The WNBA schedule may have won against the Las Vegas Aces this week.
Prior to Sunday’s nationally televised matinee matchup against the New York Liberty, the Aces announced that A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray are out on the WNBA injury report.
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Sunday’s game is the final stage of a harsh three-game span that began Thursday with an 86-84 overtime win over the Indiana Fever. The matchup with the Liberty takes place less than 24 hours after Las Vegas faced the Minnesota Lynx and suffered a 98-87 defeat to the WNBA’s top team. With those back-to-back games, Aces coach Becky Hammon is resting her three stars.
And the week began with a game on Monday versus the Atlanta Dream, which the Aces won 109-87. That was the second game of a five-game road trip for the defending WNBA champions.
Wilson and Gray appeared to show the effects of the past week’s grind in Saturday’s matchup with the Lynx.
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The reigning WNBA MVP only scored 2 points in the first quarter and eventually finished with 16 points on 5-of-17 shooting with 8 rebounds. Gray played a game-high 36 minutes but scored only 9 points after lifting the Aces to an 86-84 win over the Indiana Fever on Thursday with buzzer-beating 3-pointers that forced overtime and won the game in the extra period.
With the loss to the Lynx, the Aces (22-10) fell a half-game behind the Golden State Valkyries for third place in the WNBA standings.
For the Liberty, Leonie Fiebich will miss her 12th consecutive game with a left foot injury that has sidelined her since July 3. Satou Sabally is also listed as out while in the concussion protocol. New York currently holds the eighth seed and final playoff spot, but could finish as high as fourth with a logjam of five teams separated by only one game.
