Las Vegas Aces rout Phoenix Mercury to close out first-round playoff series

The top-seeded Las Vegas Aces took care of business Saturday night vs. the Phoenix Mercury, smothering the No. 8 seed with a 117-80 victory and closing out their first-round, best-of-three series 2-0.

“Obviously happy to put a team away,” said first-year Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon, who’s aiming to lead the Aces to their first WNBA title. “It’s always hard to put a team away.”

Chelsea Gray led Las Vegas with 27 points, eight assists and three rebounds in 25 minutes, while Kelsey Plum added 22 points and four rebounds. Four other players scored in double figures including starters A’ja Wilson (17 points) and Jackie Young (15), while Riquna Williams and Kierstan Bell each scored 11 off the bench.

Balanced shooting translated to several new lines in the record books for the Aces, whose 23 made three-pointers marked a WNBA playoffs record. Las Vegas knocked down 11 threes in the first half, which set a new playoffs record en route to a 63-44 halftime lead. The Aces also set a WNBA playoff record by making their first 10 shots from the field and tied a playoff record by making their first seven three-pointers in a game.

Hammon, however, was much more impressed with a different line on the stat sheet: “Probably my favorite stat of the night is 31 assists on 41 field goals, because it’s been around a year that I’ve been really preaching to them, you know, ‘When we share everybody gets more,'” she explained. “I know it seems counterintuitive — the more you give away, the less you have. But it’s actually the opposite: The more you give, the more you’ll get back because you’re one set of hands giving, but there’s four giving back to you.”

The Aces’ 31 assists marked the most in a postseason game in franchise history and the third