REPEAT: Short-handed Aces win second straight WNBA championship — PHOTOS

NEW YORK — No Chelsea Gray. No Kiah Stokes. On the road in front of a sold-out crowd at Barclays Center.

Despite the odds stacked against them, the Aces needed one stop to win the WNBA Finals, clinging to a one-point lead with 8.8 seconds remaining. Kelsey Plum played every second of the game. Jackie Young, A’ja Wilson and Alysha Clark weren’t far behind.

Yet the Aces still had enough legs left to swarm to midcourt as soon as New York Liberty guard Courtney Vandersloot’s last-second 3 sailed over the rim from the left corner, sealing the Aces’ 70-69 victory Wednesday. Then, they finally collapsed — in a massive group hug on center court.

For seemingly the first time all night, the 16,851-person crowd was quiet.

“It’s who we are,” Wilson said. “We’re professionals. We’re ready when our name is called. And we kept the main thing the main thing. This (expletive) wasn’t easy at all. A lot of people counted us out.”

The short-handed Aces gave just about everything they had to clinch their second straight title with a victory in Game 4. They are the first team to win consecutive championships since Lisa Leslie’s Los Angeles Sparks, who won titles in 2001 and 2002.

Wilson, a two-time league MVP, was named WNBA Finals MVP for the first time in her already-storied career.

“This one’s sweeter,” coach Becky Hammon said. “It just is. It’s harder to do. We went from darling to villain real quick.”

The Aces ran out a short rotation as Gray, Stokes and Candace Parker all watched on from the bench in dress clothes after they were ruled out with foot injuries. Wilson scored 24 points on 52.4 percent shooting to lead all scorers, while also grabbing 16 rebounds in just under 39 minutes.

Young added 16 points and dished seven assists in Gray’s absence while playing more than 37 minutes. Kelsey Plum had seven points and eight rebounds while playing the entire game.

Yet it wasn’t only the remnants of the team’s “Core Four” who stepped up. Alysha Clark, the 2023 WNBA Sixth Player of the Year, scored 10 points in 37 minutes while being the primary defender on her former Seattle Storm teammate Breanna Stewart. Australian center Cayla George, making her first start of the year, scored 11 points and made three 3s in place of Stokes.

Veteran guard Sydney Colson provided just under 15 invaluable minutes off the bench, and helped close out the game. She was plus-17, by far the highest mark in the game for either team.

“They were prepared,” Clark said. “Any time we were in the gym, our bench mob was in the gym.”

It was far from smooth sailing for the Aces. They trailed by 10 points after the first quarter. New York led 44-32 with 7:30 remaining in the third quarter.

Every time the Liberty seemed like they had some momentum, however, the Aces clawed back into the game.

Defense led the way. The Aces outscored the Liberty 23-12 in the third quarter to overcome a 39-30 halftime deficit. New York shot 25 percent from the floor and went 1 of 8 from 3 during the period.

None of the New York starters shot above 50 percent. Stewart, the reigning league MVP, went 3 of 17 on field goals. The Aces outscored the Liberty 44-24 in the paint, building a 70-64 lead with 1:27 left in the game.

But the Liberty closed the gap in the remaining seconds. Vandersloot hit her fourth 3 of the game, then a Plum turnover turned into a Sabrina Ionescu midrange jumper. Wilson almost made it a 3-point game off a sideline out-of-bounds play, but was blocked by Liberty center Jonquel Jones.

New York grabbed the defensive rebound, and Liberty coach Sandy Brondello called a timeout to set up Vandersloot’s final shot.

“I know exactly who I’m going to war with every day,” Hammon said. “This is the tightest group I’ve ever been around. They’re a special group. I don’t know what else you can throw at them.”

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