Gordon: A’ja Wilson owns MVP matchup against Breanna Stewart

Becky Hammon says A’ja Wilson hears it all.

The discourse — or lack thereof — that does or doesn’t accompany her increasingly obvious all-time greatness. So surely, Wilson hears the “MVP” chants that fill Michelob Ultra Arena whenever she steps to the free-throw line.

“Third in MVP voting?” the Aces coach asked rhetorically and sarcastically after her selfless superstar hung 26 points and 15 rebounds on the New York Liberty in a 104-76 victory in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals on Wednesday night.

“Rest on that. It’s a joke.”

More and more laughable with each passing game.

Wilson isn’t just the rightful regular-season MVP. She is the best player in the league and — already at 27 — one of the best in its 27 year-history, a dynamo of two-way dominance arriving at her apex and unleashing her inevitability on the biggest stages in basketball.

Her regular-season averages of 22.8 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.2 blocks have swelled to 24.9, 11.3 and 2.9, while her field-goal percentage has ascended from 55.7 percent to 60.3.

That against the league’s best teams, coaches, players and defensive schemes.

‘Thinking about legacy’

“When you’re thinking about legacy, you don’t get that if you don’t get wins and you don’t get championships,” Wilson said.

One more win and her ledger includes the first back-to-back titles in 21 years — in addition to two MVPs, two Defensive Player of the Year awards and a litany of All-WNBA and All-Defensive selections.

Wilson credits her teammates. They credit her.

A sign of the chemistry the Aces have cultivated.

Said frontcourt mate Kiah Stokes: “(She’s) the head of the snake of our team. She sets the tone. And the rest of us … elevate to her level. … We expect greatness from her, and she expects it from us.”

And so Wilson issued her greatness to the Liberty again by attacking the basket, finishing through contact, popping for open jumpers and anchoring another stifling defensive effort.

She overpowers smaller defenders and dribbles by bigger ones, setting crisp screens that free her teammates again and again for open jumpers and driving lanes galore.

Her double-double production is so predictable that it often seems effortless even though it’s obviously not.

“Just the mental approach,” Wilson said when asked about what she learned from her previous two WNBA Finals appearances. “When it came to this series, this was going to be a dogfight. So for me to come in, I just try to project that onto my teammates and help them understand that this isn’t going to be easy.”

An MVP matchup

But the Aces have made it seem easy even more so than they did during a regular season that they dominated like few teams before them. And yet Wilson was bypassed for MVP by New York forward Breanna Stewart, a fellow two-time MVP and champion who shot 6 of 17 on Wednesday and hasn’t produced the ilk of postseason that would underscore the award.

In her first seven games, Stewart has shot 36.5 percent and 21.2 percent from 3-point range — standing idly along the lane when Wilson steps to the free-throw line, hearing chants she knows aren’t meant for her.

“Any chance we have an opportunity to go out there and play and play hard and play in front of these awesome fans, we’re going to do that because we owe them,” Wilson said.

“But also we put the work in, so we’ve got to show for it.”

Exactly what Wilson — and the Aces — are doing.

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