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The Las Vegas Aces defeated the Connecticut Sun with a score of 78-71 on Sunday to win their first WNBA championship. The loss for the No. 3 seeded Sun was a disappointing finish for the franchise, who has the second most wins in WNBA history, but has never won the championship.
The Aces fought off rallies by the Sun before clinching the title in the fourth game of the best-of-five series. 29-year-old Chelsea Gray led the Aces with 20 points, five rebounds and six assists on 9 of 13 from the field, and was named the most valuable player of the finals. Gray said emotionally: “My teammates are awesome. I worked so hard for this.” The Aces finished with the best regular-season record in two of the past three seasons. The Aces’ postseason reflected the regular-season dominance that led them to tie Chicago for the best record in the league.
The Aces hired Becky Hammon, who had been an assistant with the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs, after Bill Laimbeer – who had been the Aces’ coach for four years – stepped down before the season. Hammon took over a team led by A’ja Wilson, who won the league’s Most Valuable Player Award in 2020. Wilson, 26, also won her second MVP Award this season, and was named the defensive player of the year.
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