LAS VEGAS (AP) 鈥� A return home helped Las Vegas stave off elimination by New York and look like the team that has won consecutive WNBA championships, while Connecticut couldn't stop Minnesota and take advantage of their homecourt.
Both the Aces and Sun now will try to avoid seeing their seasons end on Sunday when they host Game 4 of their semifinal series.
on Friday night in Game 3 of the best-of-five semifinal series. The Aces still trail 2-1. Connecticut got down early and never really was able to get close to Minnesota, . The Sun are also down 2-1.
The Liberty entered their matchup having gone 5-0 against Las Vegas this year, including 2-0 in the postseason. But like in last year's WNBA Finals when a short-handed Aces team won the title on New York's floor, the Liberty know eliminating the champions is not that simple.
鈥淲e have to keep our heads up because Game 4 is coming very, very quickly,鈥� Liberty star Breanna Stewart said. 鈥淏ut we need to learn quickly as well and be ready for the next game because it's not going to get any easier from here. This is the playoffs.鈥�
The Liberty can expect another hostile atmosphere, and the Aces fed off their crowd to help stay alive.
But, more importantly, Las Vegas turned up the defensive intensity, outscoring the Liberty 42-28 in the lane and holding Sabrina Ionescu 鈥� who entered the game averaging 24.5 points 鈥� to four points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Aces coach Becky Hammon credited Kelsey Plum for helping devise the game plan that helped limit Ionescu. But the Aces know the Liberty will make their own adjustments, and how Game 4 plays out could be considerably different than Game 3.
But, for the Aces' sake, at least there's another game to play.
鈥淭he minute you get comfortable, that's when you get exposed,鈥� Las Vegas point guard Chelsea Gray said. 鈥淲e executed this game, we executed for four quarters, and so we start all over again Sunday. We're still down 2-1. We haven't done anything.鈥�
Like Las Vegas, Connecticut will have the home crowd support, but needs to play better on the defensive end. The Sun allowed Minnesota to shoot 57% from the field and didn鈥檛 pose much of a challenge on the defensive end.
鈥淲e didn鈥檛 come to compete. It didn鈥檛 matter what we were in defensively,鈥� Sun forward Alyssa Thomas said. 鈥淲e got to look in the mirror and want it. If we鈥檙e not going to come out there and compete this is the result.鈥�
Connecticut has been to the Finals twice since Minnesota鈥檚 run, the last time coming in 2022. The Sun lost both times.
鈥淲e鈥檙e playing for an opportunity to play in the WNBA Finals,鈥� Connecticut coach Stephanie White said. 鈥淥ur back is against the wall and we know that we have to be better.鈥�
The Lynx know closing out the Sun on the road won't be easy.
鈥淥bviously it鈥檚 a hard thing to do. And we have to be a lot better in the areas that we really need to play against,鈥� Minnesota coach Cheryl Reeve said of finishing off the series on Sunday.
The Lynx will try and reach the WNBA Finals for the first time since 2017. That year the team won the fourth of its championships in a seven-year span.
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Doug Feinberg contributed to this story from Uncasville, Connecticut.
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AP WNBA:
Mark Anderson And Doug Feinberg, The Associated Press
