Category: WNBA

Aces lose second straight game, 80-74

Published on by psushawnLeave a comment

20190602 - A'ja Wilson 02

Photo credit: Shawn McCullough (Sports Radio Service)

By Shawn McCullough

Head coach Bill Laimbeer wasn’t very happy with the effort from his starters.

The Aces committed 21 turnovers in an 80-74 loss to the Connecticut Sun at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

“We were lazy and we were not mentally strong at all,” said head coach Bill Laimbeer. “As a basketball team, you have to acquire it, you have to learn it, you have to earn it. We don’t have it right now. Which is not disturbing, it’s just fact. This is what it is right now.”

Laimbeer stressed that he was getting more energy from his unit off the bench over his starting unit.

“Our starters have no energy,” said Laimbeer. “They go out there and they just go through the motions.  I can’t find one person in the starting unit to go out and give me that energy, so I got to make a change somehow.”

“It’s very upsetting to see it and hear your coach say that,” said A’ja Wilson. “We just got to really back in as a team and get mentally tough, mentally together and just keep pushing through.”

Wilson led the team with 19 points and nine rebounds, while center Liz Cambage came off the bench and added 14.

“It comes from everyone, we all got to bring the energy to lift each other up,” said Cambage. “Even when you are tired, you need to just keep the energy going and that’s something that we need to work on.”

With the loss, Las Vegas fell to 1-2 on the season.

The Aces will next travel to Atlanta on Thursday to face the Dream before traveling to New York to face the Liberty.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

  • The Aces shot 43.8% from the field.
  • The 21 turnovers where the most since July 1, 2018 at Los Angeles.
  • Only 2,747 fans were in attendance, compared to 7,249 at the season opener.

Game Starters:

F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 21 Kayla McBride
C – 8 Carolyn Swords
G – 0 Jackie Young
G – 10 Kelsey Plum

The Liz Cambage era in Las Vegas began in 86-84 loss

Published on by psushawnLeave a comment

IMG_0221

Photo credit: Las Vegas Aces

By Shawn McCullough

In a back and forth game, the Aces had their chance late in the game to force overtime.

A’ja Wilson missed two jump shots in the paint in the final seconds of the game as the Phoenix Mercury defeated the Las Vegas Aces 86-84 at Talking Stick Resort Arena.

Wilson finished the game with 11 points, going just 4 for 19 from the field, while pulling down nine rebounds. Kayla McBride added 15.

Center Liz Cambage made her Aces debut, playing almost 14 minutes while scoring 13 points.

The Aces struggled from the field shooting just 39.5%, while the Mercury hit 50.8% of their shots.

With the loss, the Aces fell to 1-1 on the season heading into a home game on Sunday against the Connecticut Sun.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

  • A’ja Wilson has now scored 10 points or more in all 35 games in her WNBA career.
  • The Aces got 38 points off the bench, while Phoenix only scored two bench points.
  • The game saw eight lead changes with four ties.
  • 14,090 fans were in attendance.

Game Starters:

F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 21 Kayla McBride
C – 8 Carolyn Swords
G – 0 Jackie Young
G – 10 Kelsey Plum

Aces win season opener, 83-70, behind Wilson and McBride

Published on by psushawnLeave a comment

20190526 - A'ja Wilson 03

Photo credit: Shawn McCullough (Sports Radio Service)

By Shawn McCullough

LAS VEGAS — The Aces are now learning “how” to win.

Las Vegas won their season opener, 83-70, over the Los Angeles Sparks at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.

“We’ve got to learn how to win and today’s a good start,” said head coach Bill Laimbeer.

A’ja Wilson led the Aces with a double-double, 21 points and 11 rebounds, while Kayla McBride scored 20, shooting 9 of 15 from the field.

Dearica Hamby also contributed a double-double, scoring 12 and pulling down 14 rebounds.

With this just being the team’s second season in Las Vegas, the young Aces are starting to feel a chemistry among teammates.

“We know each other, we get our vibes,” said Wilson. “We understand each other, we know exactly where to put each other in situations to get the best out of them when we need them. Last year was tough, because we didn’t know one another, but this year, the energy is there, we’re all vibing off each other, we’re all feeding off each other on and off the court. That is something special.”

Newly acquired center Liz Cambage sat out the game due to an Achilles injury, but liked what she saw.

“That had me so hype, watching these girls go out there and play hard, a real team game,” said Cambage. “Everyone getting their points, everyone hustling, that’s the team game that I like to play.”

With the win, the Aces started the season 1-0, after starting 0-4 last season.

The Aces will next travel to Phoenix on Friday to face the Mercury before returning home to the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Sunday to play the Connecticut Sun.

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

  • Former NBA superstar Kobe Bryant was in attendance, along with Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis.
  • Sparks star Candace Parker sat out with a hamstring injury.
  • The Aces took their first lead with 2:44 left in the first quarter and never trailed after.
  • 7,249 fans were in attendance.

Game Starters:

F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 21 Kayla McBride
C – 8 Carolyn Swords
G – 0 Jackie Young
G – 10 Kelsey Plum

Headline Sports with Tony Renteria: Curry is expected back by game one of the playoffs; Kings fire Joerger, Walton most likely successor; plus more

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: @theScore

On Headline Sports podcast with Tony:

#1 The Golden State Warriors say that Stephen Curry is day to day after he rolled his ankle in New Orleans on Tuesday night. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr says that Curry should be back by the first game of the NBA playoffs.

#2 Sacramento Kings fired head coach Dave Joerger Thursday after three losing seasons. The firing most likely will be an open door for Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton to take over the coaching job in Sacramento. Wednesday was the last day of the regular season for the Sacramento Kings. They grew, they had won 12 more games than last season, and they have a core of players that are much improved over last season. Tony tells us what the Kings will do to get a viable shot at the playoffs for next season.

#3 It was kind of historical in Boston on Tuesday night when members of the Boston Red Sox and the New England Patriots made an appearance on the field before the Sox ball game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Fenway Park. Both teams were showing their Championship trophies as both teams won Championships in the first year.

#4 Two players from Bay Area schools were drafted on Wednesday by the WNBA. From Cal, Kristine Anigwe, who was named Defensive Player of the Year, and from the Stanford Cardinal, Alanna Smith. It has to be a pretty big honor for these players to get to the next level and play in the WNBA.

#5 The A’s won another series this time over the Baltimore Orioles on this current road trip after getting swept in Houston by the Astros to start the trip. The A’s defeated the O’s in the four game series and head to Texas to open a three game series with the Rangers starting on Friday night.

Tony does the Headline Sports each Thursday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Frankie Flamethrower: Montas, Davis lead the A’s past the Angels, 2-1

Published on by moepeaLeave a comment

By Morris Phillips

OAKLAND — If anything, some revision is needed: the A’s starting rotation isn’t a question mark, it’s a work in progress.

The progress part was in grand display over the weekend, as the A’s took three of four from the Angels, getting outstanding starts in each game, capped by Frankie Montas’ outing that highlighted a 2-1 victory on Sunday.

Montas hit 96 mph and above on his first eight pitches thrown, and allowed just one run in the sixth inning, as the A’s dominated a close game with power pitching, capped off with three innings of flawless relief. Incredibly, Montas was the only A’s starter to allow a run in the first six innings of a game in the series, a stat that wipes out any notion that the Oakland rotation is struggling. In fact, the rotation–at least at this early date in the season–appears just fine, and could be headlined by a career-defining season for No. 4 starter Montas.

“I don’t think you ever envision, this early in the season, four guys going out and giving you results like that,” manager Bob Melvin said, emphasizing the fact that the A’s spring training was truncated, and disjointed, limiting the rhythm and progress of Mike Fiers, Marco Estrada, Brett Anderson, Montas and Aaron Brooks, who makes his initial start Monday night.

Fiers and Estrada didn’t last long in their starts in Japan, as the team lost both games. But both rebounded: Fiers allowed one hit in six innings on Thursday, and Estrada two hits in six innings on Friday. Anderson was only slightly less impressive Saturday, allowing a double to Mike Trout, two singles and two walks.

But Montas–with his superior velocity and expanded repertoire–carries the buzz. The reliever turned starter posted the lowest ERA (0.56) in Major League Baseball during spring training, striking out 16 in 16 innings of work over five appearances. On Sunday, 32 of his 77 total pitches were between 96 and 98 mph. Montas has always brought the heat, but now he has the pitch command and a third weapon–a splitter–to complete the mix.

“The splitter has made a big difference,” Montas explained. “Now I have three plus-pitches and hitters can’t just worry about the fastball and slider. They have to worry about another pitch.”

Montas isn’t beyond missing a pitch, but those occassions are fewer and further between, as Kole Calhoun became the first hitter to take Montas deep in 2019 with his ridiculously-launched, 440-foot shot in the sixth. Previously, those missed pitches would bunch up, keeping the hard throwing, right-hander from establishing himself. But a new pattern has emerged: Montas is retiring hitters with regularity.

Khris Davis hit his fourth home run in six games to give the A’s a 1-0 lead in the fourth. With two outs in the fifth, Marcus Semien doubled and Matt Chapman singled to put the A’s up 2-0.

Lou Trivino retired three, consecutive hitters in the seventh to pick up Montas, who allowed a leadoff double to Justin Bour. Joakim Soria needed just 11 pitches to get through the eighth, and Blake Treinen closed the door in the ninth.

“We didn’t have a great offensive day but it felt like we had a great team day,” Semien said. “Frankie was throwing really hard and our bullpen did what they do.”

The A’s host a second, consecutive four-game set against the World Champion Red Sox starting Monday night. Familiar face and arm, David Price will be on the mound for Boston.

NCAABB podcast with Michelle Richardson: Differences in treatment between women’s basketball players and NBA players

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: sports.yahoo.com

On the NCAABB podcast with Michelle:

It’s that time of the year folks. It’s NCAA basketball and NCAA basketball has all the drama that you could ask for in college basketball. It’s coming. The NBA is talking about paying players who don’t want to go to college and come out of high school and come into the G-League and give them $125,000 to play in the G-League.

That sounds really great, doesn’t it? But wait a minute, what about the WNBA? When will the NBA start paying the WNBA players? In case you didn’t know, WNBA players can’t go into the league until after four years of school. So basically the women players have to play all four years.

Listen to it all Michelle Richardson on the NCAABB podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Dream turns Aces’ finale into a nightmare 93-78 loss

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment
ACESDREAM 1q
Atlanta led 20-19 after the first quarter Photo: @LVAces

By Charlie O. Mallonee

The Las Vegas Aces (14-20) knew the game on Sunday was their last game of the 2018 season. The Aces had been eliminated from the playoffs on Friday night in Dallas. They hoped to put on a good show for the crowd in their finale and keep the Atlanta Dream from earning a double bye in the first round of the playoffs.

The Aces did put on a good show for the fans–at least for three quarters–but they came up short on their plan to beat the Dream. Atlanta (23-11) beat Las Vegas 93-78 handing the Aces their 20th loss of the season.

The Dream held just a 64-62 lead at the end of three quarters. It looked like the Aces were well positioned to make a run to win the game in the final quarter, but it was not meant to be. Atlanta outscored Las Vegas 29-16 in the final period and ran away with the game. When the final buzzer sounded, the Dream had won the game 93-78 and earned a double bye to escape the single elimination games in the playoffs.

ACESDREAM 3rd
The Aces trailed by just two points after three quarters Photo: @LVAces

“Games like this are always tough,” said Aces head coach Bill Laimbeer in his postgame comments. “You get eliminated from the playoffs and have to go out there and find the motivation to keep working. We are professional basketball players, so I told the team before that we are going to play a lot of people tonight.  I want to compete – to win the game – and for the most part, I think we did for a half. We came out in the 3rdquarter and you could see we just didn’t have it anymore, mentally, they didn’t put forth the effort to win the game. [Atlanta] needed it badly, they did the job, they got the win.  I told [the team] after the game – be proud of this year, it was a great year for the Las Vegas Aces. We launched a franchise.  We competed and showed who we were – individually and collectively – and our franchise and our fans got to come out and enjoy a great product and a great sport, and MGM did a wonderful job launching this franchise. So, I told them to be proud of themselves.  Yeah, we didn’t make the playoffs, but we are really looking forward to next year.”

Aces Postgame Notes

  • A’ja Wilson put up 21 points to score in double figures for the 33rd time to start her career. She also scored 20-plus points for the 18th time in 2018.
  • Dearica Hamby–14 points–posted double figures for the 12th time this season.
  • Kelsey Bone scored nine points, which was one off of her season-highs.
  • The Las Vegas Aces won six more games (14 to 8) this season than they did as the San Antonio Stars in 2017.

Atlanta Postgame Notes

  • The Dream finished the season with a franchise record 23 regular season wins.
  • Elizabeth Williams led the Dream in scoring with 20 points–her 14th double-digit scoring game of the season.
  • Renee Montgomery posted 16 points and dished out a season-high nine assists on Sunday.
  • Atlanta’s record is now 16-3 when they score 80-plus points in a game.
  • The Dream swept the season series with the Aces.

Aces beat Indiana 92-74, maintain playoff hopes

Published on by psushawnLeave a comment

20180811 - A'ja Wilson 07

Photo credit: Shawn McCullough, Sports Radio Service

By Shawn McCullough

The Las Vegas Aces have not quite given up on playoffs just yet.

The Aces came out laser focused and beat the Indiana Fever 92-74 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center on Saturday night.

“I think we all knew we needed to get a win and we all came out with great energy,” said forward A’ja Wilson. “The crowd helped us of course, but we were definitely laser focused.”

Wilson scored 19 points and pulled down eight rebounds as point guard Kelsey Plum led the team with 20 points.

“I definitely think that our team was locked in,” said Plum. “We knew that this was a must win game and we knew that we needed to come to play, bring our A game and I was really proud with everyone that we did that.”

The win was big for the Aces’ playoff hopes after losing five straight coming out of the All-Star Break.

Despite the push for the playoffs, head coach Bill Laimbeer is preaching the “one game at a time” approach.

“They (the Aces players) are feeling a little bit of pressure because they were in a position to compete for a playoff spot and I just told them that they weren’t expected to have a chance at the playoffs so there’s no pressure,” said Laimbeer. “Just go out and play basketball and take it one game at a time and that’s what they did tonight”.

With the win, the Aces improved to 13-18 on the season and moved to within 1.5 games of the 8th place Dallas Wings for the final playoff spot.

The Aces have three remaining games in the regular season:

8/15 – vs New York
8/17 – at Dallas
8/19 – vs Atlanta

Las Vegas Aces – http://aces.wnba.com

Game Notes:

  • A’ja Wilson scored in double figures (19) in all 31 games so far this season.
  • The Aces shot 46.2% from the field while holding Indiana to just 36.3%.
  • The Aces dominated the Fever on the boards, pulling down 48 rebounds against just 33 for Indiana.
  • 5,213 Aces fans attended the game at the Mandalay Bay Events Center.
  • Retired 50-0 boxer Floyd Mayweather was in attendance.

Game Starters:

F – 22 A’ja Wilson
F – 1 Tamera Young
C – 8 Carolyn Swords
G – 21 Kayla McBride
G – 10 Kelsey Plum

Headline Sports podcast with London Marq: Native American groups glad Cleveland removed offensive logo from uniforms and caps; After domestic violence charges, Osuna settling in at Astros; plus more

Published on by Sports Radio ServiceLeave a comment

Photo credit: richmondfreepress.com

On Headline Sports with London:

The Cleveland Indians have removed the offensive Chief Wahoo logo from their caps and uniforms and replaced the logo with the block C. Native American Nations are relieved and glad that the racist logo had been removed. Cleveland said the removal was because the team wants to go in different direction in their marketing.

The Houston Astros’ controversial acquisition of pitcher Roberto Osuna has raised questions about his domestic violence charges and what impact it will have on the Astros clubhouse? Apparently whatever clubhouse issue that might have been was resolved after Osuna recorded his first win Monday night against the San Francisco Giants.

The NBA schedule is ready and has added LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers to play the Golden State Warriors on Christmas day.

The Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has thrown his support in for LeBron after Trump questioned LeBron’s intelligence. The story was national headlines last week and Rodgers said he’s all behind LeBron for his interview with CNN’s Don Lemon.

The WNBA doesn’t get too much national headlines, but they did this week when the Las Vegas Aces canceled their game against the Washington Mystics. The Aces tried flying to Dallas to get a plane to Washington, but were delayed at both Vegas and Dallas. The trip took them some 26 hours to get to Washington. The Aces got to their hotel some four hours before tipoff and said it wasn’t safe to play with no sleep and decided against playing the game. The WNBA ruled that it was a forfeit and a loss in the loss column for the Aces.

Headline Sports podcasts can be heard with London Marq each Wednesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com