WNBA Finals: 'Silent assassin' Jackie Young rises among bevy of top players in Aces' Game 1 win

LAS VEGAS — A’ja Wilson recalled the raised eyebrows when the Las Vegas Aces drafted Jackie Young with the No. 1 pick in 2019. In the years since, she’s reminded Young she has to prove herself as a rightful No. 1 pick every single night.

Young was every bit the part alongside four other former No. 1 picks, including Wilson, in Game 1 of the highly anticipated WNBA Finals battle of the super-teams Sunday. She was the best of the bunch in the first half and scored a playoff-career-high 26 points to lead the Aces to a 99-82 win against the New York Liberty at a sold-out Michelob Ultra Arena.

“I had an opportunity there to get downhill and so I just want to be aggressive the whole game to kind of take what the defense has given me and I was able to make the bucket,” Young said. “I mean, at the end of the day, I think it comes from our defense and getting stops.”

Young, whom head coach Becky Hammon and teammates felt was a snub from the All-Defensive Team, excelled on both sides of the ball to spur the Aces two wins away from a repeat championship. Young limited the Liberty’s guards from making much of an impact (28 points combined), while flowing with Kelsey Plum and Chelsea Gray to score 72 points for the Aces’ backcourt.

The Aces, a homegrown super-team of three No. 1 picks, kept it close in the first half in a performance Hammon said was a C-minus. The players gave it a D, she said. But it was Young who had them down only three, 49-46. She was 3-of-4 from the 3-point line for 12 points, trailing Plum’s team-leading 14. Hammon said she wanted Young in “Baby ’Bron mode,” fitting since LeBron James was one of the celebrities in attendance.

“She’s really taking the challenge of getting downhill,” Hammon said. “She’s strong. She absorbs a lot of contact, like ’Bron, she doesn’t look like she’s getting hit, but she’s getting hit, and she just absorbs it.”

It was a four-point Aces lead with 12.5 seconds in the third quarter when Young completed an and-1 to go up, 72-65, before a scorching offensive conclusion from the league’s leader in scoring. Plum hit a floater and Gray drove in for the layup to make it an 11-point lead.

Young stole the ball from Betnijah Laney on the end line and brought it up court where she was met by 6-foot-6 Liberty center Jonquel Jones at the arc. She passed to Gray, cut past a turning Jones to the basket, and delivered an easy layup for her final points of the game. New York took a timeout trailing 78-65, but was never able to cut too far into the deficit and trailed by as many as 22 points as the Aces guards torched the Liberty defense.

“She’s scoring on different levels being able to shoot [and] being able to get downhill,” Jones said. “I think on that play with me, I just kind of fell asleep. I was guarding her for a long time, she gave the ball up and I jumped into helpside.”

Young entered the WNBA Draft as an eligible junior after three years at Notre Dame. She wasn’t much of a 3-point shooter, attempting about one per game in college and over her first three seasons in the league. Under Hammon, she has developed into a lethal weapon from deep and for much of the 2023 season was on pace for a record 60/50/90 season. She finished at 52.3/44.9/86.7.

Heading into Game 1, she said she focused on being aggressive and confident. Young is notoriously shy, a jarring contrast to her jokester teammates who take every opportunity in news conferences to send jabs. Wilson, the No. 1 pick out of South Carolina the year prior to Young’s draft, said she makes sure she pulls confidence out of Young because of that shyness.

“She kind of likes to beat around bushes, but I’m like, ‘Absolutely not. That’s not you. I know you have it in you,’” said Wilson, who had 19 points, eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals. “And I love pulling it out of her because when you see that you get the best Jackie.”

Gray, who joined the Aces as a free agent ahead of the 2021 season, will pick her moments on the court telling Young when to go and get to her spots.

“When I came into this team, I said, ‘You’re the silent assassin for real,’” Gray said. “She’s a hoop, she’s a dog and I just love she’s a two-way player all the time offensively and defensively. And you need that on your team.”

It was defensively that Young credited most for her offense, and the team’s win. Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said the Aces’ defense was “as good as I’ve ever seen it.” The Aces held New York to 16 and 17 points in the final quarters, outscoring their counterparts, 53-33. And they scored 16 points off of 11 Liberty turnovers.

“I’m surprised we only had 11 turnovers,” Brondello said. “It felt like more.”

Young had three of the team’s seven steals and helped keep the Liberty’s guards from going off. Marine Johannès led the Liberty with 14 first-half points in 10:56 off the bench and hit multiple fading or one-legged 3-pointers. But she didn’t add any in nine minutes of play in the second half.

“Apparently, Johannès really likes to play against us. She hits tough ones,” Hammon said. “Like, I’m just a huge fan — other than when she’s playing us.”

The Liberty's Courtney Vandersloot struggled for much of the game, going 1-of-7 before finishing 4-of-11 for 10 points. Laney had 11 points after a hot playoff run. She came into the game having scored fewer than 19 points only once. Sabrina Ionescu couldn’t find her own 3-point spots and had seven points, shooting 2-of-7 from the field and 1-of-5 from 3.

Ionescu, who won the All-Star 3-Point Contest in a historic showing at Michelob Ultra Arena in July, was one player Hammon also noted likes to play against the Aces. She scored at least 22 points with at least five 3s in three of the teams’ four regular-season meetings.

“I just challenged [Young] to take that head on and they like challenges,” Hammon said.

Hammon has been vocal about Young not being named to the All-Defensive first or second team this year, and reiterated her disappointment given Young’s focus and success all season long.

“I think Jack is just scratching the surface of how great she can be,” Hammon said.

Young said she “obviously noticed” she wasn’t on the team, but is focused on her role and doing what she can to help the team.

“Winning takes care of everything,” she said, sunglasses and tunnel walk fit on, before leaving the arena two wins away from a second championship.