All good things must come to an end. Even at the worst possible time.
The Las Vegas Aces were seemingly on the verge of their 18th consecutive win and a seventh straight trip to the WNBA semifinals, but a 16-4 run by the Seattle Storm in the final four-plus minutes of regulation ended Vegas’ historic streak and put the team on the verge of elimination ahead of a winner-take-all Game 3 on Thursday.
SEATTLE IS JUMPING‼️
The Storm take the lead 😳
Watch Aces-Storm on ESPN and the ESPN App pic.twitter.com/lDGxpays5l
— ESPN (@espn) September 17, 2025
It’s somewhat hard to reconcile with the fact a team with just one loss since Aug. 2 is now so close to elimination, but it also presents an opportunity for A’ja Wilson to truly cement herself as being worthy of the league’s Most Valuable Player award for the fourth time in five seasons.
Wilson has a chance to channel her best 2012 Eastern Conference Finals Game 6 LeBron impression to help her No. 2 seed Aces avoid elimination at the hands of the Storm, with whom they have a growing rivalry thanks to Jewell Loyd’s controversial exit from the franchise en route to Las Vegas last offseason.
Highly Favored
The sportsbooks in the desert certainly expect Wilson and company to handle business on Thursday, as the Aces opened as heavy 8.5-point favorites for the pivotal contest at Michelob Ultra Arena inside the world-famous Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Wilson has averaged a decent (by her standards) 18.7 points and 9.4 rebounds in Game 3s throughout her career in any series, although she hasn’t reached the 20-point mark in a Game 3 since 2022. Wilson tallied 21 points and 13 rebounds in Tuesday’s Game 2 loss, making 7-of-12 attempts from the field, although she was held scoreless for the final seven minutes of the game.
Noelle Quinn on holding MVP favorite A’ja Wilson scoreless over the last 7 minutes of the 4th:
“A lot of Dom.”
Expressed how important Malonga’s length and versatility was against Wilson. #WNBA
— christan (no i), ß (@ChristanWNBA) September 17, 2025
Beyond the history between Seattle and Loyd, this series is personal for the Storm in large part because of how little of a chance they were given to take even one first-round game from the Aces, much less the series. The Caitlin Clark-less Indiana Fever or the Atlanta Dream (that series is tied 1-1) will await the winner, which makes this series potentially all the more important in terms of deciding who will make the WNBA Finals.
Thursday’s game is set to tip off at 6:30 p.m. in Las Vegas and will be broadcast live to a national audience on ESPN2. Since the Aces’ official win streak (as far as the WNBA record books are concerned) was paused at the conclusion of the regular season, the Aces will still open next season with a chance to set the league record with a hot start. On a technicality, of course.
And if the Aces don’t win on Thursday, the regular season streak going into next season won’t be something anyone will be looking forward to celebrating in Las Vegas.
