Aces vs. Fire: A'ja Wilson Posts 28 and 14 as Las Vegas Completes a Season Sweep of Portland

The Portland Fire needed a quiet start in Las Vegas on Tuesday night. They were down 8-0 in less than two minutes, down 16-2 not long after, and by the time they got off the mat the Aces had already hung a season-high number on the scoreboard. Some games announce themselves early. This one sent an invitation with the final score on it.

A'ja Wilson had 28 points and 14 rebounds, Jackie Young added 25, and the Las Vegas Aces never trailed in a 98-83 win over the Fire at Michelob ULTRA Arena. Las Vegas shot 58 percent, moved to 19-8 and finished a 3-0 season sweep of the expansion Fire, all in front of 10,240 fans for the team's 59th consecutive sellout.

Thirty-Six Points in Ten Minutes of Pure Disrespect

The first quarter was a heater, plain and simple. The Aces went 13 of 17 from the floor and 7 of 8 from three, and both the 36 points and the seven made threes were season highs for a quarter. Wilson already had 10 and five boards by the horn, which by her standards counts as warming up. Portland did land one punch, an 8-0 run that made it 18-12, but Las Vegas came right back with a 14-5 spurt and it was 36-21 at the horn.

To the Fire's credit, they kept showing up. They opened the second with six straight, and a 12-3 surge, finished off by a Megan DiLeo three-point play, had it down to 39-33. With 3:24 left before halftime it was still only 43-37, and you could squint and see a ballgame. Then Las Vegas closed the half with 10 straight, Chelsea Gray and Young getting the final two baskets, and that squint stopped working at 53-37.

The third quarter ran on the same loop. Portland opened with a 9-2 spurt, Las Vegas let the Fire get comfortable, and then five different Aces scored in a 16-6 closing run that made it 79-64. The fourth was a 19-19 formality. Portland trailed by double digits the whole way, and the largest lead of the night was 18.

Wilson, Efficiently Terrifying

Wilson took just 10 shots and made seven. She still scored 28, because she went 13 of 14 at the line, which is a very specific kind of unfair. The four-time league MVP also grabbed 13 of her 14 rebounds on the defensive end, handed out four assists and finished plus-14. She had scored 32 twice against Portland earlier this season in road wins, so around here 28 counts as restraint.

The team's game notes turn into a small novel when she's involved. This was her 13th double-double of the season and the 133rd of her career, which the Aces say ranks fifth among all-time WNBA leaders. She has reached 20 points in eight straight games, the second-longest streak in the league, and double figures in a league-leading 49 straight.

Young was the perfect co-star, going 9 of 14 from the field and 5 of 5 at the line. Gray ran the show with 17 points and seven assists, committed no fouls in 32 minutes, and passed 4,500 points in an Aces uniform, the seventh player in franchise history to get there. Jewell Loyd added 11 off the bench with three threes and a game-best plus-25. Brianna Turner chipped in eight points on 4-of-6 shooting and two blocks. Down the stretch there was room for Mai Yamamoto's WNBA debut and for Ta'Niya Latson's first action in an Aces uniform, which she marked with a running layup off a Loyd feed.

Portland's bright spots were real, just outnumbered. DiLeo scored 20 on 8-of-13 shooting and pulled down four offensive rebounds. Frieda Buhner gave the Fire 16 off the bench, going 8 of 8 at the line. Bridget Carleton scored 13 but needed 15 shots to do it, and Carla Leite had 11 before fouling out. Emily Engstler pulled down 10 rebounds in 19 minutes, and Portland's reserves won their matchup 29-18, which is the kind of stat you frame only when the final score cooperates.

Ten Straight, and the Argument Was Over

If you want one stretch that decided this, go to those final 3:24 of the first half. Portland had climbed all the way back from the early crater, had the deficit down to six, and had Las Vegas looking merely good instead of unstoppable. Then the Fire simply stopped scoring. They shot 4 of 16 in the quarter, and a six-point game turned into a 16-point game before anybody could call it momentum. Everything Portland did after that was a second climb up the same hill, and teams with this kind of talent don't let you do that twice.

The Stats That Tell It

• 7 of 8: The Aces from three in the first quarter. They went 2 of 14 the rest of the way and it didn't matter.
• 13 of 14: Wilson at the line, on a night the team went 23 of 26.
• 19: Fast-break points for Las Vegas, a season high according to the team. Portland had seven.
• 12-2: Portland's edge in offensive rebounds and also in second-chance points. Same score, same futility, a 15-point loss.
• +25: Loyd's plus-minus in 25 minutes.

Where That Leaves Everybody

Las Vegas is 19-8 and 8-5 at home, and this was a clean response to the 100-99 loss at Washington last time out. New York comes to town on Thursday. Portland falls to 11-17, 5-10 on the road, with a third straight loss after dropping games to Minnesota and Dallas. The Fire get to go home and host Indiana on Friday, which is either a chance to regroup or a fresh way to give up 100.

The House Doesn't Do Refunds

The Aces call their building The House, and if you've spent any time in Las Vegas you know how that saying ends. Portland ran the experiment three times this season, losing 105-89, 88-80 and 98-83, and each time it got close enough to feel like the next hand might be different. That's how the place stays in business. Wilson walked out with 28 and 14 on just 10 shots, the Fire walked out with a nice offensive rebounding number, and the casino, as ever, kept the chips.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game notes from the Las Vegas Aces. Context as reported by the Associated Press.