A'ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces win second-straight WNBA championship

On Wednesday, the Las Vegas Aces defeated the New York Liberty70-69 in Game 4 of the WNBA Finals to secure their second-straightchampionship.

Even with starters Chelsea Gray and Kiah Stokes injured, theAces were able to close out the series thanks to a terrificperformance from superstar A'ja Wilson, who finished with 24points, 16 rebounds, 1 block and 1 steal on 52.4% shooting from thefield. Wilson earned the WNBA Finals MVP award after averaging 21.3points, 12.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks on 50% shooting throughout theseries.

Several other Aces stepped up including Cayla George (11 points,4 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 3 threes) and Alysha Clark (10points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists on 57.1% shooting). Kelsey Plumstruggled with her shot (making just 2-of-12 attempts from thefield and missing all four of her three-pointers), but she foundother ways to impact the game and finished with 7 points, 8rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal.

Courtney Vandersloot led the Liberty with 19 points, 7 rebounds,6 assists, 4 threes and 1 steal, but it wasn't enough to lift NewYork to victory. The Aces deserve credit for shutting down BreannaStewart, who had just 10 points while shooting 3-of-17 (17.6%) fromthe field and 0-of-3 from three-point range.

The Aces dominated all season, winning a WNBA-best 34 gamesduring the regular season and losing just one game during theirplayoff run (to the Liberty in Game 3 of the WNBAFinals).

Las Vegas had the WNBA's top-ranked offense (scoring 113 pointsper 100 possessions) and top-ranked defense (allowing 97.7 pointsper 100 possessions) during the regular season. That continuedduring the postseason, as they led all teams in offensive rating(108.1 points per 100 possessions) and defensive rating (92.7points per 100 possessions).

Las Vegas becomes the first WNBA team to win back-to-backchampionships in 21 years (when the Los Angeles Sparks accomplishedthe feat). The Aces, 2001-02 Sparks and 1997-2000 Houston Cometsare the only teams in WNBA history to win consecutive titles.