PHOENIX (August 31, 2024)—The Las Vegas Aces (19-12) have their sights set on sole possession of fourth place as they travel to Phoenix for a 1 pm PT tip against the Mercury (16-16) on Sunday, Sept. 1.

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Following the Aces’ 83-72 win over Atlanta, Friday (box score/recap), Las Vegas is tied with Seattle, but they currently own the tiebreaker between the teams, having beaten the Storm in 2 of the 3 meetings between the clubs this year. They square off against one another one more time this season on September 17 in Seattle.

	W	L	GB	Home	Road
New York *	27	6	—		Sept. 8
Connecticut *	23	8	3.0	Sept. 15	Sept. 6
Minnesota *	23	9	3.5
Las Vegas *	19	12	7.0
Seattle *	19	12	7.0		Sept. 17
Indiana	16	16	10.5		Sept. 11, 13
Phoenix	16	16	10.5		Sept. 1
Chicago	11	20	15.0	Sept. 3

Atlanta	10	21	16.0
Dallas	9	22	17.0	Sept. 19
Washington	9	23	17.5
Los Angeles	7	24	19.0
* Clinched Playoff Berth

The Mercury have never been more than two games above or below .500 all season, and they enter the weekend having dropped 2 straight to New York and Minnesota. Coupled with Indiana’s recent hot streak (winners in 7 of their last 10 games) Phoenix finds itself tied for 7th place in the standings with the Fever. Indiana owns the tiebreaker between the teams with a 3-0 mark against the Merc in 2024.

Following a 9-31 season a year ago, Phoenix added Kahleah Copper via a trade, and Natasha Cloud via free agency in the offseason. Both acquisitions have aided the Mercury in their resurgence as Copper is the 3rd leading scorer in the league, averaging 22.3 points to go along with 4.6 rebounds, while Cloud is chipping in with 11.8 points an 6.8 assists per game—3rd best in the WNBA.

Brittney Griner (18.1 ppg, 6.3 rpg) and the ageless Diana Taurasi (15.6 ppg) give Phoenix four double-digit scorers and, coupled with the newest members of the squad, have helped lift the Mercury from the 11th most efficient offense (97.6 OER) in the W a year ago, to the 5th most efficient in 2024 (102.0).

Phoenix’s record would be even better except that its defensive efficiency has only improved from 12th (107.9 DER) to 9th in the league (104.4). The Mercury are the worst defensive rebounding team in the WNBA (.674 DReb%), and they rank 11th in steals per game (6.7).

The Aces win over the Dream, Friday, upped their record to 3-5 over their last 8 games, following a 16-7 start to the season.

Aces	PPG	FG%	3G%	OER	DER	OppPPG	OppFG%	Opp3G%
First 23 games (16-7)	88.9	.453	.350	107.4	99.9	82.6	.427	.366
Last 8 games (3-5)	81.3	.445	.335	101.1	104.5	83.5	.447	.356

The Aces scored fewer than 80 points on 2 occasions during those first 23 games, but have done so 3 times over their most recent 8 contests. They have also been getting beaten on the boards of late. Always one of the best defensive rebounding teams in the league since moving to Las Vegas, the Aces are grabbing just 68.0 percent of available D boards since July 16—the second lowest percentage in the league. On the offensive side of the boards, Las Vegas ranks last in the league over their last 8 games, grabbing 17.4 percent of available offensive rebounds.

Two-time M’VP A’ja Wilson is the front-runner for the award this year, leading the league in scoring (27.0 ppg) and blocks (2.74 bpg) while ranking 2nd in rebounding (11.8 rpg), 4th in steals (1.87 spg) and 5th in field goal percentage (.520). She is on pace to break Diana Taurasi’s nearly 2 decades old scoring record of 25.3 points per game. Owning a combined 4.61 steals and blocks per game, Wilson is on pace to break the ‘stocks’ record of 4.5 per game, set by Yolanda Griffith in 2000, and could also become the first player in WNBA history to average 2 or more steals and blocks per game in the same season.

Kelsey Plum (17.6 ppg) and Jackie Young (17.1 ppg) are also both ranked in the top 15 in the league in scoring, but over the last 8 games, they are averaging 134.3 and 12.6 points respectively. Plum’s 86 made 3s are the 5th most in the W this year, and she is on pace to become just the second player in league history to make 100 or more 3s in multiple seasons (Taurasi). In addition to her scoring, Young ranks 8th in the league in assists at 5.1 per game.

Tiffany Hayes, acquired early in the season as a free agent, is making her case for the 6th Player of the Year award. In 21 games as a reserve, the 12-year veteran is averaging 8.7 points while connecting on 50.0 percent of her shots from the field and 34.7 percent from 3-point range.

Las Vegas is 2-1 against the Mercury this season splitting their games at Michelob ULTRA Arena, with the Aces picking up a 103-99 win at Footprint Center.

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