The Las Vegas Aces nearly pulled off a big comeback in Game 2 of their semifinal series with the New York Liberty on Tuesday night, but ended up losing a thriller, 88-84. Now, the back-to-back champions are down 2-0 and on the brink of elimination.
Early in the game, Aces coach Becky Hammon was outwardly upset with her team’s lack of effort, particularly on the defensive end. At one point in the second quarter she called two timeouts in less than a minute, and a video from the arena appeared to show her berating Kelsey Plum.
After the loss, Hammon reflected on the challenges of completing a three-peat and called her players out for losing their edge and “being fricking celebrities.” She also compared this season’s rematch between the Liberty and Aces to the 2014 NBA Finals, when the San Antonio Spurs got revenge on the Miami Heat.
Here’s Hammon:
“Quite frankly, we haven’t had the edge. All year. Now we found it, the last month I feel we’ve gained a lot of ground, but the feel was different from the jump. And this is why three-peating is hard. Let’s be real. The whole league has been pissed off for the last eight months and my players are in commercials and this and that and being fricking…
