In 2023, the three-headed monster of Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young and Kelsey Plum was an unstoppable unit most nights, culminating in a WNBA Finals series when the perimeter trio convincingly outplayed its New York Liberty counterparts, even without Gray in the closeout win.

As the WNBA season hurtles towards its conclusion and four teams compete for a spot in the finals, the Las Vegas Aces staved off elimination with a win against the New York Liberty, while Napheesa Collier made franchise history for the Minnesota Lynx as they took a 2-1 series lead over the Connecticut Sun.

The Aces forced a game four on Friday night at home after beating the New York Liberty for the first time this season.

Sabrina Ionescu was arguably the best player over the first two games of the semifinal series between the New York Liberty and Las Vegas Aces, as she led her team to a 2-0 lead. That was decidedly not the case on Friday night,

The Las Vegas Aces take on the New York Liberty in Game 3 of their WNBA semifinal playoff series on Friday, Oct. 4.

But on Tuesday night, after the Aces lost to the New York Liberty 88-84 — a defeat which pushed Las Vegas to 0-2 in the series and to the brink of elimination — coach Becky Hammon crafted another slogan: “It was Aces vs. Aces tonight. We were beating ourselves.”

Jackie Young scored 24 points and the Las Vegas Aces took control with a 16-point third-quarter run to stave off elimination with a 95-81 win over the New York Liberty in Game 3 of the WNBA semifinals

The Liberty, who lead the series 2-1, will get another shot at closing out the two-time defending champion Aces on Sunday.

Up 2-0 in the semifinals, the New York Liberty were adamant they hadn’t accomplished anything of note. All the No. 1 seed in the postseason had done was win their home games, which was to be expected.

On the verge of elimination, the Aces showed Friday night as the two-time defending WNBA champions they weren’t ready to go quietly.Las Vegas took control with