LAS VEGAS (July 10, 2023)—Coming off a dominant win over Minnesota on Sunday, the Las Vegas Aces (17-2) return to Michelob ULTRA Arena for a clash against Phoenix (4-14), their 10th and final Commissioner’s Cup game, on July 11 at 7 pm PT. The game will be broadcast on Silver State Sports & Entertainment Network and CBS Sports Network.

• Game Status Report: Candace Parker, out, right ankle strain/left foot injury; Riquna Williams, out, lower back
• Game Notes

In addition to the game, Tuesday is Sneakerhead Night at Michelob ULTRA Arena, and among the many shoe-centric activities, fans are encouraged to donate new or lightly-worn shoes that evening in support of Brittney Griner’s Heart and Sole initiative, which will be distributed throughout Clark County via Peggy’s Attic at Child Haven.

In the first meeting between the two teams on June 21 in Phoenix, the Mercury were without the services of their top two threats—future Hall of Famers Griner and Diana Taurasi—and the Aces rolled to a 99-79 victory after getting at least 20 points from three different players. Jackie Young led the charge with 23, Kelsey Plum added 21 and A’ja Wilson posted a double-double with 20 points and 12 boards. Sug Sutton finished atop the Mercury’s scoring column with 21 points and Sophie Cunningham added 14 and 6 assists.

Since returning, Griner is averaging 19.7 points, 6.7 rebounds and 1.4 blocks, while shooting 58.4 percent from the field over the Mercury’s last 7 games. Over her past 6 games Taurasi is scoring at a clip of 14.7 points, while adding 3.5 rebounds and 4.3 dimes a contest.  In addition to Griner and Taurasi, whose season averages are 19.9 ppg and 15.0 ppg, respectively, Cunningham in her 5th year in the W is adding 11.3 ppg to the team’s 77.0 ppg.

The Mercury halted a 3-game skid with a 78-72 win over the Sparks on Sunday. Included in those three losses was a game in which they pushed the Liberty (13-4) to their limit in a 99-95 loss.

Plum scored a franchise-high 40 points against Minnesota and the team tied its franchise high of 43 made field goals and also posted season-highs of 17 3-point field goals made, 11 blocked shots and 113 points. Further, their 33-point outburst in the fourth quarter outburst also set a season high for points in a quarter.

Paced by 2023 All-Star leading vote-getter Wilson’s 19.4 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks a game, the Aces four 2023 All-Stars are putting up between 14.4 and 19.4 points a game. Young (19.2 ppg), Plum (19.1 ppg) and Chelsea Gray (14.4 ppg), who is dishing out 6.4 assists and shooting a league-high 86.9% from the line, round out the list.

Following Tuesday night’s game, the Aces will play their second back-to-back of the season with a July 12 game in Los Angeles against the Sparks (7-12), which have posted a 2-8 record over their past 10 games. The Aces defeated the Sparks twice already this season, 94-85 at home on May 25 and 93-65 in LA on May 27. Young averaged 23.0 ppg and Wilson 21.0 ppg and 9.5 rpg over those two contests. Plum added 14.0 ppg and 5.0 apg and Gray tallied 12.0 ppg and 7.5 apg.

The Sparks had six players miss at least one of the games due to non-COVID illness, including Chiney Ogwumike (19 points) and Nneka Ogwumike (16), who played in the first and second games, respectively.