Walking into the first round against the Seattle Storm, the Las Vegas Aces are a clear favorite. And why wouldn’t they be? They have given their fans every reason to come forward and support them. A dominant 16-game win streak, that too in a hectic WNBA season, is a testament to their strategies. With the experienced Becky Hammon and A’ja Wilson at the helm, the Aces started as championship contenders. However, their shaky start led many to doubt them.

Through their first 28 games, the Aces dropped half, including a humbling 53-point blowout at the hands of the Minnesota Lynx. But like a true MVP, A’ja Wilson turned that setback into fuel. In the aftermath, she delivered a blunt message to her teammates: “If you weren’t embarrassed from yesterday, then don’t come into this gym. You’re not needed or wanted here.” The result? A fiery 16-game win streak that completely flipped their season.

Now, as the Aces charge into the postseason as the number two seed, Wilson has once again set the tone. Her latest rallying cry has not only galvanized her squad but also convinced NBC broadcasters to throw their support behind Las Vegas heading into Game 2 against the Storm. “A’ja, after the game, said that the win streak’s behind them,” said NBC reporter Natalie Esquire. The message from A’ja Wilson was short, but carried a lot of weight. The Aces’ marquee player was urging her fellow teammates not to let the 16-game win streak (17 if you count the first playoff game) get to their heads.

The statement becomes all the more stronger when looking at the way the Aces defeated the Storm. A 25-point win, with A’ja scoring 29 points and eight rebounds, is a statement in itself. But she still wants her team to improve, which Esquire notes is becoming visible in their defense. “One of the things that I thought was like really interesting was what A’ja Wilson said in her post-game interview. Now their defense has layers to it, right? And so, because it’s layered, like they’re much better defensively, and that’s what they were trying to get to, along with everything else they were doing to close out the postseason.”

The feelings shared by Esquire were echoed by Ros Gold-Onwude, present beside her. Gold-Onwude highlighted that both A’ja Wilson and Becky Hammon have moved past the regular-season achievements. They are now focusing on the nine games ahead of them. The message being that the previous winning streak of 16 games was in the regular season, the focus is now on winning the next 8 back-to-back.

As Ros Gold-Onwude puts it, “So A’ja Wilson and Becky Hammon both echoed postgame that it’s not the 17-game win streak that most excites them about. It’s nine games, the number nine, nine wins, and they’re one of nine wins [away] from the championship. I think that’s really important because in the playoffs, you’ve got to repackage the message.” Both NBC reporters believe this is the right message the two on-court and off-court leaders are sending to the Las Vegas locker room.

With the dominant push in the latter half, Las Vegas wiped out the performance they had in the start. As Wilson puts it, the team had the talents; they just lacked a catalyst.

A’ja Wilson is confident in her team’s playoff push

As the Las Vegas Aces step into the Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, they have the chance to do the impossible. If they secure a win against Seattle, they will not only move ahead to the second round, but they will also tie the record for the longest winning streak in the history of the WNBA. Currently, the 2001 Los Angeles Sparks, led by Lisa Leslie, hold this record with 18 consecutive wins.

While many WNBA fans will be shocked by this dominant run from the Aces, looking at their start, Wilson had faith from the very beginning. While sitting on the We Need to Talk podcast on September 15, the Aces player talked about the team morale going into the playoffs. She responded that the team was always confident in making it this far and further. “You know, the crazy thing is, I feel like our confidence has not changed since April. I feel like we’ve always had enough. It was just a matter of figuring out ‘the enough,'” she said.

And that X-factor came thanks to three linked shifts: A’ja Wilson raising her usage, defensive output, and reducing turnover efficiency. During the regular season win streak, Wilson’s numbers jumped. She was averaging about 26.1 points and about 12 rebounds during the hot stretch. Furthermore, after the ugly 53-point loss to Minnesota, Becky Hammon refocused the team on fundamentals and detail.

Since that adjustment, the Aces became a top-five defense and one of the best rebounding teams in the league. It both reduced opponent second-chance points and increased the Aces’ transition and early offense opportunities. Another adjustment was the utilization of six-time All-Star Jewell Loyd. She set the WNBA single-season scoring record two years ago with Seattle, but needed time to adjust in Las Vegas.

Becky Hammon stressed that the decision to change her role wasn’t about losing faith in the All-Star guard. Instead, Loyd chose to come off the bench, and the shift paid off. In her first 10 games as a reserve, she averaged 14.6 points in just 25 minutes. She was producing five more points per game despite playing five fewer minutes than she had as a starter.

As A’ja Wilson puts it best, “I think that is the happiest that I’ve ever seen this locker room. Yeah, we had our lows and we were in the trenches and we had a lot of questions, but our confidence was still great and uplifting to one another. We just had to figure out some things. So, I think now obviously winning helps a lot, but I think just now the way that we’re playing, we’re playing the Aces style of basketball that everyone’s used to and loves.” And when a team gets this comfortable playing while producing results, a championship looks well within grasp.