When the Las Vegas Aces learned they’d be facing the Indiana Fever for a spot in the Finals, A’ja Wilson immediately understood the challenge ahead. She pointed to Kelsey Mitchell as the biggest concern, acknowledging the guard’s breakout season and the difficulty of slowing her down. “Our biggest one is just going to be containing the basketball without fouling. Kelsey Mitchell’s having one heck of a year… it’s going to have to take all of us on the defensive end,” Wilson explained. As it turned out, her assessment couldn’t have been more accurate.

A’ja finished the Semifinal Game 1 with just 16 points on 6‑of‑22 shooting in a night where she was crowned MVP by her rumored boyfriend, Bam Adebayo. Was that the reason behind her struggles? Well, Noa Dalzell of WNBA Today on CLNS was quick to dismiss it, saying, “She’s a professional and this is an important game, so I wouldn’t really attribute it necessarily to the distractions around MVP. I think she has a lot of experience now, winning MVP awards.”

The big problem for the Aces was their defense, not A’ja, as Dalzell pointed out. “I think the biggest thing that stuck out to me was their defense was just bad. Like, it was a tough watch. I felt like they could have played harder. I felt like they were slow on rotations. Their one-on-one defense wasn’t the best. And this is an Aces team that struggled defensively for a lot of the season.”

The Aces really needed to step up on defense, but it just didn’t happen. After their series against the Seattle Storm, Hammon had pointed out that 73 was their magic number. “In the defensive end, 73 is our magic number. We are 11‑1… now 12‑1 when we hold teams to 73 or fewer.” The Fever blew past that mark with nine minutes left in Game 1, exposing just how shaky the Aces’ defense was, and even A’ja Wilson couldn’t turn things around.

The Aces had the league’s eighth-best defensive rating at 101.9, giving up 80.7 points per game, and ranked third-worst in defensive rebounding percentage at just 68.7 during the regular season. All of that showed up again in Game 1 of the semifinals. The Fever took full advantage, dominating the paint (50–38), beating them on fast breaks, getting to the line more often (16–10), and edging out second-chance points (10–9), all while shooting a sharp 50% from the field.

Coming back to the MVP distraction. No, A’ja wasn’t distracted, but it had more to do with who she was up against: Aliyah Boston. Wilson missed 14 shots around the basket, including four from inside the restricted area. Most of those looks weren’t easy, though. Boston guarded her for 35 possessions and held her to just a 16.7% effective field goal percentage, per Swish Appeal’s Josh Felton.

If things don’t turn around fast, the Fever could very well run away with this series and punch their ticket to the Finals against all odds. Still, if there’s one thing Becky Hammon is certain about, it’s that A’ja won’t have another off-night like that.

Becky Hammon issues A’ja Wilson a warning to the Fever

Losing a game in which you were the favorite is one thing, but losing all 4 quarters and subsequently losing the game by 16 points is something else entirely. Yes, A’ja was disappointed in Game 1 against the Fever, which led to this result, but we are not accustomed to watching the Aces center drop consecutive stinkers, and neither is Becky Hammon.

“I’ll say this, she doesn’t normally lay two stinkers in a row,” Hammon said. “She’s somebody who bounces back [and] makes the adjustments, but it’s on the rest of us to kind of give her support on a night maybe when it’s not going in.”

As Becky Hammon pointed out, it’s also on the supporting cast to step up their game, and outside of Jackie Young and Dana Evans, that just didn’t happen in Game 1. The real test will be on the defensive end, because that’s where this series will ultimately be decided. So, who takes Game 2? Noa Dalzell is rolling with the Aces, and so are we, as we fully expect A’ja to bounce back and wreak havoc. What about you?