The Washington Mystics are one win away from returning to the WNBA Finals for a second consecutive year. That’s following a 103-91 win over the Las Vegas Aces in Game 2 of the WNBA Semifinals to take a controlling 2-0 series lead. Now the scenery best-of-five series shifts to Las Vegas, as the Mystics hope to close out the series.
How the Game Was Won
The game was back-and-forth for the first 25 minutes of the game, and the Mystics trailed the Aces by three, 64-61. Then Washington turned the switch on much like they did in Game 1. The Mystics outscored the Aces 19-5 over the final 5:04 of the third quarter.
Washington did so with a barrage of threes, making four of their eight made treys during the stretch. The Mystics scored the first five points of the fourth to make it a 24-5 run before the Aces regained their wits. A Liz Cambage technical foul for flailing her elbow culminated the moment of the Mystics seizing control of the game. In a switch, a 64-61 deficit became an 85-69 lead.
The Aces did a great job early on of containing the league’s best three-point shooting team, as they struggled through the first half. But, the third quarter run showed how difficult it is to contain the Mystics for a full 40 minutes.
Player of the Game: Emma Meesseman
Before Thursday’s game, Mystics star Elena Delle Donne was named the WNBA MVP, her second award of her career. However, it was teammate Emma Meesseman, who stole the show for the second straight game.
Coming off an impressive 27-point performance in Game 1, Meesseman dropped a playoff career-high 30 points on 11-of-19 shooting. The Aces literally had no answer for the forward, as she made 5-of-7 of her threes. She added six rebounds and four assists to her cause.
Following the game, Cambage was asked about the biggest challenge Meesseman is presenting, the Aces star responded “She ain’t missing.”
And she isn’t. The Aces have been forced to direct their defensive attention on the league’s MVP, Delle Donne, who finished Game 2 with 14 points and 10 rebounds. She adjusted her approach in the second half, playing decoy in after struggling with her shot. Meanwhile, that’s allowing Meesseman to get one-on-one coverage or open shots. She is capitalizing.
Through the first two games of the series Meesseman has been amazing. She is making 62 percent of her shots from the field, including 7-of-11 from three.
She was a missing element to last year’s Finals run. She missed all of last season due to her commitment to her native Belgium during the FIBA World Championships. Now with her return, the Mystics have a legitimate option to take the pressure and load off Delle Donne.
Natasha Cloud Continues to Be Mystics Unsung Hero
Delle Donne and Meesseman will control the headlines, but under the surface, the engine to the Mystics’ drive is point guard Natasha Cloud.
Thursday, Cloud was amazing shooting an efficient 7-of-13 from the field, finishing with 18 points and a game-high 11 assists. She controlled the tempo and ball movement much like she did during the regular season. Her approach to sharing the ball, is infectious to the rest of the team.
Cloud has been able to go toe-to-toe with the more acclaimed Kelsey Plum through the first two games of the series. Cloud’s ability to essentially cancel out Plum is huge against the star-studded Aces.
