Was Aces-Fever’s OT thriller a 2026 WNBA Finals preview?
Yahoo Sports Daily hosts Caroline Fenton and Justin Walters react to the Las Vegas Aces' overtime win over the Indiana Fever and discuss whether we'll get a rematch in the 2026 WNBA Finals. Watch the full episode of Yahoo Sports Daily on YouTube or YahooSports.TV .
Video Transcript
Here it is, folks.
Chelsea clutch Gray, she seals the deal yet again with a triple that gets the Aces the win in overtime.
They call her the point god for a reason, and what she did last night, norm- not only with a buzzer beater to send it to overtime, but a buzzer beater to win it in overtime.
The Aces and Fever gave us a candidate for game of the year, game of the decade, game of the everything.
Las Vegas comes back to stun the Fever in OT 86 to 84.
I want a seven-game series between these two.
I can A- and we are also coming on the heels of that Lynx-Fever game that was epic as well.
And I'm like, "Well, give me that in the finals."
I can't choose, because there are far too many great match-ups that we have in the WNBA.
I wanna focus on the Fever before I give some love to the Las Vegas Aces, because there's not enough love to give to the Las Vegas Aces.
There's not a- enough words to explain how clutch this team is, how impactful A'ja Wilson is, and Chelsea Gray, and this entire Las Vegas core.
I don't want that to go unnoticed.
But if you look at the Indiana Fever, something that Cassandra Nagy and I have talked a lot about on Hoops 360, is that how the Fever's best version of defense is just gonna have to be their offense.
Their defense has gotten better throughout the entirety of the season, but their defense only needs to be average, middle of the road, if their offense is firing on all cylinders.
If Kelsey Mitchell is doing her thing, if Caitlin Clark is good for a double double and is, you know, moving the rock the way that she is on any given night.
If they're shooting the three as well as they can.
But when you put up nine points in the third quarter, that's not your best brand of offense, so therefore your defense is going to have to step up a lot more.
But clearly, obviously, it didn't last night when you allow the Aces right back into a game.
And if you give A'ja Wilson and Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young an inch, they'll take a mile.
It's the Las Vegas freaking Aces, the reigning champions, one of the best teams, if not the best team, in the WNBA.
So I, I think that that's a cautionary tale for the Fever, that they now have a back-to-back sample size of not being able to close out the game against the Lynx earlier this week.
And that was an epic game, it was an awesome game.
But it is a game where Kelsey Mitchell dropped 37 points and you still lost.
And you follow that up with this performance and letting the Aces right back in a game, letting the Aces take it to OT and win it in OT.
Now look, you're not gonna overreact to losing games against the Aces and the Lynx.
Those are two of the best teams in the WNBA, that if we got an Aces-Lynx WNBA final, I wouldn't be mad, nor would I be surprised.
But if you wanna be a championship contender, you're gonna have to beat a championship contender, and we just haven't seen that from the Fever in the last couple of games
