The Aces Look Damn Near Unstoppable Under Becky Hammon

At 9–1, the first-year coach has set the record for the best 10-game start to a WNBA coaching career. And she’s just getting started in Las Vegas.

Aces coach Becky Hammon has been candid with her players about what frustrates her. “I’m gonna yell at you if you don’t shoot it and you’re open,” she has said. “And I’m gonna yell at you and let you know about it if you shoot it and you’re not open.”

Thus far, that message has been received loud and clear. Through 10 games, Las Vegas sports the WNBA’s best offense. It’s made the most three-pointers, plays with the most pace and is first in points per game. Having picked up a league-leading ninth win on Tuesday night after defeating the Sun 89–81, the Aces passed the quarter mark of the 2022 season as the team to beat, with their dynamic starting five quickly becoming the league’s most dominant group.

Ellen Schmidt/Associated Press

Against Connecticut, it took until the second quarter for Las Vegas to look like the team that has blitzed countless opponents to open the 2022 campaign. But a 10–0 run midway through the second gave Las Vegas its first double-digit advantage. It would lead by eight points at halftime and never trail in the game’s final 20 minutes.

A’ja Wilson recorded a first-half double double, finishing with 24 points and 14 rebounds. Just as impressive was the play of Las Vegas’s backcourt, with Kelsey Plum scoring 13 of her eventual 18 points in the first half and Jackie Young adding 15 points in 18 first-half minutes.

Young finished the victory with 21 points, the latest in a string of stellar performances. Under Hammon, she is in the midst of a career-year, with her scoring average jumping from 12.2 per game in 2021 to 18.2 entering Tuesday.

“She’s a player that truly plays both ends of the floor at a really elite, high level,” Hammon said in May.

Stat-fillers line the Aces roster. Forwards Dearica Hamby and Wilson came into their matchup vs. the Sun tied for the league-lead in rebounds (10 per game). Guards Chelsea Gray and Plum both were in the top-five leaguewide in assists.

Plum, having won Sixth Woman of the Year, is back to being a nightly starter for the first time in three seasons. “F--- the bench,” she told The Athletic earlier this year. “I’m so sick of the bench. I’m a starter in this league and I know it; and I think everyone else does.” And with her on the court, alongside Wilson, Hamby, Gray and Young, Las Vegas’s starting five entered Tuesday with an eye-popping plus-24.3 net rating in 177 minutes, which is nearly double the amount of time played by the WNBA’s second most-used starting five.

Part of that usage stems from having a short bench, with no Aces reserve averaging more than 16 minutes per game. But at the same time, Hammon has also been able to manage her core’s workload, with only Plum and Young playing more than 30 minutes per game.

In the preseason, Hammon, who is in her first year as the team’s coach after agreeing to a reportedly league-high salary, spoke about wanting to change how the franchise would play. She talked about increased spacing, ball movement and pace. So far, considering Hammon has now set the record for the best 10-game start to a coaching career, it seems as if the team’s adjustments have worked wonders.

“Not very different as far as personnel but very different in terms of style of play,” Sun assistant coach Chris Koclanes said before Tuesday’s game.

Said Plum last week: “Becky makes it pretty simple for us. She simplifies it. There’s not a ton of rules. So offensively, move the ball, find the right person, make the right decision.”

Against the Sun, the Aces did that more often than not. Yet again, they amassed more assists than their opponent and took advantage of a multitude of transition opportunities, outscoring Connecticut 22–2 on fast-break points.

Courtesy of Las Vegas Aces/Ethan Miller

The Sun will get a chance at revenge vs. the Aces on Thursday night, but Las Vegas has made a clear statement after dropping all three matchups vs. Connecticut last season. Plus, in picking up Tuesday’s win, the Aces have now notched wins over each of the league’s top six playoff teams from ’21.

Before a win vs. the Sky on Sunday, Hammon admitted she didn’t want her team to be clicking on all cylinders just yet, warning that she’d rather it peak in the playoffs than in May. Such an assessment makes sense, but there’s little reason to suggest that Las Vegas is slowing down any time soon. And while Hammon might occasionally be frustrated at her players for passing up open shots, their affinity for taking—and making—them has exasperated opponents more often and put the rest of the league on notice.

“I think the most encouraging thing for me is just their ability to learn,” Hammon said after Tuesday’s win. “They respond when I challenge them. We’re still getting to know each other. They’re getting to know what makes me tick. They definitely probably already know what drives me crazy. But we’re just working on our identity. Really it doesn’t matter the opponent, we want to continue to be who we are and fortify who we are.”