If the Las Vegas Aces are going to achieve the vaunted three-peat, they were going to have to defeat the New York Liberty in Game 2 on Tuesday night.
Yes, their epic 2022 series against the Seattle Storm was full of whiplash high-and-lows, and they trailed 1-0 in that series as well. Vegas was the higher seed, though. And though their short-handed closeout win in the Barclays Center in 2023 was the stuff of pure legend, they did lead the series 2-1.
Game 2 against the revamped New York Liberty — the undisputed best team in the WNBA in 2024 — in their building likely stood as the single greatest obstacle of the Becky Hammon era.