WNBA semifinals: A'ja Wilson's full-game effort powers Aces to statement Game 1 win over Wings

The eyes of A’ja Wilson, out of breath after scoring the last eight points of the third quarter, lit up at the question. What makes you such a menace on the defensive end?

“I like offense. I like to get on offense,” Wilson said during the ESPN broadcast in-game interview. “So the only way I can do that is getting the basketball on defense. I just try to attack that end the same way I would attack the offensive end and my teammates just flow through that.”

Wilson accepted her 2023 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year trophy at a sold-out Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday and quickly lived up to the title. The repeat winner blocked three shots in the first quarter against a team that thrives in the paint and led the No. 1 seed Aces on both ends for a 97-83 Game 1 win against the No. 4 Dallas Wings in the semifinals. She had 34 points, eight rebounds, four blocks, two steals and one assist.

Game 2 is in Las Vegas on Tuesday night before the best-of-five series shifts to Dallas for potentially two games.

It was a full-game effort for Wilson, even with a victory in hand and five more on the horizon to become the first back-to-back champions in 20 years. As the starters were about to be pulled from the game, Wilson chased down a loose ball into the stands. Chelsea Gray, with a helping of Jackie Young, sternly got in Wilson’s face about the danger of a move like that when they held a double-digit lead with 60 seconds to the final whistle.

“[Wilson] doesn’t play the scoreboard,” Kelsey Plum said. “She plays on for 40 minutes. … This is a series, so for us, it’s [about] completing a game. A lot of times having lapses and stuff like that, it’s unacceptable.”

Wilson, a sixth-year veteran, shared to social media after the official announcement Friday she would scratch Kiah Stokes’ name on the award before her own.

“Thank you for always having my back on my impulsive defensive decisions,” she wrote. And she brought her starting center with her to accept the trophy, handing it to Stokes and clapping for the crowd to give Stokes her due.

After the game, Wilson gave Young love on the defensive end, calling out that Young wasn’t on the All-Defensive Team. The Aces lead the league in defensive rating (99.2), but Wilson was the only Aces player on the 10-person first and second teams.

“She is someone that we can trust to just really make it hard for the other person. And it’s tough being on [the] side where defense gears toward me. I know how that feels and Jackie shows up every single night and doesn’t take a play off.”

Las Vegas headed into halftime with a four-point cushion and Satou Sabally, named Most Improved Player last week, hit two free throws out of the break to bring Dallas within a possession. Gray answered with a signature fadeaway.

With the Wings looking to cut it back to two, and potentially tie the game for the first time in the contest, Stokes tipped away a pass into the paint for Teaira McCowan. When Young’s layup bounced out on the other end, Stokes corralled the loose ball and hit Plum near the corner for a 3. Aces head coach Becky Hammon labeled Stokes’ defensive play in Game 1 “exceptional.”

“She’s a huge, huge piece for us and her role can’t be understated,” Hammon said. “And [it’s] the fact that she wants to do her role, which is pretty much dirty work and nobody ever talks about it.”

Wilson, at 6-foot-3, and the 6-4 Stokes were tasked with limiting the tallest frontcourt in the league helmed by the 6-7 McCowan. The Wings, who can bring 6-7 Kalani Brown off the bench, led the league in rebounds, paint points and second-chance points. It was a focus for the Aces heading into the series.

McCowan scored seven points with eight rebounds and Natasha Howard had 11 points, seven rebounds and four assists. The duo went a combined 8-of-21 from the field. Las Vegas won the boards, 36-29, and paint points, 46-40. The Aces limited the Wings’ paint points from 24 in the first half to 16 in the second.

“That’s six to eight points [and] shaving it off is a big deal,” Hammon said. “They just buckled down a little bit more. Obviously, taking care of the boards takes care of probably half of those. And we rebounded in the second half. That was really the separation factor for us is stopping them on the first attempt and getting involved and being able to run out.”

Wilson worked around the height offensively, scoring over and to the side of outstretched hands. And the Aces overall were too quick for them offensively, blowing by them into easy layups. They won the third quarter, 26-12, to speed away with a win.

“Vegas came out and punched us pretty hard in that area,” Wings head coach Latricia Trammell said.

Hammon said she wished she could bottle up the third quarter defensively because it was so good. Arike Ogunbowale had four points and Sabally scored two as the only starters to score. Ogunbowale, who had 12 points in 38 minutes, said it was clear the Aces were keeping a close eye on the two of them throughout. Sabally led the Wings with 16 points.

Once Wilson was established, the rest of the Aces began flowing. Young lived behind the 3-point line to a tune of five makes on six shots for 19 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

Plum scored her first 10 points in a span of 2:30 in the second quarter. In one typical Aces sequence, Dallas attempted to trap the ball-handler in the corner and was beat with the pass and Plum’s 3 with only McCowan back to try and defend. Plum had 25 points, going 5-of-10 from 3, with five rebounds and four assists.

“I think this game, we really came with an open mind of just letting the basketball find the best person to shoot, to get it up,” Wilson said. “We live with good shots, we know that we’re going to knock those down when that time comes. I think tonight we all got to our spots, we all created for one another. And that’s kind of how we started to pull away.”

It all starts with attacking on the defensive end together, even if Wilson’s name is the one on the trophy.