A'ja Wilson's 33 Points Power Aces Into Cup Final
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- A'ja Wilson scored 33 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Aces past the Mercury 86-76 in Phoenix, clinching the franchise's third Commissioner's Cup final berth.
- The Aces will face the New York Liberty at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 30 — a rematch of programs that have combined to win the past four WNBA championships.
- The Liberty advanced with an 86-64 win over the Washington Mystics on Sunday, capping a perfect 6-0 Commissioner's Cup run; the Aces finished 6-1 and held the tiebreaker over the Lynx after a 100-97 win Saturday.
- The Aces remain the only team to win both the Commissioner's Cup and the WNBA championship in the same season (2022), and no team has won the Cup twice since the in-season tournament began in 2021.
- Coach Becky Hammon downplayed the Cup's predictive value, saying the team is 'still trying to form our identity' and 'grind out ways to win basketball games.'
- A $500,000 prize pool is at stake in the June 30 finale, with the league splitting the purse among players and coaching staffs.
Why it matters: The Aces-Liberty Cup final is a rematch of the league's two recent dynasties, with Las Vegas still the only team to pair a Cup title with a championship in the same year — a standard Hammon insists her team has yet to earn. The Liberty's 6-0 Cup run underscores their depth, while $500,000 in prize money raises the stakes beyond a typical midseason exhibition.
