No Ace in the Hole

L 78-72

The Valk’s first home game after a long road trip was a hard-fought battle against a full-strength Aces team. It was the second game in home-and-away series against the Aces, and this matchup was much more competitive than the one three days prior at Michelob ULTRA Arena.

The Valks stayed attached to the Aces for the whole game, though each bucket the Aces scored seemed just a bit easier than each basket the Valks scored. A’Ja Wilson was an impressive and efficient 8-11 from the field and 11-11 from the free throw line and seemed to be able to score any time she wanted. We miss Kayla Thorton dearly, and are eager for Mo Billings to get back on the floor this season. Despite her stat line, however, Iliana Rupert showed great moments, and it will be great to see her develop into a strong option for this team (and I believe she will do so).

Carla Leite hustled all game, providing energy off the bench every time our offense settled into a rut, and Kaila Charles, our recent hardship contract signee, hit some clutch baskets when needed. Ultimately, the talented Aces prevailed, but not after the Valks kept clawing away and demonstrating significant fight.

This game stings for a couple unfortunate reasons:

1. The refs played too large of a role in the second half. They made bad calls on both sides, and both Becky Hammon and Natalie Nakase made successful challenges during the game. They also reviewed a number of calls themselves. And while it is important to get the calls right, or at the very least, consistent, the reviews and the amount of time the reviews took disrupted the flow of the game considerably. Fans and players were frustrated alike for most of the second half. And it really begs the question whether this is going to be a point of emphasis for the league in the offseason. The W has become too sophisticated of a league to have refs that do not make consistent calls, and that cause the game to come to a halt. The frustration with the ref led to sloppy plays on both sides and loud, coordinated “Refs, you suck!” chants.

   
   

2. This was a winnable game. Our defense kept us in the game. We held the Aces to 45% shooting from 2-pt land and 19% from 3-pt land. With the exception of A’ja, we had their offense contained. It just seemed like we did not take advantage of some weaker defenders on the court or exploit our mismatches. It’s hard not to wonder how we would have fared had we had a fully healthy squad.

Up next – we take on the Sparks on Saturday, who are on a heater as of late and are currently playing their best basketball. Go Valkyries!