Plum, Young each score 26 as Aces dominate Liberty in WNBA ...

Mark Anderson · The Associated Press

· Posted: Oct 08, 2023 5:41 PM EDT | Last Updated: 9 hours ago

Whether it was Chelsea Gray on her 31st birthday orchestrating the offence, Jackie Young knocking down three-pointers or Kelsey Plum driving to the basket, Las Vegas' guards helped deliver an emphatic Game 1 victory Sunday in the WNBA Finals.

They combined to score 72 points to hand the New York Liberty a 99-82 defeat before a boisterous sellout crowd in Las Vegas.

Young — who made five three-pointers — and Plum each scored 26 points, and Gray had 20 points and nine assists.

"It's kind of like Jackie and [Plum] are doing this really hard work, and then the ball goes into Chelsea and it's just dicing everything," Aces coach Becky Hammon said. "It was a really nice combination. Our trio of guards were pretty ridiculous."

Add in A'ja Wilson 19 points, and the Aces got all but eight points from four players, but the Liberty were always going to have the superior depth over a Las Vegas team that is using a six-player rotation.

Five New York players scored in double figures. This season's league MVP, Breanna Stewart, led the Liberty with 21 points, Jonquel Jones totaled 16 points and 10 rebounds and Marine Johannes came off the bench to score 14.

Johannes, however, was shut out in the second half when the Aces began sending double teams her way. Las Vegas also held Sabrina Ionescu, who entered averaging 16.3 points in the playoffs, to seven points for the game.

"Their defence was as good as I've ever seen it," New York coach Sandy Brondello said. "We've got to play with better poise and we can exploit it the next time."

"We can obviously learn a lot from this and we can play better," Brondello said. "That's what we have to remember. We haven't lost two in a row all season long, and we're going to know that we responded the right way. I trust these players."

In one of the most anticipated Finals in recent memory with three WNBA MVPs, this game instead played out like the regular-season meetings between the teams in which the closest outcome was nine points.

The Aces made sure of that by turning into another one-sided game going on an 11-2 run that turned a 67-63 advantage late in the third quarter into a 78-65 lead early in the fourth. Las Vegas led by as much as 94-72 with 3:32 remaining.

Those three guards were a major reason, getting it done on both ends of the floor. They combined to score 38 points and make four steals in the second half.

No team this post-season has solved the Aces, who are 6-0. The Liberty proved they could beat Las Vegas in the regular season, but for a franchise still chasing its first championship, New York will have to come back with a considerably different response.

"I think in the second half, the ball stopped and got stuck a little bit," Stewart said. "That made it easier for them to clog the paint on [Jones] and myself. We need to continue to keep moving and trust what got us here."

Seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback and newly approved Aces minority owner Tom Brady sat courtside next to Las Vegas majority owner Mark Davis.

"I looked at [Brady] and said, `It's about effing time you showed up,"' Plum said, jokingly. "Just super excited for his investment in our franchise and understanding what that means in the growth of not just us but the league and putting eyeballs on it. I joke around, but it's been awesome to have him and I know he cares."

Brady was part of a celebrity turnout that also included Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James, actor and Las Vegas resident Mark Walhberg and Hall of Famer Sheryl Swoopes.

Recording artist Ashanti performed at halftime.