Aces ignoring sweep talk ahead of Game 3 vs. Liberty

NEW YORK — The Aces are one win away from history. One win away from irrefutably etching their name among the greatest teams in the WNBA.

Win Game 3 of the WNBA Finals and the Aces can put an exclamation mark on one of the greatest seasons and playoff runs the league has ever seen. And honestly, they don’t seem to care.

“I think it would be cool. But at the same time, we just need to get a win,” two-time MVP A’ja Wilson said. “That’s pretty much it. Sweep, no sweep, it doesn’t really matter.”

The top-seeded Aces are one win away from sweeping the No. 2 New York Liberty, which coach Becky Hammon’s team can accomplish by winning Game 3 at noon Sunday at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. A win will also make the Aces the first team to repeat as WNBA champions since Lisa Leslie and the Los Angeles Sparks won consecutive titles in 2001 and 2002.

“If it happens to be a sweep, it happens to be a sweep,” Hammon said. “But winning a championship is the ultimate goal. I’d love to get it done in three. If it doesn’t happen in 3, hopefully four and then on down the line.

“However many it takes.”

There have been 17 best-of-five series in WNBA postseason history where one team has gone up 2-0. All 17 teams which had the 2-0 advantage have won the series, with 13 sweeping and only one being pushed to five games.

Those numbers give the Aces an even better edge in the Finals, where seven of eight teams to lead 2-0 have gone on to sweep, according to ESPN stats and information. The only series which wasn’t a sweep was the Aces’ Finals series against the Connecticut Sun in 2022.

The Aces led 2-0 but lost Game 3 in Uncasville, Connecticut, 105-76 before eventually closing the series out in Game 4.

Along with avoiding conversations about a sweep, the Aces players have generally avoided any larger discussions about legacy. For example, All-Star guard Kelsey Plum won’t discuss where the Aces belong in the lore of the WNBA until the series is over.

“Let’s talk about it after,” she said.

Wilson and Hammon acknowledged winning consecutive titles like the Houston Comets and the Sparks — teams the Aces coach played against during her career — will be special, perhaps more so than potentially sweeping the Liberty.

However, Hammon mentioned that just because teams didn’t repeat doesn’t mean they don’t deserve respect. Maya Moore’s Minnesota Lynx, for example, and some of Diana Taurasi’s Phoenix Mercury teams were all-time greats even if they never won consecutive titles.

Reigning Sixth Player of the Year Alysha Clark knows how difficult it can be to repeat. She had a chance to win back-to-back championships with the Seattle Storm in 2019, but injuries cut down their title hopes before the season began.

Clark and Hammon said it’s proof of how difficult it is to repeat. Health, circumstances, personnel and other factors can prevent a group from winning consecutive championships, so the Aces are just focusing on trying to win one more game.

“The gap in between something like this has been so long,” Clark said. “It should be explanation enough of how hard it actually is and how special it is.”

Contact reporter Andy Yamashita at ayamashita@reviewjournal.com. Follow @ANYamashita on X.