.5 apg), 9th in blocks (1.3 bpg), 3rd in field goal percentage (.557) and 10th in 3-point field goal percentage (.396).

New York’s other two primary starters have been limited this year as Betnijah Laney (12.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.6 apg, .380 3G%) has played in 18 of the team’s 25 games, and Courtney Vandersloot (6.6 ppg, 4.6 apg) has appeared in just 16.

Kayla Thornton (6.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg) and Leonie Fiebich (5.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg) have been the Liberty’s top 2 players off the bench with both draining more than 38.0 percent of their shots from 3-point range.

Defensively, the Liberty are the fourth most efficient team in the league holding opponents to 95.7 points per 100 possessions. Teams make just 42.3 percent of their field goal attempts against New York (3rd lowest in the W), 32.8 percent of their 3-balls (5th lowest), and 76.8 percent of their free throw attempts (lowest). Opponents also take just 14.8 free throws per game against the Liberty, which is also the lowest figure in the league.

After starting the season with a 6-6 record the Aces won 10 of their last 12 heading into the break. Not coincidentally, that hot streak coincided with the return of the Point Gawd, Chelsea Gray, and the signing of Tiffany Hayes.

During that 12 game stretch, the Aces improvement has come on both sides of the ball, but most prominently on the defensive end where teams’ shooting percentages fell drastically.

	OER	DER	FG%	3G%	OppFG%	Opp3G%
6-6 thru June 18	105.4 (6th)	104.2 (10th)	.428 (7th)	.344 (3rd)	.445 (10th)	.393 (12th)
10-2 since June 19	108.8 (1st)	96.5 (4th)	.480 (1st)	.354 (3rd)	.416 (2nd)	.328 (6th)

Gray is still finding her shot since her return averaging 7.3 points while connecting on 39.0 percent of her shots from the field and 24.0 percent from 3-point range. But Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum have both become much more efficient since Gray’s return, and Wilson has continued to play like the best player in the world.

A’ja Wilson	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3G%
thru June 18	27.9	11.3	2.6	1.8	2.5	.523	.438
since June 19	26.4	12.4	2.2	2.1	3.3	.528	.364

Jackie Young	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3G%
thru June 18	19.0	4.9	6.0	1.0	0.3	.422	.329
since June 19	19.1	4.3	4.7	0.9	0.1	.497	.359

Kelsey Plum	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3G%
thru June 18	18.2	1.8	4.9	0.8	0.0	.376	.336
since June 19	18.0	2.6	4.8	1.0	0.1	.460	.391

Early-season free agent acquisition Hayes is now the front-runner for 6th Player of the Year honors as she is averaging 8.9 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists, while netting 48.9 percent of her shots from the field and 34.2 percent from distance in 15 games as a reserve. She has also become more efficient since Gray’s return to the lineup.

Tiffany Hayes	PPG	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	FG%	3G%
thru June 18	8.7	3.2	2.7	1.0	0.2	.381	.263
since June 19	8.6	2.2	1.9	0.5	0.3	.567	.391

This is the second meeting of the year between the Aces and the Liberty, and New York picked up a 90-82 win in Las Vegas back on June 15. Plum, Wilson and Alysha Clark combined to score 56 points on he night, making 22 of 38 shots from the field, but the remainder of the squad went 9 for 31. For the Lib, Jones scored 34 points on 12 of 16 shooting, while Stewart added a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double. The two teams square off against one another once more during the regular season in Brooklyn on September 8.

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