Las Vegas Aces 97, Seattle Storm 92 | Aces Advance
The first 30-point, 10-assist game in playoff history was punctuated by two crunchtime buckets.
Sept. 7, 2022
SEATTLE — Chelsea Gray had just given the Las Vegas Aces a 3-point lead with a minute left in Game 4 of a W.N.B.A. semifinal series on Tuesday night — enough to give them a quick sigh of relief but not enough to put the game out of reach. Gray backpedaled on defense with a stoic look, and after a Seattle Storm miss, she seemed determined to end the game.
She dribbled left, crossed right, then hit a fadeaway jump shot a few steps inside the 3-point line over the outstretched arm of Gabby Williams, a W.N.B.A. All-Defensive first-teamer, to give the Aces a 5-point lead, effectively ending the game. And Gray knew it as she ran back, trading her stoicism for exuberance, yelling in celebration at the Seattle crowd that she had silenced.
With 31 points and 10 assists, Gray became the only player to reach both totals in a W.N.B.A. playoff game, an exclamation mark on one of the most dominant playoff performances in league history. After the 97-92 win, and a 3-1 series victory, Las Vegas advanced to the W.N.B.A. finals, where it will meet the Connecticut Sun or the Chicago Sky. (That semifinal series is tied, 2-2, with Game 5 on Thursday in Chicago.)
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Kris Rhim is a sports reporter and a member of the 2022-2023 New York Times fellowship class.
A version of this article appears in print on Sept. 8, 2022, Section
B
, Page
12
of the New York edition
with the headline:
‘Built for This Moment’: A Historic Performance Keeps the Aces Rolling. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
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