With an MVP-caliber player like A’ja Wilson on your roster, what could possibly go wrong? Apparently, quite a lot. Especially when the team leans too heavily on her brilliance. In the early stages of the regular season, Las Vegas often relied on Wilson to carry the load at both ends of the court. While her teammates’ contributions were inconsistent, this imbalance didn’t go unnoticed. But the Aces started functioning better as a team as the season progressed. The biggest sign of improvement came during the first game of the WNBA finals.

The Aces had rarely practiced zone defense during the season, but when they finally brought it out in the fourth quarter of a WNBA Finals game, it surprisingly clicked. This was the turning point, helping them scrape through with a narrow win. Watching her team grow through the struggle, the 2025 MVP believes her team can grow even further. She recognized that luck alone couldn’t carry them in future games.

The 2025 MVP made her expectations crystal clear: she wanted her teammates to lock in defensively, as she revealed in the post-game press conference, “I think it was multiple times and situations where we understood that our defense has to win the game. Like, we can’t go basket-for-basket with this team. They’re too good. I mean, they were shooting like near 50 percent from the field. So, we knew we couldn’t go basket-for-basket with them.”

For the first half of the game, it was Mercury’s relentless offense that thrashed the Aces. By halftime, Phoenix had dropped 50 points while Las Vegas trailed by five points. Realizing her team needed better defense, veteran coach Becky Hammon pulled all the stops in the second half. Hammon noted after the game, “I was seeing them score too much against our man (defense).” So she switched to zone defense.

And by the fourth quarter, the Aces were reaping the results. The final quarter was fully in favor of Las Vegas, having an eight-point difference. This was all thanks to the surprising zone defense A’ja Wilson & Co. pulled off. While the four-time MVP believes their defense should improve, she also praised what her team has done so far:

“I think we just started to string defensive stops together. Even if it was just like, okay, a good bucket here or there, I think our zone really kind of helped us a lot. We were able to kind of play on the string. And I think that kind of gave us the momentum to then play out of it because I think everybody knows we’re going to play out of our defense, and I think the zone allowed us to do that.”

However, she is ready to commit to further defensive changes in her team. Wilson continued in the same press conference, “We’ll go back and tweak some things on the defensive end, but I was definitely pleased with our zone, considering we haven’t had a lot of practice time to really be in it.” It is this defense that the Aces need to tighten against the Mercury. They are a skilled offensive team led by the trio of Alyssa Thomas, Satou Sabally, and Kahleah Copper.

The same trio was on display during the first game vs Las Vegas. Thomas scored a double-double, scoring 15 points and 10 rebounds. Sabally had 19 points on 6 of 12 shooting. Copper led the bunch, dropping 21 points on 7 of 12 shooting. If it hadn’t been for Wilson’s MVP-level performance, Las Vegas would have been stifled with this offense.

Wilson had a 20-10 double-double, scoring 21 points with 10 rebounds. She got support from Jewell Loyd (18 points) and Dana Evans (21 points) on the offensive end. It was a WNBA finals first for Evans, who claims the support of coach Hammon helped her through it.

A’ja Wilson’s teammate became the engine for the first game win in the WNBA finals

Las Vegas started the season leaning heavily on A’ja Wilson’s shoulders. While the MVP-caliber forward delivered night after night, the Aces’ dependence on her often exposed the lack of support from others. But as the postseason unfolded, that narrative began to shift. Jackie Young and NaLyssa Smith had already proven they could share the load in earlier rounds. In Game 1 of the WNBA Finals, it was Dana Evans and Jewell Loyd who took center stage.

Coming off the bench, Evans provided the exact spark coach Becky Hammon had demanded. She poured in 21 points on 5-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc, while adding four steals, three assists, and not a single turnover. She made WNBA history by becoming the first player in WNBA Finals history to hit five 3-pointers and record four steals in a single game.

“I’ve said multiple times that Dana’s our battery,” A’ja Wilson said. “She makes us play at a different pace.” Evans herself summed up her mindset perfectly: “She (Hammon) basically told me that she wanted me to be aggressive. She wanted me to get in the paint, make good rim reads. Whether that’s me getting layups or getting people open shots. Just being aggressive.”

That approach paid off handsomely, powering the Aces to a commanding start in the Finals. This also proves that this time, Las Vegas has more than one engine driving the team forward.