Jackie

Young

While Young didn’t have her most productive game as a scorer through three quarters, the veteran guard functioned as the Aces’ main facilitator for most of Friday’s contest. She constantly set up her teammates for easy baskets throughout Game 4 to help keep the Las Vegas offense running smoothly. She contributed a couple of timely baskets and several free throws down the stretch, ultimately finishing just shy of a triple-double in what was a stellar postseason for the multiple-time WNBA All-Star.

While Gray wasn’t super efficient scoring the basketball, she still contributed in meaningful ways. She once again used her high basketball instincts and dexterity to frustrate Alyssa Thomas and interrupt her handles. Gray also made sure to facilitate, making sure that the Aces’ two best scorers in A’ja Wilson and Jackie Young received the ball in spots where they could create offense. Gray’s poise and experience came into play late on Wednesday night when the Aces were in danger of losing the game after having a 17-point lead. With 1:26 left in regulation and the game tied, Gray came off a Wilson screen and drove into the paint with Monique Akoa Makani following her. She used her strength to haul the ball up and over and into the basket to get the and-one call.

While Young didn’t score a ton in the first quarter, she poured it on in the second scoring nine of her 21 total points in the second quarter alone. Young was one step ahead of Monique Akoa Makani and found a way to take advantage of the smallest bits of space coming off of ball screens to be able to make her shots. After a slow third quarter scoring, Young came alive in the fourth and scored 6 of the Aces’ total 14 fourth quarter points. Also, Wednesday night was another evening that put Young’s playmaking on notice as she led the Aces with nine total assists. She found four different teammates including NaLyssa Smith, Jewell Loyd, Dana Evans and A’ja Wilson. Four of Wilson’s 11 field goals came on passes from Young as the combo guard has perfected not only her pick-and-roll chemistry with Wilson but her timing with Wilson. Young can easily get the ball to Wilson right in the spots she likes the most on the floor.

Wilson put on an MVP-caliber of a performance on Wednesday night. Not only did she make 55 percent of her 20 shots, but she led her team in rebounding and was responsible for almost 40 percent of her team’s total rebounds. What has stood out about Wilson’s game throughout the 2025 finals hasn’t been her scoring and rebounding as those have been constants in other Finals she’s competed in. Wilson’s playmaking and decision-making skills have taken a jump during the 2025 postseason. On Wednesday she made sure to find Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray when they both had better looks than she did. But of course it was Wilson who had the last laugh and the game’s final score. After the Mercury came back to tie the game after being down as many as 17 points, Wilson made a tough turnaround jumper over the outstretched arms of Alyssa Thomas with five seconds left in regulation to win the Aces the game and go up 3-0 in the series.

Young made history on Sunday as she recorded the highest-scoring individual quarter of any player in WNBA playoff history. The record-setting third-quarter had the All-Star guard tallying 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting to push the Aces’ lead from nine points at halftime to 15 points going into the fourth quarter. She managed two more points in the final frame to finish with a game-high, helping lead the Aces to a 2-0 series lead in the WNBA Finals.

Loyd had arguably her best performance of the playoffs on Friday, finishing as one of the Aces’ top scorers on the evening. Hot shooting and an eight-point opening quarter marked the high of her night, although she drained a huge three-pointer in the fourth quarter while the final outcome was still up in the air. Loyd, along with Dana Evans, combined to provide Las Vegas with 39 bench points and seven threes on a night in which Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray were cold from the field. She’ll look to land another strong performance on Sunday in Game 2 of the series.

Wilson began the game not her most efficient. She went into halftime shooting 5-of-13 from the field and only scoring 14 points off those 13 shots. But a switch flipped for Wilson after halftime where she scored 13 points in the third quarter and then six more in the fourth while shooting 8-of-12 from the floor in the final quarters of the game prior to overtime. When Wilson’s shot wasn’t falling she notably made sure to find teammates for better looks. She looked for an open Megan Gustafson on both a kick out three-pointer and a high-low action. Her other three assists were to Chelsea Gray and Jackie Young. Speaking of Young, she and Wilson made history becoming the first pair of teammates in WNBA history to score at least 30 points during the same postseason game.

Young scored at all three levels on Tuesday night in addition to finding four different teammates for her 10 assists. Two of those assists were to Chelsea Gray and Jewell Loyd during the the five minute overtime period. Young found both Gray and Loyd within less than a minute of each other in the same spot near the right corner pocket. On a heavy shot diet, 20 shots to be exact, Young was still efficient hitting 50% of all of her looks. Young and her teammate A’ja Wilson made history becoming the first pair of teammates in league history with at least 30 points scored in the same postseason game.

Young was once again efficient offensively for the Aces, shooting 60 percent from the field and tying for the team-high in assists in Game 4. However, she only attempted two shots, both makes, during the first half. While Indiana’s Lexie Hull deserves some credit for her defense, the Aces need Young to be more aggressive, especially as NaLyssa Smith (eight points, two rebounds and one blocked shot) and Jewell Loyd (six points, three rebounds, one steal, one block and two three-pointers) offer limited offensive production. Las Vegas returns home for a decisive Game 5 on Tuesday night.

Young was the Aces’ primary scoring threat throughout Friday’s contest. With A’ja Wilson struggling from the floor for much of the game, the former Most Improved Player attacked the Fever’s defense in a variety of ways — she utilized ball screens, used the three-point shot, and attacked in transition. Her efforts kept the Aces in the game during Indiana’s runs and ultimately led her to finish with a game-high in points. She also tallied four turnovers, but her contributions as a scorer vastly outweighed the negatives. Las Vegas will likely need more of the same from Young on Sunday if it wants to close out the series with a Game 4 victory.