Las Vegas Aces advance to WNBA Finals with win over Seattle Storm as Sue Bird's career comes to close
SEATTLE -- Coming through in the same round where they fell short a year ago, the Las Vegas Aces returned to the WNBA Finals for the second time in the past three years with a 97-92 victory Tuesday in Game 4 of their semifinal series against the Seattle Storm, winning 3-1.
The Aces, who lost to Seattle in the 2020 WNBA Finals, were on the verge of returning last year before losing Game 5 of their semifinal series with the Phoenix Mercury with home-court advantage under former head coach Bill Laimbeer.
This time around, under first-year head coach Becky Hammon, Las Vegas ensured there would be no such stumble, winning three consecutive games after dropping Game 1 of the series at home.
In the process, the Aces ended Sue Bird's legendary WNBA career. The Storm point guard, a 13-time All-Star and four-time champion in Seattle, announced in June that this would be her final season.
"Kinda weird. Definitely surreal," Bird said.
"I also wanted to kind of have one last moment to say thank you, to soak it all in because in some ways, it is a happy thing. I'm proud of of everything we've accomplished here."
Said Hammon: "It's kind of like [Ajla Tomljanovic] that beat Serena [Williams]. It's bittersweet. I know myself and our staff and team and organization have so much respect for Sue. She's had a fairytale career, one that kids dream of. She got to live it."
Attempting to extend Bird's career, the Storm got dominant performances from both of their other stars. Breanna Stewart's career-high 42 points tied Angel McCoughtry for the most ever in a WNBA playoff game. Fellow All-Star Jewell Loyd added 29 points, surpassing the 26 she scored in Game 1 as a new playoff career high.
The 71 combined points for Loyd and Stewart were the most ever for teammates in the postseason, surpassing their own record of 65 set in the 2020 Finals against the Aces.
Yet Las Vegas countered Seattle's stars with deeper offensive contributions and enormous shot-making from guard Chelsea Gray down the stretch of a fourth quarter that saw three ties and three lead changes.
Gray scored three consecutive jumpers with a high degree of difficulty in the game's final 2:03, the first two giving the Aces the lead after Seattle tied the game and the last one extending it to five with 30.7 seconds remaining. The Storm never got closer than three points again.
"When Chelsea is rocking and rolling, my biggest thing is just getting the hell out of her way," A'ja Wilson said. "At the end of the day, you just got to get out of the way and let people rock."
With 31 points and 10 assists -- the first such game in WNBA playoff history, according to ESPN Stats & Information research -- Gray led four Aces players scoring at least 15 points. Wilson (23 points, 13 rebounds) had her second double-double of the series, Jackie Young scored 18 points and Kelsey Plum 15.
Loyd and Stewart were the lone Seattle players to score in double figures.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.