Four-time MVP A’ja Wilson is coming off a big milestone as her Las Vegas Aces head to Portland to visit the expansion Fire on Thursday night.
Wilson had a monster performance Monday in the Aces’ 101-91 home win over the Seattle Storm, compiling 34 points, 12 rebounds, a career-best nine assists and three blocked shots.
She also became the fastest player in WNBA history to reach 6,000 career points. Wilson did it in 278 games, bettering the likes of Diana Taurasi (291) and Breanna Stewart (293).
“It seems like she is breaking a record every single day,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said afterward. “Nothing surprises me with this woman — she has nine dimes and she just keeps getting better and better.
“She just spreads the whole floor. As far as how many records she is going to break, it’s going to be a lot before it is all said and done.”
Wilson, 29, is the 19th WNBA player to top 6,000. Her total stands at 6,004.
“I’ve seen so many different defenses, different schemes,” Wilson said, “yet we still show up every single day, ready to work and ready to be great. I’m just truly grateful for every teammate I’ve come in contact with that has played alongside me for this 6,000.”
Las Vegas (8-3, 3-0 Commissioner’s Cup) has won four straight games entering the clash against the Fire.
Portland (6-7, 0-3) has lost three straight games and four of five.
The Fire fell 89-72 against the host Los Angeles Sparks on Sunday. The loss was highly disappointing to coach Alex Sarama, who strongly critiqued his squad in the locker room.
Portland led by two points at halftime after committing just three first-half turnovers. But things fell apart after the break as the Fire were outscored 48-29 and gave the ball away 14 times.
“In the second half, there was frustration with our turnovers,” Fire guard Sarah Ashlee Barker said. “We turned the ball over too many times in the second half. That’s a huge difference. That’s the game right there.”
Megan Gustafson was Portland’s top performer with 16 points and a season-best 11 rebounds for her first double-double of the season.
Sarama said the Fire need to rebound as the upcoming schedule isn’t easy — home games against Las Vegas and then the Dallas Wings (Saturday) before a road game vs. the league-leading Minnesota Lynx (Monday).
“We’ve got a tough stretch coming up,” Sarama said. “We have three of the best teams in the league coming up in the next stretch of three. We have to make sure no matter what the score is that we are continually connected and playing together and are about the right things.”
–Field Level Media
