Aces vs. Sparks: A'ja Wilson's 25 Points, 15 Rebounds and 5 Blocks Carry Las Vegas to 79-69 Win

Rae Burrell had just finished a three-point play, the Los Angeles Sparks had scored eight in a row, and a 15-point Las Vegas lead was down to 71-64 with 2:48 left at crypto.com Arena. Neither team scored for more than a minute. Then A'ja Wilson took a Jackie Young feed, finished a layup through the foul, and put the lead right back at 10.

The Las Vegas Aces beat the Sparks 79-69 on Tuesday night, and Wilson's line of 25 points, 15 rebounds and five blocks looked like something you'd build in a video game before feeling guilty and turning the sliders down. Young added 16 points and nine assists, Chelsea Gray had 12 points and 11 assists, and an Aces team using just eight players improved to 6-1 on the road.

Runs, Runs and More Runs

The first quarter was an offense-free zone. Las Vegas shot 6 of 18, Los Angeles shot 3 of 13, and the teams combined to make 2 of 12 threes, per the Aces' recap. A 7-0 Aces burst provided what separation there was, and it was 14-10 after one.

Then the game turned into a series of heaters. Las Vegas scored 11 straight to open up a 25-12 lead. Los Angeles, which went without a field goal from 6:04 of the first to 5:50 of the second while making 8 of 9 at the line, answered with 10 straight to get within 31-26. The Aces went into the break up 37-30 and then used an 8-0 run across halftime to make it 43-30. The Sparks replied with eight of their own by 7:25 of the third, and suddenly it was 43-38.

Las Vegas finally shut the back-and-forth down. An 8-0 run between 5:02 and 2:38 turned a 49-42 game into 57-42, and Young's floater with 5.6 seconds left in the quarter made it 64-51. The Sparks got one last push in the fourth, that 8-0 stretch that ended with Burrell's three-point play, but Wilson's answer came at 1:40. Gray's 25-foot three at 1:13 and NaLyssa Smith's floater with 41.4 seconds left closed it out.

The Main Event and the Understudy

Wilson shot 10 of 20, grabbed 12 defensive rebounds, added three steals and committed just one foul in 34 minutes. The five blocks were a season high, per the Aces, and they moved her into eighth on the WNBA's career list, past Tammy Sutton-Brown, with 555. Oddly, she finished just plus-1, which tells you how little plus-minus knows about anything. Stephanie Talbot led the Aces at plus-24 in 25 minutes, with eight points and six rebounds.

Young needed 17 shots for her 16 points, but those nine assists were the point of the exercise. Gray's 11 assists were a season high, according to the team. Kierstan Bell scored her first points of the season on a pair of threes, and Brianna Turner went scoreless in 21 minutes and still finished plus-16. The Aces' own headline called this group shorthanded, and the foul sheet backs that up: Smith and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus each had five, with Parker-Tyus getting hers in eight minutes.

The Sparks' best story was Burrell, who scored a career-high 22 on 8-of-14 shooting. Through three quarters she was 7 of 10 for 17 points while her teammates were a combined 8 of 38 for 34. Nneka Ogwumike had 12 points and 12 rebounds and took sole possession of fifth on the league's career rebounding list, moving past Tamika Catchings with 3,315.

The rest was grim. Dearica Hamby, who came in averaging 17.0 points and 7.9 rebounds according to the Aces, went 0 for 7. You have to go back to July 9, 2023, to find the last time she failed to make a shot from the floor. Ariel Atkins was 2 of 13. Cameron Brink gave Los Angeles nine points and eight rebounds off the bench, but the Sparks played without Kelsey Plum (ankle) for a third straight game, and a team shooting 31% could have used her.

The Stretch That Mattered

Los Angeles had a real opening in the third. It had just ripped off eight straight, and even after the Aces steadied themselves it was 49-42 with 5:02 left. A team shooting 31% needs moments like that to turn into something. Instead Las Vegas scored the next eight, on its way to an 11-of-18 quarter in which Young and Wilson each had eight points. That 15-point cushion meant the Sparks' fourth-quarter rally only got them to seven. Move that third-quarter run even a little in the other direction and Wilson's three-point play is the difference in a much sweatier final minute.

Stats Worth Your Time

• 31 of 69 vs. 20 of 65: Field goals, 45% to 31%.
• 23 of 27 vs. 9 of 16: Free throws. That 14-point Los Angeles edge is the only reason this stayed within reach.
• 24-13: Assists, with 24 of Las Vegas' 31 field goals coming off a pass.
• 8-4: Blocks, five of them from Wilson.
• 38-26: Las Vegas in the paint.

Road Warriors, Literally

Las Vegas is 6-3, and every one of those wins has come away from home: 6-1 on the road, 0-2 at home. The Aces have won two straight, they're 1-0 in Commissioner's Cup play, and they lead this season's series with the Sparks 2-1 after a 105-78 win on May 10 and a 101-95 loss on May 23. They finally get a home game on Saturday against Golden State.

Los Angeles falls to 4-5 and just 1-4 at home, with two straight losses. A three-game homestand continues Friday against Dallas.

The Sliders Stayed Up

Back to those video-game sliders. Plenty of stars can stuff a stat sheet on a good shooting night, and Wilson only made half her shots and shot 4 of 7 at the line. She got to 25, 15 and five anyway, with a thin rotation behind her, in a road building, against a team that kept finding ways to hang around. That's not a hot hand. That's a default setting, and the Sparks aren't the first team to run into it.

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