Kelsey Plum propels the Aces of Mercury
The Las Vegas aces were well rested. The Phoenix Mercury had just won two emotional knockout victories.
And in a sea of stars, a bench player entered the semi-final spotlight.
Kelsey Plum continuously attacked the basket and scored 25 points as the second-seeded Aces claimed a 96-90 victory over the No.5 Mercury on Thursday night in Las Vegas. The Aces lead the best of five semifinal series 1-0.
“I wanna play, man. I wanna play, I wanna play another game now,” Plum said on ESPN’s post-game show. “I’m fair, I love basketball. I love basketball. I want to come in and be part of the offense, defense, transition, whatever. I keep my favorite player. J grew up watching Diana [Taurasi] so for me to be on this show, man, it’s so much fun. ”
It wasn’t just Plum who showed up in front of a crowd that understood Las Vegas Raiders players, Mark Davis, owner of Aces and Raiders, Utah Jazz Players (in town for training camp) and minority Jazz owner Dwyane Wade.
Riquna Williams was almost all of the Aces’ offense in the first quarter as Las Vegas needed to shed some rust. She scored 14 of Las Vegas’ 21 points during the period and finished with a high of 26 points, including four at 3 points.
Las Vegas took a 52-49 lead at halftime.
Diana Taurasi hampered in the second half
Diana Taurasi, who missed all three games against the Aces in the regular season, was shaken late in the third quarter after being caught and tripping over Dearica Hamby’s leg. In the fourth quarter, she seemed to be in pain after a 3-point attempt. She jumped onto the field for the next room, but was quickly replaced. She then came back and finished with 20 points, six assists and five rebounds.
Taurasi played 31 minutes after a 33-minute outing on Sunday in Mercury’s second-round overtime victory over the Seattle Storm.
As Taurasi struggled with injuries, the Mercury also lost momentum after securing two thrilling singles elimination wins in the first two rounds of the playoffs. As the Big 3 tried to save their legs, the bench struggled to keep pace with the resting Aces in the third quarter.
The Aces had a 12-4 streak to finish the third and take a 10-point lead in the final period. Plum scored 12 points in the third.
Chelsea Gray of the Aces posted a double-double with 17 points and 12 assists. A’ja Wilson added 15 points. Las Vegas shot 49.3% from court and 47.4% from depth.
The Big 3 Mercury of Taurasi (20), Brittney Griner (24) and Skylar Diggins-Smith (10) scored 54 of Phoenix’s 90 points. Brianna Turner added 12, and Kia Nurse had 13 as the five starters scored in double digits.
Phoenix shot 47.9% from the field.
Aces center Liz Cambage returned after playing less than 10 minutes on the bench in the regular season final. Cambage missed the last three weeks of the season after testing positive for COVID-19 despite his full vaccination.
Post fights between 6-foot-8 Cambage and 6-9 Griner had some brilliant flashes, but Cambage ran into trouble and his minutes were limited to 10.
Game 2 is Thursday at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2 in Las Vegas.