LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas Aces guard Dana Evans could barely speak on the eve of the 2025 WNBA Finals. She isn’t sure exactly how she lost it, but her was voice was beyond scratchy. The 5-foot-6 guard was barely audible.
A day later — after trying everything to help it heal — she let her play do the talking.
Evans scored 21 points in 26 minutes off Las Vegas’ bench to fuel the Aces to a 89-86 second-half comeback against the Phoenix Mercury for a 1-0 series lead. Fellow reserve guard Jewell Loyd added 18 points to help Las Vegas claw back from a nine-point deficit midway through the third quarter.
Heading into the opener of the seven-game series, Aces coach Becky Hammon predicted their depth could be a potential separator between the opponents. “I think we have the best overall bench that we’ve had since I’ve been here,” she said after getting a jump in Las Vegas’ quest for a third title in four years.
It would be hard to disagree with her assessment, especially after Las Vegas’ three-point win in which the Aces’ bench outscored the Mercury reserves 41-16.
“That’s what makes us a difficult team,” Hammon said. “It’s because we do have that potential for somebody else to come up and get 20, not just (A’ja Wilson, Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray), but multiple options. They were timely today. Oh my goodness, our bench was huge.”
As a raucous home crowd welcomed the Aces back to this familiar stage, Hammon instructed Young and Gray to get Evans and Loyd going. Although her numbers dipped this season, Loyd is a proven scorer and just a year removed from averaging nearly 20 points per game. Meanwhile, Hammon calls Evans “Gears” because of how she changes the tempo for Las Vegas.
Wilson has a different moniker for the spark-plug guard.
“Dana’s our battery,” she said. “She makes us play at a different pace. I tell her we go as she goes.”
Of course, four-time WNBA MVP Wilson was essential too. Though Hammon said Wilson looked a little fatigued, the star forward chipped in with a 21-point, 10-rebound double-double. And in a game featuring little defense for three quarters, the experienced Aces stiffened in the fourth quarter, allowing just 15 points on 33.3 percent shooting. Las Vegas switched a 2-3, clogging gaps in the middle of the defense.
Even with the key adjustment and bench scoring burst, Phoenix had opportunities to pull away during the second half, including the waning seconds. Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas went to the free-throw line with 24.6 seconds remaining to shoot two that could have given Phoenix a one-point lead. But Thomas, a career 65.1 free-throw shooter, missed both. The Aces, unlike the Mercury, wouldn’t let their opportunity go to waste.
Thomas finished just shy of a triple-double with 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists. Kahleah Copper and Satou Sabally scored 21 and 19 points, respectively, for Phoenix. But Friday’s game was not about the starters.
Evans joined the Aces this past offseason after spending 3 1/2 seasons with the Chicago Sky. In 2021, she won a championship there — an experience Hammon saw as valuable as she sought to sign the then-26-year-year old last winter.
Her role is often simple: Play aggressive defense, and as one of the league’s faster players with the ball in her hands, get in the paint on offense. She said her defensive disruptiveness gets her going, but her 3-point shooting was also critical in the opener. She became the first player in WNBA Finals history to make five 3-pointers and record four steals in a game.
Game 2 will come quickly. On Sunday afternoon, the Aces meet the Mercury again. It will be on the Mercury’s bench to respond, and follow a playoff trend that has served them well so far. They’re 2-0 in Game 2s this postseason, after losing Game 1 in each round.
But even in the WNBA’s first-ever best-of-seven finals, opportunities remain finite.
Evans is glad her voice has (mostly) returned. Her performance helped her spirits, too. And Hammon is hoping that she can call her shot to the same degree of success ahead of Sunday’s sequel.
“I predict our bench will be better,” Hammon said.
“Please predict that,” Wilson added.
Hammon’s intuition was correct once. Can it be again?
(Photo of Dana Evans: Stephen Greathouse / NBAE via Getty Images)
Source link
