The Las Vegas Aces’ quest to successfully defend their title is not over, as they seek to win a fourth championship in a five-year span. However, they now find themselves in a massive do-or-die situation in their semifinal series.
With their semifinal series shifting to Las Vegas for Game Three, the Aces are on the brink of elimination, as they are down 2-0 against the Golden State Valkyries.
This is the eight consecutive year that the Aces are playing in the semifinals, so they are more than used to playing at this stage of the postseason. But, something that they have not been used to doing a lot? Losing to the Valkyries.
Before this first-ever playoff series meeting between the two franchises, the Aces owned a head-to-head record of 6-1 in all-time meetings over these last two seasons (since the Valkyries entered the league in 2025), with the Aces winning the last six games. Some of their prior meetings, especially from last season, carried noteworthy significance.
When the Valkyries won the first-ever meeting on June 7, 2025, it was a nationally televised game, and it was the franchise’s very first big win over one of the league’s top teams. When the Aces beat them a month later on July 12, the final score was 104-102, and it is still the only regular-season game that the Valkyries have scored at least 100 points. And then, the Aces’ victories over the Valkyries on August 3 and August 6 were in the immediate aftermath of the Aces suffering a massive 53-point home defeat on August 2 at the hands of the Minnesota Lynx; those two bounce-back defeats of the Valkyries ignited a hot streak for the Aces, as they won 16 consecutive games to end the regular season and carried that momentum all the way to another championship.
Las Vegas also carried that success over Golden State into 2026. The Aces were the only team that the Valkyries failed to beat in the regular season this year, finishing with a 3-0 record against the second-year franchise.
Golden State’s struggles against Las Vegas over these two seasons can be attributed to multiple things, including Las Vegas’ size advantage, and Golden State’s lack of a consistent go-to interior scoring option to match the scoring prowess of A’ja Wilson.
This season, the Aces averaged 89.0 PPG against the Valkyries, which was the most against the Valkyries, and shot 42.1 percent from three-point range, also the highest three-point percentage against the Valkyries. On the other side, the Valkyries averaged 77.7 PPG against the Aces, the least amount of points the Aces allowed any team, and shot only 32 percent from three-point range against them.
Across the three meetings this regular season: Wilson averaged 25.0 PPG, 12.7 rebounds per game (RPG), 3.3 assists per game (APG) and 2.0 blocks per game (BPG). Jackie Young averaged 23.7 PPG, 6.3 APG and 5.0 RPG, while shooting 60.9 percent from three-point land. Chelsea Gray additionally averaged 10.7 PPG, 7.0 APG and 3.3 RPG.
For Golden State, Gabby Williams and Janelle Salaün were the only players on the team to average double-digit points against the Aces in 2026, with 19.0 PPG for Williams, and 10.7 PPG for Salaün. Meanwhile, the Aces had four players do that against the Valkyries this season: Wilson, Young, Gray and NaLyssa Smith.
Against the Aces, Williams did shoot 41.2 percent from three-point range against them in the regular season. Despite her team getting swept in the regular-season series, Williams has had big performances in both games of this semifinal series.
In Game One, Williams tallied 25 points, 11 rebounds and five assists to lead Golden State to a 71-60 victory, while Las Vegas’ trio of Wilson, Young and Gray struggled. The three Aces stars each shot under 40 percent from the field, combining to go 17-of-50 from the field. Las Vegas also only had seven bench points, while Golden State’s league-leading bench unit scored 27 points.
In Game Two, Williams scored 20 points, but she also got some scoring help from Tiffany Hayes, who came off the bench to lead the Valkyries with 21 points, and Kayla Thornton, who had 16 points. Meanwhile, Wilson and Gray shot the ball significantly better and helped keep the Aces alive in the game; Wilson scored 24 points on nine-of-16 shooting from the field, and Gray scored 19 points on seven-of-15 shooting from the field. But, despite Young scoring 14 points, she was only two-of-seven from the field.
Even though the Aces lost 83-81 in Game Two, they came close to successfully pulling off a comeback victory from 17 points down in the third quarter. The massive push they made in the second half to nearly get the victory should be a positive sign that they can still trouble the Valkyries, and even find a way past them.
In this series, it did not help the Aces that Jewell Loyd left Game One early due to a leg injury. Her absence was another massive road bump for the Aces, as they have struggled with injuries to key rotation players over the last number of weeks. Loyd had been starting in place of Stephanie Talbot, who missed back-to-back games of the Aces’ postseason (Game Three against the Indiana Fever in the opening round, Game One against the Valkyries) due to a leg injury of her own.
Loyd sat out Game Two with her injury. But, Talbot was able to return for this past Wednesday’s game, along with Dana Evans, whose knee injury had kept her from playing this postseason. Both Talbot and Evans provided the depth and quality minutes that the Aces needed.
Most notably, Las Vegas is without Smith for this postseason run. Smith averaged 11.7 PPG and 6.0 RPG against the Valkyries this season but suffered a season-ending knee injury right before the FIBA World Cup break. Smith served as another challenging interior presence that Golden State had to deal with, because of her size and rebounding ability. So, the Aces will need production from other frontcourt players, such as Brianna Turner, Cheyenne Parker-Tyus and Kalani Brown, to help out Wilson.
In Game Two, Las Vegas did utilize Brown more, as she played just under 24 minutes and finished with nine points and eight rebounds. Brown, who stands at 6’7” and is the tallest player in the series, provided a spark for the team and helped put pressure on the Valkyries’ frontcourt and defense.
To come back and win the series, the Aces need to continue shooting the ball well. Young, who has struggled shooting in this series (a combined six-for-22 from the field in Games One and Two), has to score more efficiently.
The Aces also have to look to get more bench production to take the load off of the starting unit, find success attacking inside, force the Valkyries to take tougher shots, and take advantage of any scoring slumps the Valkyries may have. These factors all showed up more often in Game Two than in Game One, which allowed the Aces to have a chance at the end to win Game Two.
This is only Las Vegas’ second playoff series under Becky Hammon in which the team did not have home-court advantage. The other playoff series was the 2024 semifinal matchup against the New York Liberty, which the Aces lost 3-1. This time, Las Vegas hopes to have a different outcome.
The Valkyries are standing in the Aces’ way of adding more championship success to their dynastic run. But, the Aces are standing in the Valkyries’ way of reaching the summit of the mountain, where the Aces have been many times before.
Golden State is riding a wave of confidence, especially after getting the first playoff series victory in franchise history. Valkyries owner Joe Lacob challenged the franchise to win a title within the first five years of existence; the Valkyries are in just their second year in the league, and they are now one win away from reaching the Finals. After seeing the Valkyries end the streak of consecutive losses to the Aces with their Game One victory, Lacob called Williams “the best player in the world.” Wilson, who just earned her fifth WNBA MVP, is not ready to give up her status as the reigning champion, or her crown as the best in the league.
Tonight, Las Vegas’ season could be over. But, the Aces are champions for a reason, and are more than capable of becoming the first team in league history to successfully overcome a 2-0 series deficit. With the core group of Wilson, Gray and Young leading the way, the Aces will not go down easily and will continue to challenge a rising Valkyries team to see who earns a spot in the Finals.
Stats as of October 8. Unless otherwise noted, stats courtesy of WNBA.com.
