A’ja Wilson looked like she could have played a fifth quarter on Thursday night. Instead, she settled for sending a message.<\/p>\n
After the Las Vegas Aces closed out the Indiana Fever 94-83 in a winner-take-all Game 3 at Michelob ULTRA Arena, Wilson issued a warning to everyone still standing in the 2026 playoffs. “Regular season’s cute,” the four-time MVP said. “I know, that’s so cute, oh my God, everyone can come see us. But this is the moment everyone should be at. This is the moment that we live for.”<\/p>\n
She backed up every word of it. Wilson torched the Fever for a game-high 36 points on 11-of-18 shooting in 37 minutes, adding 10 rebounds and two blocks. The double-double moved her to No. 2 on the all-time postseason list with 28, trailing only Alyssa Thomas’s 31.<\/p>\n
Las Vegas got plenty of help from its fellow All-Stars. Chelsea Gray tallied 23 points, four rebounds and five assists, while Jackie Young added 18 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. The Aces pulled away in the closing minutes to keep their title defense alive \u2014 they are chasing a fourth championship in five years.<\/p>\n
The win sends Las Vegas to the semifinals for the eighth consecutive year, a streak of sustained dominance few franchises in any sport can match. The Aces will face the winner of Friday night’s winner-take-all Game 3 between the No. 2 seed Golden State Valkyries and the No. 7 seed Dallas Wings, with the semifinal series tipping off Sunday, October 4.<\/p>\n
On the other side of the bracket, the No. 4 seed Atlanta Dream will host the No. 8 seed New York Liberty, fresh off their historic sweep of the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx. The semifinals are best-of-five in a 2-2-1 format, with the WNBA Finals \u2014 a best-of-seven \u2014 set to open October 17.<\/p>\n
Wilson’s message was aimed at all of them. The regular season is over, the cute part is done, and the two-time defending champions are exactly where they expect to be: four wins from another Finals, with the best player on the planet playing like it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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