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2023 WNBA Finals: A'ja Wilson is putting together one of the best postseason runs we've ever seen – CBS Sports
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A’ja Wilson did not win the 2023 WNBA MVP award. Her coach, Becky Hammon, has made it a point to remind everyone of that fact. After the Las Vegas Aces’ dominant 104-76 win over the New York Liberty in Game 2 of the WNBA Finals, Hammon delivered her strongest remarks yet.
“This lady’s been ridiculous, and she’s heard it all,” Hammon said. “Third in MVP voting? OK. Rest on that. It’s a joke. She’s been off-the-charts efficient.
“If I would’ve played her as many minutes [as Breanna Stewart and Alyssa Thomas] she would’ve averaged 28 and 13,” Hammon continued. “And that’s all anybody in here would’ve been talking about. But she got screwed because her coach didn’t play her in fourth quarters.”
Wilson finished third in the narrowest three-way MVP race the league has ever seen, receiving 17 first-place votes and 433 total points, compared to 20 first-place votes and 446 total points for Stewart and 23 first-place votes and 439 total points for Thomas. As a result, she was denied her third MVP, which would have put her in a tie for the most all-time, and made her just the second player to earn the honor in back-to-back seasons.
Though she did win her second straight Defensive Player of the Year award as a consolation prize, Wilson admitted in the immediate aftermath that the MVP voting results “hurt like hell.” However, there was more at stake than her personal trophy collection. “This award, it’s a cherry on top of all the mountain of ice cream that we’ve built up,” Wilson said. “The sundae is still good without the cherry. This team still has so much more to do.”
Wilson was, of course, referring to the Aces’ quest to become the first team since the 2001 and 2002 Los Angeles Sparks to win back-to-back titles. Up 2-0 on the Liberty in the best-of-five match-up, and still undefeated in the postseason, that journey is nearly complete.
No team in WNBA history has blown a 2-0 lead, and the Aces don’t look likely to become the first. Assuming the Aces win the title, Wilson will almost certainly be named Finals MVP — though she’ll again face stiff competition, this time from her teammates, who have all been terrific in their own right during this series.
But trophy or not, there’s no denying that Wilson has been the best player in the playoffs by a wide margin. More than that, she’s putting together one of the best postseason runs in league history.
Through seven games, Wilson is averaging 24.9 points, 11.3 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 2.9 blocks on 60.4% shooting. Among players who got out of the first round, and thus played at least five games, she’s first in scoring, third in rebounding, tied for fifth in steals, first in blocks and second in field goal percentage. To no surprise, no other player is in the top-five in all such categories.
Since the WNBA started play in 1997, here’s a look at how Wilson’s playoffs performances compare (all notes regarding postseason averages require a minimum of five games played):
At least statistically, Wilson has a case for the best scoring performance we’ve ever seen from a player in the postseason. There’s simply been no answer for her versatility on that end of the floor. She’s shooting an absurd 80.5% in the restricted area and 57.5% from mid-range.
Please forgive the amount of clips here, but it’s worth watching through to get an understanding of everything can do on the court.
Finishing through contact on the roll:
Facing up in the post and driving past her defender:
Facing up in the post and hitting a jumper:
Catch-and-shoot mid-range jumper:
Going coast-to-coast in transition:
Taking a dribble hand-off at the top of the key like a guard and getting downhill to the rim:
Excellent footwork in the paint:
Terrific hands to catch tough passes:
Defensively, it’s been much of the same. Wilson has been doing whatever the Aces need as the leader and last line of their defense. In the playoffs, the Aces have allowed just 91 points per 100 possessions, which is the best defensive rating of any team that has played at least five games in a postseason since the 2013 Minnesota Lynx (82.6).
One-on-one post defense:
One-on-one isolation defense:
Weak-side rim protection:
Using length to disrupt passing lanes:
If Wilson does indeed cap off this run with a second title, she will, at just 27 years old, join Sheryl Swoopes and Lisa Leslie as the only players in WNBA history with multiple MVPs, multiple Defensive Player of the Year awards and multiple championships.
The last laugh in the 2023 WNBA MVP race will be hers, too.
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