WNBA playoffs: Aces avoid sweep vs. Liberty with Game 3 blowout

The Las Vegas Aces aren’t going down that easily.

After becoming the first defending WNBA champion to fall behind 2-0 in a series, the host Aces responded with a 95-81 Game 3 win over the New York Liberty. Game 4 is scheduled for Sunday in Vegas at 3 p.m. ET.

All it took was a 17-2 run to end the third quarter and energize a sold-out Michelob Ultra Arena crowd. After a close first half, in which neither team built a lead of more than four points, the Aces clamped down on defense for 10 minutes. By the end of the frame, the Liberty had totaled six points and committed five turnovers.

It was the lowest-scoring quarter for an opponent in Aces playoff history. New York had its starters out of the game midway through the fourth quarter, but the Aces’ stars stayed in for a bit longer. They exited up 90-68, with the message sent.

Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum led the way on offense for the Aces, with a combined 44 points, six assists and only two turnovers, while A’ja Wilson kept looking like the MVP with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

After getting gashed in Games 1 and 2, Vegas went out of its way to stop Sabrina Ionescu from doing what she wanted. Young and Plum were the primary defenders, but they were given all the help they needed.

Ionescu finished the game with four points on 1-of-7 shooting with five rebounds, five assists and five turnovers.

It was the kind of performance that makes you remember how the Aces steamrolled the WNBA, and the Liberty, for the past two seasons. It was a defense that looks like one of the best in the WNBA and a well-balanced offensive attack — both led by the WNBA’s best player in Wilson — and a raucous crowd.

That show of force reframes the rest of this series. The Liberty looked like the better team in Game 1, but Game 2 got pretty uncomfortable toward the end. The Aces smelled blood and came up just short, then acted on it again in the second half Friday.

They still need two more wins against a New York team that hasn’t lost three straight games all season, but the version of the Aces we saw in Game 3 definitely looks capable of it.