Aces vs. Tempo: A'ja Wilson and Jackie Young Combine for 50 as Las Vegas Rolls Past Toronto 109-83

Eight days earlier, the Las Vegas Aces gave up 109 points on their own floor in a 34-point loss to Indiana. On Monday night in Toronto, they took that number back and made somebody else live with it.

A'ja Wilson scored 26, Jackie Young poured in a season-high 24 with 12 assists, and the Aces blew out the Toronto Tempo 109-83 at Coca-Cola Coliseum, leading for 87 percent of the game by ESPN's count and by as many as 28. Everything Las Vegas did looked a little too easy, and the Tempo, short on bodies and missing their head coach, had no way to make it harder.

A Quarter of Resistance, Then Not Much

For about 10 minutes this looked like a game. Toronto led by as many as five, and the Aces were only up 27-24 in the final seconds of the first quarter. An 8-0 run across the quarter break changed that, pushing the margin to 35-24 at 9:10 of the second.

The Tempo kept scoring enough to stay in shouting distance, and it was 52-44 with 1:34 left in the half. From there Las Vegas took over for good, and it was 60-44 at the break. The third quarter ended 86-65, and the only real question left was how many highlights the Aces wanted to collect.

They collected plenty. Young's fourth three of the night, a 24-foot step-back at 3:39, made it 99-79. Jewell Loyd followed with an and-one and then a 25-footer at 1:44 that pushed the lead to 109-81, the biggest of the night. Teonni Key's basket late set the final score.

Toronto's bench belonged to associate head coach Olaf Lange on this night, since coach Sandy Brondello was sitting out a one-game suspension over a comment she made during Friday's 111-92 loss to Atlanta. Brittney Sykes was out with a foot injury, Kiki Rice with an ankle injury and Nyara Sabally with a rib cage injury. That is a lot to ask of anybody against this offense.

Twenty-Eight Minutes of Wilson Was Plenty

Wilson needed only 28 minutes for her 26 points. She went 11 of 14 from the field, made all three of her threes, added six rebounds, four assists and four blocks, and did not commit a turnover. She was plus-24 and never had to play a meaningful fourth quarter, which is the true luxury of a game like this.

Young was the engine, going for 24 and 12 on 10-of-17 shooting with four threes and only two turnovers in 33 minutes. NaLyssa Smith was the bonus, scoring 18 on 9-of-10 shooting in just 19 minutes, the kind of night that makes a defense question its life choices. Chelsea Gray added 14 points, seven assists and three steals, and Loyd's 11 off the bench came with a team-best plus-27.

The night also carried a milestone for the bench boss. On the WNBA's career coaching wins list, Becky Hammon now sits 13th, having moved past Richie Adubato and Pokey Chatman, who each have 134.

Isabelle Harrison was the bright spot for Toronto, and she was very bright. Her career-high 26 points came with 11 rebounds on 8-of-11 shooting and 9 of 10 at the line, all in 22 minutes without a foul. Maria Conde had 15 points and eight rebounds. Marina Mabrey scored 14 but needed 21 shots to get there and went 1 of 8 from three, which tells the story of an offense asking too much of too few people. Toronto did go 17 of 19 at the line and outrebound the Aces by nine, and neither came close to mattering.

Two Minutes Around Halftime

Toronto's best chance to make this interesting ended in about two minutes of game time. It was 52-44 with 1:34 left in the second quarter, a deficit the Tempo could at least talk themselves into. Then the Aces scored 10 straight, eight of those before the break and two more in the first 34 seconds of the third, and it was 62-44.

An eight-point game is a halftime speech. An 18-point game is a math problem. Toronto never got back into it, and everything after that was a matter of how the box score would look. The Aces did not even need the whistle, attempting six free throws all night, because 45 made baskets, 29 of them assisted, and seven blocks at the other end covered everything.

The Damage Report

• Shooting: Las Vegas 58 percent, Toronto 39 percent.
• Assists: Las Vegas 29, Toronto 19.
• Points off turnovers: Las Vegas 20, Toronto 7, with 14 Tempo giveaways to seven for the Aces.
• Points in the paint: Las Vegas 54, Toronto 36.
• Rebounds: Toronto 40, Las Vegas 31, including 13-4 on the offensive glass, which is what a blowout looks like when the other team keeps missing.

Going Opposite Directions

Las Vegas moves to 18-7 and an impressive 11-2 on the road, and the response to that loss to Indiana could hardly have been cleaner. The Aces have one more game before the All-Star break, Wednesday at Washington.

Toronto drops to 10-16 and 6-10 at home. The Tempo have lost three straight and seven of their last eight, with the only win in that stretch coming against New York on July 12. They now get a long stretch off before visiting Minnesota on July 28, and some of those injured players getting healthy would help as much as anything.

Who Sets the Tempo

The thing about a tempo is that somebody has to set it. On Monday night in Toronto, the visitors held the baton from the middle of the second quarter on, and the home team spent the rest of the evening trying to find the beat. Harrison played a lovely solo. The rest of the band was a few measures behind, and the Aces had already left the stage with 109.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details as reported by the Associated Press.