Becky Hammon pointed to process, consistency, and building the right timing as the Las Vegas Aces snapped a Dallas dominance stretch with a 99-84 win over the Wings, moving them toward a defensive edge ahead of the Commissioner’s Cup Championship against the N
The Las Vegas Aces didn’t just win on the scoreboard — they finally broke through against Dallas.
Becky Hammon’s group took down the Wings 99-84. ending a run in which Dallas had been the measuring stick all season. The Mavericks beat the Aces 95-87 in May, then followed that with a 96-66 blowout earlier this month. Coming into the night. Las Vegas also had its own sting from the week before: an 87-76 loss to the New York Liberty earlier this week. the kind of result that can make a defensive turnaround feel urgent.
After the 99-84 win, Hammon framed what the Aces are doing as work that still isn’t finished. “I’m a big process oriented people, process oriented coach and, you know, we’re still in process,” she said post-game.
She kept circling back to the same idea: stretches aren’t the point. Consistency is.
Hammon said she wants the Aces to be great for the full 40 minutes, not just at moments. She also stressed that the team doesn’t want to start peaking too early, a delicate balance when the stakes are already stacking up.
And while the win showed how far they’ve come, Hammon wouldn’t pretend the beginning was anything close to smooth.
“Quite frankly, we started out pretty bad. Now we’ve strung a couple games throughout the New York game, but a couple games before that where we’ve strung some good defensive games together and we want to continue to kind of stack those kind of games,” Hammon said.
The defensive numbers mirror her message. The Aces ranked near the bottom of the league in defensive rating early in the year. and they gave up at least 95 points in all three of their losses. That has started to change. and the recent run — capped by the 99-84 win — is the clearest sign yet that the climb Hammon has been chasing is moving in the right direction.
The timing also matters, because nothing about this moment is waiting around. Las Vegas is due to face the New York Liberty in the Commissioner’s Cup Championship on June 30 in Brooklyn. It will be a rematch with the same opponent that handed the Aces their recent 87-76 loss.
For Hammon, tightening up on defense now isn’t just improvement. It’s the kind of shift that gives the Aces a real shot at walking away with the in-season trophy.
Las Vegas Aces Becky Hammon Wings Dallas New York Liberty Commissioner's Cup Championship WNBA defensive rating June 30 Brooklyn