NEW YORK (AP) — Without A'ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young, the Las Vegas Aces were no match for the New York Liberty, losing 111-71 on Sunday.
Coach Becky Hammon rested her top three players because the Aces were playing the second half of a difficult back-to-back after losing in Minnesota on Saturday.
“My players' health is the most important," Hammon said after the game. “You got to be healthy and fresh as much as possible, obviously, after going through a season. So, the health and safety of players come first. Where we end up (in the standings), we end up.”
Hammon felt resting her top players could help the team on the back end of the schedule because all three will be taking part in the FIBA World Cup next month, so they won't be getting any rest when the WNBA goes on break next month for a few weeks.
“I’m not going to put them in any kind of jeopardy to get hurt when we’ve been expending a lot of energy on travel and a lot of miles back and forth crisscrossing the country,” Hammon said.
The necessity to rest the trio happened because of a brutal schedule. After the loss to Minnesota, the team didn't arrive at its hotel in New York until nearly 10 p.m. after making the almost 1,200-mile trek from Minneapolis.
“I mean, everybody has a brutal schedule at some point. I don’t even think they do this in the NBA, though, where it’s less than 24 hours,” Hammon said. “With the time change, it ends up being that.”
The NBA, like the WNBA, actually won't make a team travel two times zones or have less than 22 hours between games if it’s playing consecutive days, according to a person familiar with scheduling. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about it.
Sunday’s game against the Liberty was on ABC and had a 12:30 p.m. EDT tipoff because the network was showing the Little League Softball World Series championship game afterward.
The early tipoff meant an early wake up and arriving at the arena less than 12 hours after the Aces got to their hotel.
Sunday's contest capped a five-game road trip for the Aces that started last Saturday in Chicago. The Aces lost that game and then went on to rout Atlanta. A stop in Indiana on Thursday ended with an overtime victory by Las Vegas thanks to buzzer-beating 3-pointers by Gray at the end of regulation and overtime.
Now the Aces head home for five straight games in Las Vegas.