It was a difficult night for the Las Vegas Aces in their Tuesday night game against the New York Liberty. They lost the first two quarters, and the third was going the same way. Aces coach Becky Hammon was likely already frustrated at that point, and eventually, the emotions boiled over.
What followed was the kind of moment that stops play and turns heads across an entire arena. In a video of the incident making the rounds on social media, Hammon was seen sprinting directly from the sideline onto the hardwood, visibly furious, toward an official while screaming, pointing, and making her displeasure known in the most animated fashion possible.
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In fact, other members of the Aces coaching staff and personnel had to rush in to physically restrain Hammon and pull her back toward the bench.
“Becky Hammon is furious,” the commentator pointed out. “Absolutely furious.”
The sequence that triggered Becky Hammon’s outburst occurred in the third quarter. Aces forward Jackie Young drove to the basket, was blocked by Liberty star Breanna Stewart, and the ball was knocked out of bounds. The official’s ruling gave possession to the New York Liberty, a call that Hammon found completely unacceptable.
She made that known loudly, directly, and at close range. And as expected, the officials responded with a technical foul.
Her team sadly went on to lose that third quarter as well. And despite the Aces showing some fight in the final frame, it wasn’t enough to overcome the deficit they had allowed to build up. And they eventually fell to an 87-76 defeat.
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With that loss, the Aces now sit at a 12-5 record, third in the combined league standings. Their next game comes against the Dallas Wings, a side that has already beaten them this season. They will be eager to bounce back and restore some confidence after a frustrating night.
Becky Hammon reflects on Aces’ tough night vs. Liberty
Rather than dwelling exclusively on the officiating sequence that earned her a technical foul or on any of the other calls that frustrated her during the game, Becky Hammon chose to look inward when analyzing the loss in her post-game press conference.
For her, the defeat came down to their own tactical shortcomings, poor shooting, and an inability to consistently slow down the Liberty. The way Hammon sees it, it is simply a learning experience to file away ahead of upcoming matchups.
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“Offensively we didn’t shoot well tonight, so that certainly helps on the point differential,” Hammon said. “Defensively, obviously in the second and third quarters we don’t want to give up that many. They’re a difficult team to guard. I think for us it’s a really good learning game.”
And the numbers fully support her assessment. The Aces shot a miserable 30% from beyond the three-point arc, going just 8-of-27 from downtown. And even though they managed a decent 43% from the field overall, going 31-of-72, the New York Liberty still outclassed them at 46%, making 30 of their 65 shots.
Those are the corrections the Aces will need to make heading into their next game. Because facing a Dallas Wings side that has already beaten them earlier this season is not a situation that forgives poor shooting or defensive lapses. The learning game, as Hammon called it, needs to produce results fast.
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