Las Vegas-Wnba was in headlines for other reasons, except for its first best of seven Final This week after Minnesota Linx Zvezda Nafey Collier set on fire Commissioner Katie EngelbertField
But when the Wnba finals teams appeared in Las Vegas on Thursday, the temperature in team practice and at the press conferences was much cooler, since the aces of his hometown and Phoenix Mercury answered questions about the largest series of the year.
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How Ackelets of the star Chelsea Gray and A'ja Wilson He pushed on the catwalk without a smile, the closest employee made a request to focus on the finals. Gray and Wilson jumped right into basketball, as USA Today asked the first question about the teammate of Jackie Yang.
“She was magnificent, dude. The best bilateral guard in the league, ”Gray said. “Many times she has a task to protect one of her best players around the perimeter, and then go down and get buckets at the offensive end.”
Wilson, who is usually cunning and never lacks words, nodded silently in harmony when she looked down, while Gray described how important Yang was on aces. Quiet, but amazingly loud gestures showed that everything that happened in the play -off does not matter anymore. It was the Wnba final, and it was a “completely new season” and “completely different” than the regular season, as Gray said on Thursday of the media.
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Wilson broke several smiles a few minutes later, answering questions, but her energy never became too high. She gave measured answers to each question, and the room patiently waited for her thoughts about such things as the battle against Alissa Thomas from PhoenixField
“Always fun compete with [Alyssa Thomas]- said Wilson. – She can easier the game. She can choose a game to pieces, and I can’t guard this every day … I try my best to make things very complicated. The way she sees the game, her vision, how she opens her teammates is what she adds and brings this game to this position.
“I do not see [that] Every night. This helps me to raise … to another level of each game. “
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Wilson was adamant that the aces would play their best basketball on the largest scene of Wnba and give fans “good match in the final”. When Thomas and guard Mercury Kahleya Copper arrived later at that hour for the Phoenix press conference, they brought the same laser energy with the only mission to win the championship.
Thomas said that she told her team in the training camp that they are going to the final. She said that she never hesitated in this declaration. Copper said that she wrote the head coach Neutu Tibbbittsu several times throughout the season with a simple message from three words: “I like it.”
The veteran of Phoenix explained that, despite several players who did not play in Wnba before this season or did not receive as many minutes as before, the team was able to fight early injuries and adversity up to the play -off. This is such a determination, which, as copper says, brought Mercury to completely rely on the narrative of the work.
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“Everyone on our list was underestimated, not talked or about something else. At the moment I am psycho, I'm looking for something, ”copper admitted jokingly. “We know that this goes with the game, but we really don’t care. Give us an advantage. As I said, do not choose us. This is cool … But I'm just a little in the other way, do you understand? “
Copper, Thomas, Wilson and Grey are one of the most cruel competitors in the league and will always bring their best results when the pressure becomes the highest. Nevertheless, it is difficult to understand who will leave with the ring in the series of the best of seven. One thing is very clear: the 2025 Wnba final will become the highest form of competitive basketball, if mercury and aces can say about it.
This article initially appeared on USA Today: Mercury and Aces Block drama, focus on Wnba finals
