Liberty extend WNBA Finals, Aces focus on injured Gray - ESPN

NEW YORK — The New York Liberty staved off elimination and swung momentum back in their favor with an 87-73 Game 3 victory Sunday in the WNBA Finals.

But in addition to making adjustments for Game 4, the Las Vegas Aces are also monitoring the health of Chelsea Gray. The 2022 Finals MVP and one of the greatest point guards in league history, Gray suffered an apparent left foot injury midway through Sunday's fourth quarter. Gray exited the game with 4:15 remaining, briefly sat on the Las Vegas bench and then hopped on one foot to the locker room, where she remained for the rest of the game.

Afterward, Aces coach Becky Hammon didn't have an update, saying she hadn't yet spoken to the team's athletic trainer but believed Gray had suffered a foot injury.

If Gray can't play for the rest of the series, or isn't totally healthy, the Aces will be missing arguably one of their top-two most important players, the other being two-time MVP A'ja Wilson. The so-called «Point Gawd» is averaging 16.3 points and 7.4 assists in the playoffs, although as she showed in last year's Finals can go off scoring-wise at any moment.

The Aces have other capable ball handlers and facilitators in Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young, but no one at the level who would be able to replace a player as talented and experienced as Gray, who also was part of the Los Angeles Sparks' WNBA title in 2016.

Las Vegas has relied heavily on a six-player rotation and is already shorthanded after having lost Candace Parker to a season-ending foot injury before the All-Star break in mid-July. Riquna Williams has also not been with the team following her arrest under domestic violence charges earlier this summer.

How must Las Vegas — which suffered its first playoff loss this