To use a phrase commonly linked to Las Vegas, the Storm were playing with house money heading into Game 2 of the WNBA semifinals.
They had a 1-0 lead with a chance to seize a dominant grip on the best-of-five series Wednesday night at Michelob ULTRA Arena.
The Storm’s inability to exploit mismatches against the Las Vegas Aces’ small lineup cost them the game and led to a 78-73 defeat.
Game 3 is noon Sunday in Seattle.
Undoubtedly, coach Noelle Quinn will use the next three days devising schemes to take advantage of Las Vegas’ four-guard lineup and slowing down A’ja Wilson, who carried the Aces all night long.
“With A’ja just understanding they’re going to get her the ball and just getting ready for that,” Quinn said before the game. “At the end of the day, it’s KYP (know your personnel). Knowing who you’re matched up on and knowing they’re coming with a different level of energy, intensity and effort and we have to combat that.”
After scoring just eight points in the series opener, Wilson tallied a playoff career-high 33 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks.
Breanna Stewart was just as good while tallying 32 points, seven rebounds, three assists and three blocks.
Aside from Tina Charles (17 points and nine rebounds) every other Storm player struggled against Las Vegas’ new-look defense.
Jewell Loyd, the Game 1 hero, finished with eight points on 2-for-10 shooting while Sue Bird and Stephanie Talbot each had six points.
The MVP candidates Stewart and Wilson effectively negated each other and the Storm had difficulty containing Chelsea Gray (19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists) and Kelsey Plum (18 points).
Aces coach Becky Hammon switched to a four-guard lineup early in the first quarter in which backup Riquna Williams replaced center Kiah Stokes, who missed 5 of 7 shots in Game 1.
Stewart feasted on the small-ball lineup, which had her paired against guards Jackie Young and Williams.
At that time, momentum switched to the Storm after Bird drew an offensive foul on Gray, which prompted an emotional verbal outburst from the Aces guard, who picked up a technical foul.
The Storm finished the first quarter with a 10-0 to take a 23-16 lead. Las Vegas regained control while outscoring Seattle 20-13 in the second period and the teams were tied 36-36 at halftime.
Seattle trailed 60-52 at the start of the fourth quarter and trimmed its deficit to 75-73 with 19.9 seconds left.
On the ensuing possession, Wilson drained a pair of free throws to keep the Storm at bay.