With floor general Chelsea Gray and post player Kiah Stokes sidelined with injuries, the Las Vegas Aces looked to its bench to step up in game four of the WNBA Finals. Short-handed and playing at Barclays Center before a sold-out crowd, the Aces were undaunted at being dealt a less than ideal hand. High pressure experience and championship mettle proved the winning card, and the Aces defeated the New York Liberty 70–69 to claim their second WNBA Championship. A’ja Wilson was named MVP.

“We have some professional fighters,” Aces player Alysha Clark told ESPN reporter Holly Rowe. “To weather the storm and everything we went through, to show up every single day, to be in this moment right now and to share this together, it speaks volumes about us.”

Much was made of the professionalism and readiness of the Aces’ bench. “They were ready when their names were called,” said Wilson. Of note is Sydney Colson, who played almost 15 minutes and handled a lopsided defensive assignment, amassing five fouls so the team’s starters could stay out of foul trouble.

The championship game marked several milestones. It was the most-watched Finals game four in WNBA history. The win made the Aces the first WNBA team to win back-to-back titles since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001-02. Although Aces player Candace Parker missed much of the season due to injury, she did etch her own piece of history as the first player to win WNBA titles with three different teams—Los Angeles Sparks (2016), Chicago Sky (2022) and the Aces (2023).

Four Liberty players scored in double figures—Betnijah Laney, Breanna Stewart (who had a double-double), Sabrina Ionescu (playing injured) and Courtney Vandersloot. Although Jonquel Jones had just six points, she contributed 11 rebounds.

While the loss was bitterly disappointing, it is worth noting that the Liberty’s win in game three was the first Finals game won by the Liberty since 1999 when Teresa Weatherspoon’s half-court shot at the buzzer forced a game three (the WNBA Finals became best-of-five in 2005). Also, in victory, Aces coach Becky Hammon expressed her gratitude to the Liberty for taking a chance on her at the start of her professional playing career.

“I’m forever indebted to New York; there’s zero doubt about that,” Hammon said to Rowe. “New York gave me my first opportunity, and I am not standing out here without the New York Liberty.”

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Reports indicate that actor Richard Roundtree, best known for his role in the 1971 film “Shaft,” has died at age 81 from pancreatic cancer.

Roundtree died at his home in Los Angeles on Tuesday.

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