WNBA Finals 2022 - Las Vegas Aces hope zone defense continues to disrupt Connecticut Sun

Game 1 of the 2022 WNBA Finals brought a strategic twist we haven't seen often lately at the highest levels of playoff competition: The Las Vegas Aces using a zone defense to help slow down the Connecticut Sun in their 67-64 victory on Sunday.

«We know we are going to see zone in stretches in this series,» Connecticut coach Curt Miller said postgame. «They are going to play more zone than they did all of the playoffs. I think they played three or four possessions against Seattle in totality. So we know we are going to see it.»

With first-year Las Vegas head coach Becky Hammon, the WNBA Coach of the Year, as one of the biggest proponents, WNBA teams have played more zone defense this season than at any point since the league instituted a defensive three-second violation in 2013 to prevent players from camping out near the basket, as is possible at the high school and college levels.

Why has the zone made a comeback in the WNBA and how might it influence the remainder of the Aces-Sun series? Some of the league's top coaches help break it down.

A decade ago, zone defenses were common in the WNBA. Synergy Sports has tracked the league's zone usage since 2011, and it peaked the following year, when teams played an average of 6.2 plays of zone per game and all but one team used zone for at least 100 plays over the course of the season.

After 2012, presumably anticipating the arrival of 6-foot-9 Brittney Griner as the No. 1 overall pick in the following year's draft, the WNBA's competition committee instituted the defensive three-second rule, matching a rule on the books in the NBA since the league scrapped illegal defense and permitted zones in 2001.

With the defensive rule making it more difficult for big defenders to protect