The Las Vegas Aces have lost their lead

Of all the reasons to take a time out, of all the potential emergency stops in the name of rest, clarification, or discussion, Becky Hammon has one that she particularly hates. This isn't the kind of break she's needed very often in her three seasons as coach of the reigning champion Las Vegas Aces. But it was one she needed Tuesday in the WNBA semifinals against the New York Liberty.

That would be a time out, simply because she is so frustrated with her players that she has no other choice.

Midway through the second quarter, Hammon called for time after watching the Aces allow an easy layup, commit a turnover and then allow another layup — a jumble of mistakes that bleed into one another. She joined her group. But it didn't change their course: The next three baskets they allowed were all more layups. And it was just one of dozens of similarly frustrating sequences throughout the evening. The Aces lost to the Liberty 88-84 and fell 0-2 in the series. A hectic comeback attempt failed. That sent their season into a tailspin: No WNBA team has ever come back from such a deficit in a best-of-five. There was also a scathing assessment of her performance by Hammon.

“We just can’t have these lulls,” Hammon said. “I can’t say enough timeouts.”

She continued.

“I also don’t want to take time off because I’m angry at my own team” – she made the next word a production all her own, tense and stressed and filled with an intense, palpable disgust – “lAyups.”

She wasn't wrong to treat the concept with such disdain. In fact, Las Vegas had a big problem allowing layups to New York on Tuesday. The Liberty scored 44 points in the game, the Aces 24. And that was just one of their self-inflicted wounds. They also missed seven free throws. In the first half alone they gave up 20 points from turnovers. (While they did a much better job of protecting the ball in the second half, by that point the damage had already been done.) There was no one to be frustrated with but each other.

“Let me be mad at the referees. Let me be mad at the New York Liberty. I don't want to be angry usHammon said. “And that’s exactly what it was. Tonight it was Aces vs. Aces. We beat ourselves.”

With all of the Aces' self-imposed problems in Game 2, there was of course the question of facing a squad as strong and talented as the Liberty. The No. 1 seed played some of its most successful basketball games of the year in this series. New York guard Sabrina Ionescu is on a great run. (She scored 24 points with nine rebounds and five assists on Tuesday.) She's complemented by former MVP greats Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones, as well as a remarkably strong bench that offers the ability to switch up and present different looks. It shouldn't be difficult for anyone to beat New York right now. Things are looking next to impossible for Las Vegas.

It's still a crazy few months for the Aces. Last season, they became the first WNBA team in 20 years to repeat as champions. This meant that Las Vegas was considered a strong favorite in two consecutive games. For this year, it has returned its entire core while also making some modest improvements to its bench. There was no reason to doubt the chances of continued dominance. But the season was more of a grind. The Aces stumbled over a No. 4 seed. While MVP forward A'ja Wilson played some of the most impressive basketball of her career this season, it might feel like she did so out of sheer necessity while her teammates struggled to hold together around her. Every aspect of their game seemed disjointed. Hammon doesn't seem to have much trust in the bench other than veteran Tiffany Hayes. Despite all the obvious talent in this squad, there is now lingering, stubborn frustration.

On Tuesday, Hammon was candid: Even though the personnel remained largely the same, this group always seemed very different from last year in both play and temperament.

“The feeling was different than when I jumped,” Hammon said. “That’s why it’s difficult to score three goals. Let's face it – the whole league has been pissed off for the last eight months, and my players are in commercials and this and that, they're fucking celebrities, and you get distracted. That's why it's hard. Because human nature is distracting.”

The players in the room didn't say much to dispute this damning characterization. They said they believed they could all individually move that lead into Game 3 on Friday.

“If you don’t understand what Friday is about, we can’t say anything,” Alysha Clark said. “If you just get into it, our veteran presence, understand what it's about, then it's either we win and continue the series, or we don't.” And that alone is enough to find your own advantage. “