Defending WNBA champions Las Vegas Aces are in unchartered territory. They are down 0-2 against the New York Liberty in the semifinal of the league’s playoffs and need three straight wins to keep their dreams of a three-peat alive. While some still have faith in the team, ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith believes the Aces’ two-year reign as champion will end soon.
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On The Stephen A. Smith Show, the host, a staunch backer of the Aces throughout the season, has rescinded his support for the reigning champions and is backing the Liberty to advance to the WNBA Finals. He said,
“I’m rooting for the Liberty. I never root against Becky Hammond and the Las Vegas Aces, but their number might be up.”
Smith claimed that he believed the Aces, who were looking to become only the second team in league history to three-peat, would show up and dominate in the playoffs despite an uncharacteristically poor regular season. However, he now has no choice but to concede that the Liberty are the better team this year. He said,
“I’ve been saying this all year long, you got to show me that you can beat A’ja Wilson for me to believe it. If anyone has done that it’s the Liberty.”
The two teams have met five times this season, including the regular season and the playoffs, and New York is a perfect 5-0. While the Aces can still salvage the situation, history is on the Liberty’s side. In WNBA playoff history, teams are 18-0 when leading 2-0 in a best-of-five series.
Smith claimed that the Aces have seemingly lost their edge this season and pointed to head coach Becky Hammon’s take on why the team lost more than 10 games for the first time since the 2019 campaign. He said,
“Becky Hammond pointed out, when you win you’re back-to-back champions. You can get distracted. The priorities that you once had, you no longer have. Those distractions take away from the level of excellence you could once put forth… That clearly appears to be what’s happened to the Las Vegas Aces.”
The analyst giving up on the Aces indicates how despondent the team has been, considering he backed them to win the title until not too long ago.
Smith was on the Aces’ side all season
Two weeks ago, Smith threw his support behind the Aces and pointed to their stellar run in the second half of the season as the reason for his faith in the team. He said,
“When you’re talking about the Aces being the reigning defending WNBA Champions… Having the best player on the planet in A’ja Wilson… Do you see the pride and fervor with which they play? They were struggling in the first half, they came back strong in the second half of the season.”
The analyst was steadfast in his belief that the Liberty did not have the star power that the Aces boasted, especially a player on par with reigning MVP A’ja Wilson. However, with the team 0-2 down and facing elimination in Friday night’s Game 3, he has seemingly downed his tools.
