A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces need to make WNBA history if they want to keep hopes of the elusive three-peat alive. After falling 0-2 in the 2024 WNBA semifinals – a rematch of the 2023 Finals – against the New York Liberty, the star center will be looking to lead Las Vegas back to win the series in five, which would be the first time any team had come back from 0-2 deficit.

Pulling off the historic feat is the only way for Wilson and the Aces to keep their hopes alive of winning a three-peat, which would be the first time since the Houston Comets – who won four straight titles from 1997 to 2000 – that a team has won three straight WNBA championships.

Aces head coach Becky Hammon understands how difficult it is to win three straight championships in any sport, citing how “human nature” tends to get in the way of success. Speaking to reporters after Las Vegas’ 88-84 loss to New York, Hammon bluntly assessed her team’s chances of winning and explained what needed to be done.

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“Well quite frankly, we haven’t had the edge all year,” she began. “We found it the last month, I feel like we’ve gained a lot of ground, but the feel was different from the jump and this is why three-peating is hard, let’s be real. The whole league has been pissed off for the last eight months and my players are in commercials and this and that, being freaking celebrities and you get distracted. That’s why it’s hard – because human nature is distracting.”

Hammon also claimed the Liberty are playing with a chip on their shoulder, similar to the San Antonio Spurs in 2014. The Spurs lost the 2013 NBA Finals to the Miami Heat in a heartbreaking seven-game series after seemingly having Game 6 won. However, Ray Allen hit an improbable 3-pointer to push Game 6 into overtime and San Antonio didn’t capitalize in Game 7.

The following year, the Spurs amassed the best record in the league and made it to the NBA Finals, facing off against the Heat again. Taking their finals loss to heart, the Spurs handily defeated the Heat in five games, effectively disbanding the LeBron James-led Miami squad.

“They came back with so much drive, so much discipline, so much focus, that there was no way somebody was beating them in 2014 – I mean the ball was popping,” Hammon continued. “The Liberty took a huge loss last year and I liken it to that a little bit where they had it, they felt like they had it and we walked away with it.

“I did think we were the better team but we were dealt with a really freaking tough hand last year in the finals, losing Chelsea [Gray] and Kiah [Stokes]. So I’m sure they feel like something was stolen a little bit. At the end of the day, in two years, we’ve won here one time, Game 4. Other than that, they kicked out ass.”

Gray, the Aces veteran guard, knows what needs to happen if Las Vegas is to undo the damage done in the first two games to keep their championship hopes alive. “It starts with our mentality from the beginning,” the 31-year-old said after the game, per ESPN. “Being the aggressor on both ends of the floor. I thought there were a lot more glimpses of it tonight … the first game, we didn’t have it at all. But it’s going to take a full 40 to be able to get it done.”

Wilson believes because of what the Aces have gone through, the team is more lackadaisical in some aspects. “Camaraderie is our blessing and our curse,” she said, per The Athletic, adding that the team often assumes a teammate will be where they are supposed to be instead of making it known what they should be doing.

In the end, Hammon knows it the Liberty did what they were supposed to, which was to win two games at home to maintain home-court advantage. Now the onus is on the Aces to bring the series back to a pivotal Game 5.

“We’ve got to take it a quarter by quarter – we can’t get ahead of ourselves and just be solid, especially on the defensive end. It’s not about any one individual matchup … it’s the Aces versus the Liberty and how we can best assist each other. … We made some shots tonight, which I think is a great sign going back home. But let there be no doubt – we’re in for a war,” Hammon concluded.