Aces hope for winning hand in Game 2 of WNBA Finals

Bill Laimbeer has usually found ways for his team to bounce back after y've been routed in playoff games.

His squads have gone 9-1 in games following a double-digit defeat. Las Vegas hopes for same success Sunday in Game 2 after losing by 13 points to Seattle Storm in WNBA Finals opener in Bradenton, Florida

“You make a couple adjustments, but you can't make a lot of adjustments,” Laimbeer said. “You impose on m it's a five-game series, even if you lose one game so what? One or 21, it doesn't matter, it's still an ‘L’ You have to come back next day and be more determined. You have to create a mindset of y got one w we have to get one.”

Laimbeer credits that mentality to his playing days when he helped Detroit Pistons win NBA titles.

His players feed off it.

“That’s biggest thing he does. He’s calm, cool and collected as surprising as that may seem,” league MVP A'ja Wilson said. “He trusts us and kws what we’re capable of.”

Aces feel that y have fixable problems. y missed a lot of shots y rmally make and Laimbeer, who has won three WNBA titles while coaching Detroit, felt his team got frustrated when ball wouldn't go in.

Las Vegas shot 17-for-56 (30%) from inside arc and surprisingly made 10 of 21 3's.

“We couldn’t score and our frustration of t scoring carried over to our defense and that was our undoing,” he said. “We can’t get frustrated. We have to keep playing our solid defense. Clawed our way back into game, but n ran out of gas."

It was also first finals for many of Aces players, including Wilson and Jackie Young.

“ first one is definitely a big one, a little bit of nerves and jitters going into it,” Young said. “It's like playing in a national championship for first time.”

Las Vegas will need to t only hit shots, but find a way to slow Breanna Stewart and Jewell Loyd. Stewart had a career-high 37 points — one short of WNBA Finals record. Loyd added 28.

“Stewie’s going to take what defense gives her. biggest thing is to make m contested shots," Wilson said. "That’s going to be tough of course. if you give open looks to a great player you get what you got last night.”

Seattle will try and do more of what it did in Game 1. Storm dominated paint — an area that usually is Aces' strength.

“That’s where we got m," Seattle coach Gary Kloppenburg said. "Got a lot of baskets going to rim in paint. I thought we wanted to concentrate on getting m off ir spot in deep post-ups. Bring ar body, being re on that drive. I think we did a pretty good job trying to limit ir inside touches.”

Im credit: AP

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