When Liz Cambage leaped off two feet and stomped in anger after a whistle didn’t go her way, LaToya Sanders jogged passively to the other side of the court. When the Las Vegas Aces pounded the ball inside, the Washington Mystics countered with a Kristi Toliver three. In Game 1 of their semifinals matchup, Aces coach Bill Laimbeer deployed a full lineup of 12. Washington’s Mike Thibault stuck with a tight eight.
Mystics vs. Aces is the series the WNBA deserves
We’re watching a clash of contrasting styles from the two most talented teams in the WNBA
The Aces and Mystics are 40 minutes into a gritty series most expected to be the WNBA finals. It’s just the semifinals, but the league’s best team that hasn’t lost in nearly a month against the league’s most talked about team of superstars is living up to the bill. On Tuesday night, a neck-and-neck game finished with a controversial non-call that could’ve sent Kelsey Plum to the free-throw line. Instead the Mystics walked off with a 97-95 Game 1 victory.
There’s something about these teams that makes every moment feel important. Maybe that’s a product of each regular-season matchup getting sabotaged for a variety of bizarre reasons, from flights delays to earthquakes to broken game clocks. But this sort of game intensity only happens because two teams earnestly believe their style of play is the right way. The Mystics produced the best offense in WNBA history, and the Aces finished with their second-best record in franchise history functioning in completely different ways.
It’s a battle of fire and ice.
“They’re a championship-contending team just as we are,” Mystics guard Natasha Cloud said before Game 2. “It’s an exciting series to see teams who are super competitive, and love their teammates. You can tell the Aces get along really well like we do. They have that chemistry as well.”
The stars were engaged, shit was talked, and every possession mattered
On Tuesday, both teams stuck with what brought them to the semifinals. The Aces fed their bigs, with Wilson scoring 23 points on 15 shots, and Cambage put up 19 points on 15 shots. The Mystics swung the ball around the perimeter, with Elena Delle Donne scoring 24 and Emma Meeseman scoring 27. Washington drained 11 threes, while Vegas only attempted 13.
For spurts, each team looked to have built the superior core. Las Vegas took a seven-point lead on 62 percent shooting into the half. The Mystics fired back and made 6-of-10 second half threes to claw back and take Game 1.
This series is a culmination of everything that makes this place in WNBA history so special. Back-to-the-basket bigs aren’t extinct, but they’re being challenged. Run-and-gun undersized forwards have advantages — at least until they see Cambage on the block. And just as the league is growing in viewership, its athletes are getting spicier and taking the moment. That was felt by fans, players, and everyone who watched.
Plum, college basketball’s all-time leading scorer at Washington, is emerging as a star after a slow start to her career that featured a move to the bench last month. Tired of ESPN reporter LaChina Robinson calling her game decisions “decent,” Plum yelled over “How’s that LaChina” after draining a three-point shot over Toliver.
Sometimes playing with fire brings that same energy out of even the unexpected. LaToya Sanders and Ariel Atkins, two Mystics players known to stay cool even in the most heated moments, went off. Sanders fist-pumped and yelled after finishing an and-one over the outstretched arms of 6’8 Cambage. Atkins let the refs hear about missed foul calls.
“You don’t ever see fire out of ‘A’, but man, those refs were doing her dirty early,” Cloud said. “She never says anything to the refs, so for ‘A’ to say something to you as a ref, you should know, you done messed up.”
The Mystics kept their usual cool in the final moments of the game though, and it proved the difference.
After Delle Donne air-balled what could’ve been the game-sealing shot, Cambage rebounded the ball and shipped an outlet pass to Plum. Laimbeer, standing next to the referee, “yelled five times” for a timeout call — “she even looked at me” — but it wasn’t granted. Plum drove the length of the court, stopped short, and attempted to draw contact with Delle Donne, but the 6’5 MVP held her hands straight up. Controversially, no whistle was blown.
“I do not understand why [the timeout wasn’t called]” Laimbeer said after the game. “I think the league should make a little bit of an investigation to find out why that timeout was not called.”
Tuesday night was everything fans wanted out of an injury-plagued season that knocked most of the game’s recognizable faces off the floor. The stars were engaged, shit was talked, and every possession mattered. That steam is sure to kick over into Game 2.
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