A’ja Wilson shines as the Las Vegas Aces beat the Atlanta Dream

A’ja Wilson scored 33 points and pulled down 18 rebounds as Las Vegas Aces beat the Atlanta Dream 84-70 Friday night. With the victory, the Aces have won nine out of their last ten games. Jackie Young added 19 points, 4 rebounds and 6 assists. Kelsey Plum chipped in with 15 points and seven assists. Wilson says she does not get wrapped up in stats. She’s concerned about keeping the main thing the main thing: winning.

“I’m on to the next thing immediately,” she said. “I feel like that’s how you know you’re doing pretty well because you have random stats like that. I train so hard to prep for these moments, so I would hope that I’d be playing the way that I need to play for my teammates.”

It was a tall task for the Dream to slow down  one of the best players in the world, but weren’t ready to shrink in the spotlight.

“Playing against A’ja is always fun,” says Atlanta Dream center Cheyenne Parker-Tyus.  “It’s just like a competitive edge. She’s a great player, and it’s hard to stop her. So I’m  just trying to go back at her, make her play defense as well.”

Parker-Tyus scored 17 points off the bench. Maya Caldwell added 13 points and Tina Charles had 12 points and 12 rebounds.

A bright spot for the Dream was scoring 42 points in the paint. It was a point of emphasis heading into Friday’s matchup.

Effort is a key to success

“You get points in the paint when you’re running in transition,” Atlanta Dream Head Coach Tanisha Wright said. “And I think that’s something that we’re that has been an emphasis, emphasis for us for the last month, right? Running in transition. And so we’re getting some easy points. I thought CP did a great job of not settling and getting points in the paint.”

Even though the Dream is eight games under .500, Wright said she enjoys the fight she’s seeing from her squad. While Atlanta is not the same team without Rhyne Howard, the Dream is playing with incredible effort right now.

“We have opportunities down the stretch to focus and execute offensively and defensively, in terms of our schemes,” Wright explained. “Not, let fatigue take over at times. That’s mainly it. We have to focus down the stretch. But again, I love the fight that this team is getting. We understand that we’re without some big guns. That’s just part of it. We have to fight and play hard and have the same effort. Once we get back from break and we do have a full roster, that’ll help us.”

What’s Next

All eleven home games, including the matchup against the Indiana Fever at State Farm Arena were sold out.

Atlanta will travel to Seattle this Sunday before traveling to Minnesota to play their final game before the Olympic break. Their next home game will be in College Park against the Seattle Storm on August 16th.

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