Aces have all the ‘edge’ they need entering must-win Game 4

The Aces weren’t hurting for a competitive advantage as they beat the New York Liberty 95-81 to avoid elimination in Game 3 of their WNBA semifinal series Friday at Michelob Ultra Arena.

Before the victory, Aces coach Becky Hammon apologized to her team for comments she made after an 88-84 loss to the Liberty in Game 2 on Tuesday, in which she said the Aces lacked edge and were distracted by the perks of being back-to-back champions.

Hammon, surrounded by reporters at shootaround on Friday, was so eager to address Tuesday’s postgame interview that she interrupted a question that referenced it.

“I would like to address that,” Hammon said, “I apologized to the team. (Distracted) was a poorly used word, because, truth be told, I want them in every commercial. I want their faces everywhere. I want them to get paid in every possible way, and winning does that. The point I was trying to make is that the Liberty’s mentality in their offseason looked and felt much different than ours.”

Much has been said about the Aces’ edge since they beat the Liberty in the 2023 Finals. For Hammon, it ranged from the early assertion that she didn’t like the Aces’ “vibe” when training camp began, to the most recent comments Tuesday — in which she did note that the Aces found an edge as the postseason approached but seemingly lost it when the semifinals started.

With the Aces looking to defy history and become the first WNBA team to come back from a 2-0 series deficit, there’s no more talking to be done to prove their motivation.

It’s all on the line again in Game 4 at noon Sunday at Michelob Ultra Arena. If the Aces win and force a deciding Game 5, the same will be true again as the series returns to New York.

And if you ask Liberty leader Breanna Stewart, the Aces’ circumstances are an edge on their own.

“This is when teams are most dangerous, when their backs are against the wall and they’re gonna throw everything at you,” Stewart said.

Plum video

If nothing else, guard Kelsey Plum made it clear following Friday’s win that the Aces can count on her to play with a chip on her shoulder.

Hammon’s comments about the Aces lacking an edge came after she was seen giving an impassioned speech during a timeout in Game 2 against the Liberty on Tuesday. The loss saw Plum score six points for her second-lowest scoring game of the postseason.

The New York Post, Sports Illustrated and Us Weekly ran headlines based on the footage that described Hammon as “tearing into” and “going off on” Plum in a “sideline outburst” or “heated timeout confrontation.”

Many of those articles used Hammon’s comments about the team being distracted and lacking an edge to support their framing.

Unprompted, Hammon broached the narrative surrounding herself and Plum at Friday’s shootaround.

“I wasn’t yelling at Kelsey Plum. I was yelling at the group. She just happens to give me great eye contact when I yell. She looks me dead in the eye,” Hammon said. “I was mad at the team.”

‘Way the cookie crumbles’

Despite Hammon’s clarification, Plum was asked a question about the team’s edge following her 20-point performance in the Aces’ Game 3 win, and she took it personally, saying that Hammon’s critiques didn’t “apply” to her.

“I play hard all the time,” Plum said. “Sometimes maybe I can get sped up a little bit, or maybe I try to be too aggressive and it doesn’t go my way. But also sometimes, willpower does go my way.”

Plum conceded that things “got a little out of hand” for her in Game 2 but not because she wasn’t trying.

“Just because you lose, that doesn’t mean you didn’t play hard or you don’t have an edge,” she said. “Sometimes that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.”

The Liberty played aggressively Friday and still lost, Plum noted.

But the Aces won’t have that luxury Sunday, and point guard Chelsea Gray alluded to that reality when asked if the team felt like it made a statement in Game 3.

“No,” Gray said. “The minute you get comfortable, that’s when you’re exposed. I think you just go one game at a time. We executed this game. We executed four quarters, and so we’ll start all over again on Sunday. We’re still down 2-1.”

— NOTE: Aces center Kiah Stokes will miss a second straight game after suffering a concussion in Game 2.

Contact Callie Fin at cfin@reviewjournal.com. Follow @CallieJLaw on X.