Gordon: Aces show they’re best team ever

The Aces claimed two titles Wednesday night in New York City.

The WNBA’s 2023 crown — and that of the greatest team in the league’s 27-year history.

Led by the league’s best player, guided by its best coach and buoyed in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals by a steely championship culture, this iteration of Aces secured the franchise’s most impressive victory to date: a 70-69 road triumph over the New York Liberty, without two starters, that solidifies their standing in basketball lore.

They finish the season without Chelsea Gray, Candace Parker, Kiah Stokes and with an incomparable 42-7 combined record regardless, sheened by an 8-1 postseason during which they secured victory by an average margin of 15 points.

“This is probably the tightest group I’ve ever been around,”coach Becky Hammon said afterward, an arm’s reach from several gold bottles of Armand de Brignac Ace of Spades Champagne.

“They’re a special group. I don’t know what else you can throw at them.”

The stars and the stats

That we learned last year when they won their first championship. They got better this season, finishing 34-6 in the regular season with the best offensive rating in WNBA history (113 points per 100 possessions) and one of its best-ever net ratings, too (plus-15.3).

Only eight of their victories were settled by single digits.

They set single-season records for 20- and 25-point victories.

Their All-Star quartet of A’ja Wilson, Gray, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum is as good as it gets in its collective prime, facilitating for the Aces more chemistry than the periodic table.

Said Wilson after supplying 24 points and 16 rebounds: “We’ve prayed together. We’ve cried together. We’ve celebrated together. All in between.”

Wilson is the conduit as the league’s best player and at 27 already one of the all-time greats, a gregarious force of two-way brilliance capturing Finals MVP honors by averaging 21.3 points, 12.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on the sport’s biggest stage.

Gray for her part is peerless operating from the point as a fellow all-time great and the ultimate conductor in chaos. Young is the league’s most well-rounded wing, pairing efficient three-level scoring with her rugged perimeter defense.

Plum is among the league’s best shooters, an explosive scorer with an all-around impact on or off the ball.

Stokes, meanwhile, plays her role to perfection, setting rugged screens, rebounding and blocking shots. Reserve wing Alysha Clark epitomizes versatility, earning Sixth Player of the Years honors with her formidable defense and malleable approach to two-way basketball.

The postseason validated what the regular season revealed: The Aces have so many strengths that they can play any style, toggling situationally between them.

Proved in the playoffs

Proving so is Hammon, a master of strategy and roster management who was without Gray (foot) and Stokes (foot) in the clinching game against the Liberty.

Parker with her foot injury hasn’t played since July.

In their places and roles shined seldom-used reserves Cayla George, Sydney Colson and Kierstan Bell, who rose to the occasion alongside their superstar teammates to outdo the healthy Liberty in their own arena.

“I don’t know if it was the matchup everybody waited all year for,” Hammon said through a smirk, subtly alluding to the Aces’ dominance.

“It’s a blessing to say we’re two-time champions because from the bottom, we were in the trenches,” Wilson said. “We were in the trenches forming a fan base and everything.”

And with it the greatest team in WNBA history.

Perhaps a dynasty as well.

Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on X.