Quoting A’ja Wilson is both a sportswriter’s dream and nightmare. You want analogies? Nobody in the league delivers them like her. You want clean copy? Well… good luck, because A’ja’s not editing herself for your convenience. Case in point: after one of the Aces’ wins, she dropped this gem: “If I try to harp on it and force it because I want this win so bad for my team, it’s like forcing a far– all you get is sh–.” Yes, she actually said that, into a microphone, on live TV, and yes, a fan immediately put it on a t-shirt.

Of course, Malika Andrews couldn’t just let it slide. She teased her with, “Does that come from experience?” before quickly saving herself with a fast “Please, please, please don’t answer that.” But Malika wasn’t done. She went right for the heart of it: what flipped after that humiliating 53-point loss to Minnesota that set off the Aces’ monster 16-game winning streak? What came next was cleaner, sure, but hardly safer for the competition, because it came straight from Becky Hammon, retold by A’ja Wilson:

“You know, lions wake up every morning and they know they have to be faster than the gazelle just to eat. And the gazelle wakes up and knows it’s got to be faster than the lion just to survive. Every single morning you have to wake up and say, ‘I want to be better just to survive and just to eat.’” Deadly, but that’s the Aces in a sentence. Some days, they’re a gazelle – surviving. Other days, they’re on the hunt like a lion. And right now? Vegas is feasting. Sixteen straight wins, tying them with the legendary 1998 Houston Comets, with only two longer streaks in league history.

That’s how they are marching into the postseason as the No. 2 seed, lined up against No. 7 Seattle (23-21) on Sunday. Our only recommendation for the Storm would be to worry because A’ja Wilson has been a walking MVP case (23.4 PPG, 10.2 RPG), Jackie Young is everywhere at once, Chelsea Gray is back orchestrating, and ex-Storm legend Jewell Loyd has reinvented herself as the energy spark off the bench. This is a team that finally stitched itself back together post-Kelsey Plum trade, found its identity, and has now entered the postseason with the swagger of champions past.

And, Seattle? They will definitely be looking to take down these lions, who have been their rivals in the truest sense of the word. The Storm and Aces know each other far too well at this point. Three playoff clashes in the past five years do that.

Back in 2020, Seattle, powered by Breanna Stewart, Jewell Loyd, and Sue Bird, made quick work of Las Vegas with a Finals sweep. Fast forward to 2022, and the tables turned: the Aces bounced the Storm in the semis, effectively writing the final chapter of Bird’s career and starting their own run of back-to-back titles. By 2023, Seattle had a new look with Nneka Ogwumike, Skylar Diggins, and Loyd, but the offense sputtered, and the Aces barely broke a sweat in a two-game sweep.

But, well, the Storm won’t go down that easily. This season, the Storm and Aces split their four regular-season meetings, each stealing wins on the road, a little foreshadowing, perhaps, that Seattle might finally flip the script and crash the Aces’ streak. So yes, tune in for metaphors, tune in for fireworks, but before we crown the queen of quotables, let’s check in with Becky Hammon, who made the MVP “math” as simple as it gets:

A’ja Wilson’s MVP Numbers

“This is who’s the best in the league. This is the league MVP. So please stop all that silliness, talking about who’s more impactful on their team. By the way, A’ja wins that argument, too. We went 1-3 without her.” And Hammon wasn’t done sharpening the equation there: “I mean, that line of thinking, I could sit there and say NaLyssa Smith is our MVP, because before NaLyssa, we were 8-8. And with her, we’re 20-6. Come on.”

She bluntly added, “Nobody cares about your feelings and opinions. Math doesn’t lie. The numbers are the numbers, I’m sorry if you don’t like it.” Right there, Hammon dismantled every counter-argument; she even reached for an example within her own roster. However, Becky Hammon’s point wasn’t to diminish Smith’s role, but it was to expose the weakness in cherry-picking arguments. Numbers, she reminded everyone, don’t bend to feelings or fan narratives.

Then she really dropped the Vegas metaphor that shook everyone: “The numbers are the one thing that don’t lie. This whole damn city was built on numbers and math. Math wins, that’s why I’m a terrible gambler sometimes. I always think I can win, but math wins.” And there it is, the case closed. Vegas was built on math, and math says Wilson is MVP. Lions, gazelles, or gamblers, the numbers all point in the same direction: don’t bet against A’ja.