Aces to play first home game Friday in nearly 2 years
It’s been 605 days since the Aces last played at Michelob Ultra Arena. On Friday, they’ll finally be home.
Center Liz Cambage, for one, is excited.
“Vegas goes hard. Our Vegas fans are different,” she said. “The house is lit from pregame to postgame. We’ve got the best DJ in the league. We’ve got the best intro. We’ve got the best fans. We’ve got the best crowds.”
The Aces will begin their 16-game home slate against the Los Angeles Sparks and will play four of their next five games within the friendly confines of Mandalay Bay. They last played here on Sept. 24, 2019, losing 94-90 to the eventual WNBA champion Washington Mystics in Game 4 of the WNBA semifinals.
That game was played before a rowdy crowd of 5,465. But this one Friday will feature no more than 2,000 fans, the limit as announced last week by owner Mark Davis, who recently revealed that as a reward for their loyalty during the coronavirus pandemic season ticket-holders are going to receive full refunds this season.
Given the limited size, Las Vegas coach Bill Laimbeer said he isn’t expecting the home crowd to play much of a role this season.
“It’s a start. … We’re used to playing on neutral sites. It’s another game, and it’s another game we want to win,” said Laimbeer, explaining that he hardly noticed the fans in Seattle who attended the team’s first two games against the Storm.
“You’re not going to have a normal home-court advantage,” he added. “It’s almost like playing at a neutral site at times. … Overall, it’s generic. Hopefully we’re going to be a little bit louder than Seattle was. But four of five at home, I don’t think it really matters where we play the game right now. … That’s how we’re going to approach it.”
For what it’s the worth, the Aces have been markedly better at Michelob Ultra Arena than they’ve been on the road since the franchise arrived in Las Vegas in 2017. They were 8-9 at home in 2018 compared to 6-10 on the road. Their 13-4 home mark in 2019 was the fourth best in the WNBA. They finished 8-9 on the road.
It won’t be quite the same atmosphere this year. But hey, at least it’s not a bubble.
“Hopefully our fans are loud and we can hear them,” Laimbeer said.
Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.