Gordon: Kelsey Plum ends her slump at perfect time
Some people prayed for Aces guard Kelsey Plum. Others rubbed her left hand, hoping that would end her shooting slump.
Teammate A’ja Wilson had a different approach altogether.
“I told her she needs to get her (expletive) together,” Wilson recalled Tuesday after a resounding 85-71 victory over the Connecticut Sun in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals, a series the Aces now lead 2-0.
“I made her make sure that she understood that we need her to make shots,” Wilson said. “I know it sounds harsh, but KP is a pro and she went out there and took care of business.”
Plum eradicated any memory of an atrocious Game 1 outing by scoring 20 on 7-of-13 shooting to go with seven assists in 35 minutes. The same Sun squad held her to six points Sunday on 1-of-9 shooting, including 1-of-7 from 3-point range — necessitating the remedies and the curse words from Wilson, who called Plum’s performance a “statement game.”
Whether Plum agrees or not.
“Everyone wants to win. I welcomed it very much and I felt like, ‘You know what, we all want the same thing,’” said Plum, 28. “A lot of times I’m hard on myself. I’ve been a little bit frustrated with how I’ve performed during the whole playoffs. Just glad that they’ve been carrying it and I’ve decided to join the party.”
Ending the slump
Wilson didn’t want to say that Plum was in a slump, but she eventually relented and called it what it was.
She’d averaged 20.2 points on 46 percent shooting during the regular season, including 42 percent from 3-point range en route to All-Star and, when they’re announced, undoubtedly All-WNBA honors. But those numbers dipped in the postseason to 17 points on 39 percent shooting, her 26.1 3-point percentage not indicative of her dead eye from deep.
Sometimes she’d shoot too often. Other times she’d dribble too much, disrupting her team’s offensive flow in a quest to find her own.
On Tuesday, she did neither.
Instead, Plum was poised and decisive, either attacking closeouts and finishing at the basket or kicking to open teammates when the defense collapsed to deny layups.
She scored 13 in a first half the Aces won 45-37. She continued with controlled aggression in a second half they dominated, creating additional opportunities for her teammates with her activity and relocating when they weren’t available.
“Even though she’s been a little off … just the threat of her, you don’t want to let her get rolling from there,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said. “She’s fast with the ball … and I told her she needed to live in the paint. And we live with whatever she does from there.”
‘Building for years’
Indeed they do, and the Aces are one win away from the franchise’s first championship.
Plum is one of two on the roster — along with Dearica Hamby — who played for the San Antonio Stars, the worst team in the WNBA during her rookie season of 2017. They relocated to Las Vegas that fall and have since evolved from a bottom feeder devoid of a caring fan base into a perennial championship contender that packed 10,211 into Michelob Ultra Arena.
Just as Plum has evolved from an overwhelmed, underwhelming No. 1 overall pick into one of the best players in the world.
“I try to forget the dark days in San Antonio. No disrespect to San Antonio,” Plum said at the end of a night worth remembering. “But just what the Aces have done here is tremendous. Mark Davis, the support, the front office investing, bringing in Becky. … And just bringing in players, top-tier talent.
“In this league, there’s not a lot of young teams that are successful,” she added. “It takes time, and it’s been building for years. It’s just a testament to the organization.”
And to Plum, who ended her slump Tuesday night.
And who just might have ended the series, too.
Contact Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.