Aces defense shines against high-scoring Fever in Game 1 win

Coach Becky Hammon has said throughout the ups and downs of the regular season that the Las Vegas Aces are a different kind of problem to match up against when they “lock in” defensively.

In fact, the Aces were 15-1 when holding their opponents to 85 points or fewer, including their lone regular-season win over Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever.

Make that 16-1 as the Aces defeated the Fever 102-85 to open their best-of-three quarterfinal series in the WNBA playoffs on Sunday at Michelob Ultra Arena.

Game 2 of the quarterfinals is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in Indianapolis. The Aces can advance to the semifinals against either the Golden State Valkyries or Dallas Wings.

That 85 points was the most points Las Vegas has allowed during its current eight-game winning streak. Not a bad feat, considering Indiana averaged a league-leading 96 points per game, which set an WNBA record.

“You have to do it by committee,” Hammon said of her defense. “They obviously have really talented guards, so we’re just trying to work and make their looks as difficult as possible.

“You’re not going to take everything away, but we just want to make it somewhat contested and understand that they are going to even make some of those. They are tough shot takers, but we just wanted to make it as tough as possible.”

Another reason the defense has begun to flourish has been the Aces’ success in forcing turnovers. In Sunday’s win, Las Vegas turned 17 Indiana turnovers into 28 points.

The Aces have forced an average of more than 16 turnovers during their eight-game winning streak.

“When defenses are locked in and they’re committed to taking away certain things, you still play within the team and take what they give you,” Hammon said. “I thought in the half court our defense was pretty solid.

“They were able to get out and run on us a little bit, but for the most part we did a decent job at defending the 3-point line. That is a very talented team, so I thought overall we were really solid, especially in the second half to hold that team to just 38 points is a lot of hard work.”

Contact Donovan Hicks at dhicks@reviewjournal.com. Follow @HicksSports on X.