Chelsea Gray, Aces rolling toward more records in another dominant season

Chelsea Gray threw away the first possession. After securing the tip from A’ja Wilson’s hands, she found room in the backcourt and launched a pass too high toward Candace Parker under the basket.

It set the tone for the rest of a tight back-and-forth battle Monday against the Indiana Fever in their third and final meeting of the season, she said. That is until she reset it in the clutch, as she so often does.

Gray’s jumper off Wilson’s screen put the Aces back in the lead by one with 2:15 left. She scored again on the same play next time down the floor. And on the following possession, she began to move toward her spot a third time in succession, but with tighter coverage.

Gray sliced a pass to Kelsey Plum, who hit the 3-pointer and made it 84-78, Aces, with 1:06 left. They went on to win, 88-80, with four free throws from Gray. She scored a season-high 25 points with five assists and four rebounds.

Point gawd. Shooting gawd. Gawd darn incredible down the stretch. Call her whatever you want (including an All-Star after being the only starting Ace not there last summer), Gray has continued her exceptional play from the postseason into 2023 and has the reigning champion Aces again in historically dominant territory.

Another test of the team’s mettle will come Thursday night when Las Vegas (13-1) hosts the New York Liberty (10-3) in the first meeting of the super teams (10 p.m. ET, Prime Video). They are first and second, respectively, in the standings and are currently each leading their respective conferences in the Commissioner’s Cup standings.

The two sides’ starting lineups have the best offensive rating of any five-some that has played at least 40 minutes together, another signifier of super-team status.

The Liberty set of Courtney Vandersloot, Betnijah Laney, Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu have a 114.4 offensive rating. But the Aces’ pairing of Gray, Parker, Plum, Wilson and Jackie Young are slightly better at 115.9 and have played three more games. Their defensive rating (93.2) also blows out the Liberty’s (104.6).

Collectively, the Aces’ entire roster is chasing history again this season.

Las Vegas records to watch

Las Vegas started the season hot, scoring at least 90 points in each of its first five games to set a record. The stretch of six consecutive 90-plus-point games dating to 2022 fell one game short of the record.

The Aces could become the eighth team in league history to lead the pack in both offensive and defensive efficiency ratings at 114.6 and 95.7, respectively. Their average win margin of 17.846 points is currently second, although the team has played more weak teams early, behind the 2019 Mystics’ average win margin of 19.462.

The Aces’ 92.786 points per game currently ranks third all time, slightly edging out the 2019 Washington Mystics (89.265) and their own 2022 season (90.44). It trails the Mercury teams of 2010 (93.882) and 2009 (92.8242). The 2010 Mercury team is the only one of the bunch to not win the title.

With more regular-season games on the schedule, the Aces could easily surpass other Mystics marks. The Aces have six wins of at least 20 points, trailing the Mystics’ 13. Their four wins by at least 25 points are half of the Mystics’. They’re already only one off of tying the 2013 Los Angeles Sparks’ record of four 30-point wins.

Dominance to championship?

The Aces entered Monday night’s game against the Fever with an average winning margin of 15.9 points, which is the highest of any WNBA team through 13 games. Scoring differential has often forecast eventual WNBA champions as outlined in the Aces’ game notes.

The team that led the league in scoring differential won the title 19 out of the 26 times heading into this season. Interestingly, it has been two consecutive seasons of the team with the best scoring differential not winning. The Connecticut Sun were +9.8 in 2021 and lost in the semifinals, then +8.0 in 2022 and lost in the Finals to Vegas. It’s the third time the scoring differential leader has missed out on the title in back-to-back seasons, and never in history has it happened three times.

What’s really going in the Aces’ favor is that every team in history that has a double-digit scoring differential to lead the league has won the title, including powerhouse teams of 2020 Seattle (+11.5), 2019 Washington (+12) and 2017 Minnesota (+11.1). The 1998 Houston Comets (+12.7) and 2000 Comets (+12.8) are also in that category.

No Gray area: She’s an All-Star

Back to Gray, the facilitator of another historic offense. The “point gawddd,” as dubbed by Parker, her former Sparks teammate, turned it all the way up to lead Las Vegas to its first championship in franchise history. She was named Finals MVP for one of the most incredible postseason performances in memory.

In the four-game Finals, she averaged 18.3 points and six assists per game, shooting 58%. Her semifinals performance against Seattle was even more impressive with a 31-point, 10-assist line in the clincher off a 29-point, 12-assist performance. Not to mention she was better with a defender in her face than without.

“Playoff Chelsea is a different beast,” Wilson said during the postseason.

Wouldn’t want to be a team tasked with taming that this playoffs. Gray, an eight-year veteran, is averaging 14.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.5 steals through 14 games.

What’s more incredible is the shots she’s taking and the efficiency in which she’s making them.

Gray is shooting 51.4% overall, 49% from 3 and 96.2% from the free-throw line. She’s missed one free throw the entire season on 26 attempts and it didn’t happen until the 12th game of the season. The 5-foot-11 guard is in contention to join Mystics forward Elena Delle Donne as the only WNBA players in the 50/40/90 club (only eight NBA players are in it), and she could even set her own club at a higher clip of 50/50/90. Notably, Delle Donne set the mark in 2019 en route to Washington’s championship.

Dating back a year from July 6 (right around the time she was not named to the All-Star team), Gray is averaging 16.4 points and 6.6 assists with a shooting line of 54.9/48.7/90.7 over 38 games. Only four players have averaged at least 16 points and six assists per season and none has shot nearly as well as Gray.

Parker hit 48.9% of her shots in 2015 when she averaged 19.4 and 6.3. Diana Taurasi hit 34.6% of her 3s when she averaged 20.3 and 6.2 in 2013. And Ionescu was 93.1% from the free-throw line last season when she averaged 17.4 and 6.3, and is the only player to best a Gray average in the group.

I’ll be home for All-Star

Gray is joined as an All-Star starter by Wilson, who will be a captain along with Stewart and Young. The reserves will be announced Saturday after a coaches’ vote.

As expected with a historically strong offense, the Aces are loading the top of the statistics charts. Young is averaging a sixth-best 19.9 points per game, a slim margin above Wilson’s 19.6.

Young, whose overall and 3-point percentages each rank third, is aiming for her own unique shooting club. With a line of 57.9/48.4/83.1, she could start the 60-40-80 group. Her 3-point efficiency ranks third, and she has the most attempts (64) of anyone in the top 15 outside of Ionescu (42.2% on 83 attempts).

The former No. 1 overall pick is in contention for the franchise scoring record of 20.67 points per game set by Wilson in 2018. Wilson is first, second and fifth on the list. Plum’s 20.17 average from last season is third.

Wilson is sixth in rebounds per game (9.4) and second in blocks per game (2.21). Plum is 15th in scoring (17.1 ppg), making the Aces the only franchise with three players ranked top 15 in the category. She’s also in the top 15 in assists (3.9).

Parker won’t be breaking any career marks statistically as the team’s flashy free-agent signing to fill out the starting five, but she’s been a critical part of both sides of the ball. Gray, Parker and Young are all averaging 1.5 steals per game (top 10) and Wilson averages 1.36.