Aces finish off Storm, advance to WNBA Finals rematch

It’s inconceivable to think that a WNBA Finals MVP from two years ago can be considered an X-factor in the playoffs.

This version of Chelsea Gray might be that game-changer the Aces need if they want to three-peat.

The star point guard had 12 points and nine assists, helping the Aces jump out to a 16-point first-quarter lead en route to an 83-76 win over the Seattle Storm to complete the two-game sweep in the first round of the WNBA playoffs Tuesday at Michelob Ultra Arena.

That puts the Aces into the semifinals for a sixth straight season and sets up a WNBA Finals rematch with the New York Liberty. Game 1 is at a time to be determined Sunday at Barclays Center.

The numbers won’t show Gray’s impact. She shot 4-for-13 from the floor and cooled down as the game went on. After starting 3-for-5, Gray missed her next 12 shots.

But she didn’t need to take over with the scoring. Kelsey Plum scored a playoff-tying career-high 29 points, and A’ja Wilson had 24 points and 13 rebounds.

But the Aces will always rely on Gray when the game is on the line. That happened again with a pull-up jumper with 2:02 to go to give the Aces an 80-72 lead.

“She’s a big-shot player, a big playmaker,” Plum said. “We had this narrative of, ‘Oh, she’s starting to get her form back.’ She’s in her form.”

Gray got off to a slow start when she missed the first 12 games while recovering from a foot injury she suffered in Game 3 of last year’s Finals. She shot less than 40 percent from the floor in her first two months back.

Gray couldn’t find a rhythm after the Olympic break, but hit her stride in September. She shot 45 percent in the last eight games of the regular season and started to slowly look like her old self.

“I think that we look at these numbers and we compare them. There’s no comparison,” Plum said. “One of the things that’s so great about Chelsea is she does what needs to be done to win the game.

“Ask any player in the league, like high-level player, I guarantee you they want Chelsea Gray on their team with five minutes left, tie game. They would pick her every time.”

Gray looked close to peak form Tuesday.

It was the elite shotmaking, like the two 3-pointers in the first quarter, that helped the Aces get out to a 23-7 lead.

It was the superstar playmaking with highlight-reel passes to a cutting Tiffany Hayes for a layup, then a one-handed pass to a driving Wilson on the next possession midway through the second quarter.

But coach Becky Hammon pointed to Gray’s defense as pivotal in a close Game 2. It didn’t matter whom she guarded, whether it was guard Mercedes Russell or switching on forward Nneka Ogwumike. Hammon felt she impacted the game strongly at the other end.

“She plays bigger than she is,” Hammon said. “She has some of the greatest hands defensively, just getting active, poking the ball. We can have her in a free safety mode and she can just make plays.”

Gray was as excited as anyone watching her teammates, without her and center Kiah Stokes, will their way to a 70-69 win in Brooklyn last October to win their second WNBA championship.

If Gray is back to full health, the Aces aren’t bringing a hobbled team to Brooklyn this time around. It’s a team that’s lost just once in their last 12 games dating to Aug. 30.

That one loss was a 75-71 defeat to the Liberty, a game in which the Aces didn’t have Wilson due to an ankle injury.

It’s not the Finals, but it’s still the Aces against the Liberty. And the Aces may have one up their sleeve in the form of their point guard.

“She’s just been working so hard to get back into the position she’s in today,” Wilson said. “We’re blessed to have her. We really are.”

Here are three takeaways from the win:

1. Plum bounces back

Plum called it a “projectile vomit” performance in Game 1, going 1-for-8 from the floor and not making her first shot until the fourth quarter. She responded by going 11-for-15 from the floor Tuesday.

“I think I’m working on giving myself more grace,” Plum said.

The answer to her turnaround? Sushi.

“I kind of sat yesterday in a sushi bar, and I was just like, ‘I’m gonna throw Game 1 out the window,’” Plum said.

2. Ball don’t lie

The Aces led 78-72 with 2:21 remaining when Tiffany Hayes was called for a loose-ball foul on Seattle center Ezi Magbegor. The fifth team foul for the Aces was unsuccessfully challenged by Hammon and led to two free throws.

Magbegor missed both. Gray made the jumper on the next possession.

3. ‘Best team all year’

The league’s top rivalry will get a new chapter with the upcoming semifinal series. The Aces know the challenge that lies ahead.

“They’ve been the best team all year,” Hammon said. “They played like a team pissed off with an edge.”

The Liberty swept the season series 3-0 with two of the wins in Las Vegas.

“New York is a lot better than they were last year,” Plum said. “There’s no secret they’ve taken care of business, and that’s why they have the one seed.”

Series schedule

Aces win 2-0

Game 1 — Aces 78, Storm 67

Game 2 — Aces 83, Storm 76

Aces vs. Liberty

Game 1 — Sunday, TBD, Barclays Center

Game 2 — Oct. 1, TBD, Barclays Center

Game 3 — Oct. 4, TBD, Michelob Ultra Arena

Game 4* — Oct. 6, TBD, Michelob Ultra Arena

Game 5* — Oct. 8, TBD, Barclays Center

*If necesssary