This One Will Come Up All Aces

Liberty vs. Aces, 4:00 ET

If you like basketball between good teams, you shouldn't really care if those teams are women or men. Hell, I like watching games between grade school and high school teams if they are good teams. This afternoon, the WNBA shines a bit with a rematch of last season's WNBA Finals as the Liberty head to Las Vegas to take on the Aces. This isn't the first time the clubs have squared off this season, but there should be plenty of anticipation any time the teams get together because the games seem to mean a bit extra to each team.

It is fairly easy for me to say right now, but if I had to pick a team to win the Finals this season, it would be the Liberty. They are 22-4 with the best record in the WNBA. They have two of the best players in the league with Sabrina Ionescu, and last year's MVP, Breanna Stewart. Obviously, with this good of a record, they need more than just those two. They certainly have role players and additional star talent with Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot. The Liberty have already returned to action after the Olympics break, and they looked just as dominant as ever. They beat the Sparks by almost 40 points in the return with Stewart leading the way. I mentioned this about the Mercury in my article from Thursday, but the Liberty benefited from Stewart and Ionescu playing in the Olympics as they were involved in competitive basketball where the other teams were just practicing.  

Oct 15, 2023; Brooklyn, New York, USA; New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart (30) drives past Las Vegas Aces center Kiah Stokes (41) for a layup in the third quarter during game three of the 2023 WNBA Finals at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Wendell Cruz-USA TODAY Sports

There isn't much of a weakness on the Liberty, but the Aces aren't the easiest matchup for them either. If you want to assume that Stewart and A'ja Wilson will cancel each other out, and Ionescu and Plum will match scoring, the Aces have Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray on the team as well. Gray and Jones might be evenly matched, but at this point Young is certainly a better player than Vandersloot. The Aces struggled a bit to start the season, but they have rebounded to look like one of the best teams in the WNBA. The biggest issues with the Aces is that they have some strange games that they lose. They lost on the road to a very bad Sparks team - though it can be somewhat explained as it was a home-road back-to-back game. They also lost to the Sky in the final game before the break - a home game they lost. Their other losses for the year were against the Mercury early in the season, then later to the Dream on the road. The worst stretch was when they lost five of seven games total starting with that Dream loss and ending with a loss against the Liberty.

This is likely a Finals preview. I already said if I had to pick, I'd probably take the Liberty, but the reality is, the Aces are a better team and have a great coach. Can they pull off a three-peat? Probably. Will they eventually have to defeat the Liberty in a series? Probably. Before we get to that series, we need to get through the regular season. This is just the second time the Aces and Liberty have played this season, and as mentioned, the Liberty took that game. I think this one will be a bit different though. The Aces should lock in now that we are in the second half of the season and the playoff push will begin. I'm going to back the Aces to win this one and cover the short -2.5 spread. 

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