Aces ‘distracted,’ while Liberty motivated by heartbreak, coach says

The 2023 WNBA Finals were top of mind for Aces coach Becky Hammon following the team’s 88-84 playoff loss to the New York Liberty on Tuesday.

The fourth-seeded Aces, down 2-0 in their current semifinal series, are facing elimination against the top-seeded Liberty in Friday’s Game 3 at Michelob Ultra Arena.

No team has come back from a 2-0 deficit in WNBA history. But the Aces beat the odds and became the first team to win back-to-back championships since the 2001-02 Los Angeles Sparks when they beat the Liberty in the Finals last season.

Hammon believes that loss shaped New York into a team “you can’t make any mistakes against.” She also said the victory had an adverse effect on the Aces.

‘Distracted’

Hammon’s comments in some ways were no different than what she’s said throughout the team’s season.

The Aces haven’t had an edge. Their vibe has been off since Day 1 of training camp. The Liberty are the best team in the league.

But Hammon was more specific about what changed Tuesday.

“This is why three-peating is hard. Let’s be real,” Hammon said. “The whole league has been pissed off for the last eight months and my players are in commercials and this and that and being freaking celebrities and you get distracted. That’s why it’s hard. Because human nature is distracting.”

The Aces beat the Liberty in four games in the WNBA Finals last year. They won the first two games at home thanks to being the top-seeded team in the playoffs. New York then won Game 3 at home, but the Aces sealed their second straight championship on the road in Game 4 despite point guard Chelsea Gray and center Kiah Stokes being injured.

The team will be without Stokes again this year in Friday’s Game 3. She was ruled out with a concussion after a collision with Liberty center Jonquel Jones in Game 2.

Hammon, despite the obstacles the Aces are facing, isn’t discouraged.

“All New York did was do what New York should do, which is defend their home court,” Hammon said. “We fully intend on pushing this series to five games, but we’ve got to take it quarter by quarter.”

Liberty motivated, like Spurs

Hammon was a longtime San Antonio Spurs assistant under coach Gregg Popovich before joining the Aces.

A year before she made history by joining the Spurs’ staff, she saw how devastated the team was by its loss to the Miami Heat in the 2013 NBA Finals. San Antonio rolled past Miami in a rematch the following the year to win the title.

“They should have walked away with the title (in 2013),” Hammon said of the Spurs. “The next year they came back, they came back with so much drive, so much discipline, so much focus that there was no way someone was beating them in 2014.”

Hammon said those 2014 Spurs remind her of New York this season.

“The Liberty took a huge loss last year,” Hammon said. “They felt like they had it, and we walked away with it. I did think we were the better team, but we were dealt a really freaking tough hand last year in the Finals, losing Chelsea (Gray) and Kiah (Stokes). I’m sure they feel like something was stolen a little bit.”