South Carolina Basketball: A’ja Wilson, the rightful MVP, dominates again; Aces one win away from title

Aja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces are one win away from their second-straight championship. So far in the WNBA finals, Wilson’s Vegas team has outscored the New York Liberty 104-76 in game 2 and 99-82 in game 1. For those who don’t like to do math, that means the Aces have dominated through two games by 45 points.

In game 2, Aja Wilson proved that the league’s MVP award went to the wrong player when the Liberty’s Breanna Stewart won the honor. Wilson, who somehow finished third in the voting, dropped 26 points and 15 rebounds on 63% shooting. For good measure, she added 3 assists, a steal, a block, and a made 3-pointer while shooting a perfect 5-5 from the free throw line. She put up a game-high +31 +/-.

Wilson led the Aces on both sides of the floor. She was the top offensive weapon for a team that became the first WNBA Finals team to put up back-to-back games with 60% shooting from the field and 40% shooting from 3-point land. She also anchored a defensive unit that limited Stewart to just 14 points on 17 shots and a game-worse -27 +/-.

After getting snubbed from her third MVP award, Aja Wilson has flat-out dominated the WNBA Playoffs. Stewart, on the other hand, has struggled. Despite playing one fewer game, Wilson has outscored Stewart 174-154, outrebounded her 79-76, and has tallied more steals and blocks. Wilson has shot 60% (50% from 3) compared to just 36% (21% from 3) for Stewart.

Frankly, the gap between the two has been even larger in the WNBA Finals. Wilson has outperformed Stewart in points, rebounds, blocks, steals, shooting percentage, 3-point percentage, free throw percentage, and turnovers, and she has matched Stewart in assists.

For anyone who didn’t know before the WNBA Playoffs began, it has become abundantly clear that Aja Wilson is the superior player and the more deserving MVP. Breanna Stewart is great. Aja Wilson might go down as the greatest player of all-time.

In the best-of-five WNBA Finals, the 2-0 lead is a commanding one, but the Liberty have a puncher’s chance with the next two games (if they’re both necessary) in New York. No team has ever come back from a 2-0 deficit in any WNBA Playoffs series, however, and with how well Wilson and the Aces are performing, this one is all but over.