Las Vegas Aces bench comes up with needed spark in Game 1 victory over the Phoenix Mercury

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Before Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, coach Becky Hammon made a bold statement about her bench, considering the reserves who helped the Las Vegas Aces win back-to-back championships in 2022 and ’23.

“The bench has really been a difference maker ... I think we have the best overall bench that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” said Hammon, who is in her fourth year with the Aces.

Those reserves made her look prophetic, providing the spark the Aces needed in an 89-86 win over the Phoenix Mercury on Friday to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Dana Evans led the reserves wiith 21 points and Jewell Loyd poured in 18. Evans became the first player in WNBA Finals history to make five 3-pointers and register four steals in a game.

“I want to come in and be a spark” Evans said. “I want to do whatever my team needs from me, whether that’s getting after it defensively, getting us organized, getting buckets, whatever that looks like. But this is what I’ve worked all my life for, to be in this position.”

The 41 total bench points accounted for 46% of the team’s points.

“I had told both Jackie (Young) and Chelsea (Gray) to get those two going early,” Hammon said, speaking about Evans and Loyd. “Jewel came out in the first half, gave us a really good punch, and then Dana really took fire in the second half.

“We have weapons and we want to use them all, because we’re harder to guard that way.”

But it went beyond the offensive outburst from Evans and Loyd, as there were quality minutes from Megan Gustafson to give A'ja Wilson rest, and a critical 14 seconds of playing time from defensive specialist Kiah Stokes.

With the Aces up by three, the Mercury had the ball with 13.5 seconds left when Stokes made a key switch off Phoenix’s Alyssa Thomas and onto Kahleah Copper. Stokes’ suffocating defense stymied Copper’s effort to attempt a game-tying shot.

“She is our defensive anchor,” Wilson said. “She played literally 14 seconds and did exactly what we needed her to do. And I feel like that’s the sign of a good pro.”

Hammon said the stellar bench play couldn’t have come at a better time, as she felt Wilson and Young were showing a bit of fatigue after carrying the Aces in a Game 5 overtime win against the Indiana Fever on Tuesday.

“The rest is really important at this point for both of them,” Hammon said. “And that’s what makes us a difficult team, is because we do have that potential for somebody else to kill them and get 20.”

Oddly enough, it was the Mercury bench that led the WNBA with 25.5 points per game during the regular season, while the Aces ranked eighth (20.3).

During the postseason, however, the Aces have seen a slight uptick with 20.8 bench points per game through nine games, while the Mercury reserves have dropped off to the tune of 19.5.

“Obviously, we got to do a better job of finding them earlier,” Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said. “They hit a bunch of 3s, seven between them, and so that’s going to be tough to overcome. I thought we did a great job on A’ja and Jackie, but those two definitely, you know, pushed them to a victory tonight.”

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AP WNBA: https://apnews.com/hub/wnba-basketball