Sky-Aces Preview

After being bounced out of the playoffs on one of the defining shots in WNBA history, the Chicago Sky are on a mission to win, and it starts Saturday against the team that eliminated them - the Las Vegas Aces.

Dearica Hamby became a folk hero with her steal and unexpected 35-footer -- there were still eight seconds left when she let fly - that lifted the Aces to a 93-92 victory in the decisive Game 3 of their first-round playoff series. Las Vegas would only get one round further, but the loss has lingered with the Sky, who return their core unit and looking to build on a 20-win season.

"We all sacrificed to be here, you know? Time with our families, away from our pets, away from important things that we want to do," Sky point guard Courtney Vandersloot told the Chicago Sun-Times. "And so we're going to make the best of it, and we're here to win a championship. I think that's motivation."

The Sky's offense begins with Vandersloot, who has set the WNBA's single-season assists record two years running and averaged 9.1 dimes to go with 11.2 points per contest. Wife and perimeter partner Allie Quigley also returns as one of the league's top 3-point shooters, connecting on 44.2 percent of her long-range attempts and scored 13.8 points per contest.

Rounding out the focal offensive points is Diamond DeShields, who showed no sophomore jinix and totaled 16.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.2 steals per game. A potential X-factor for Chicago is first-round pick and forward Ruthy Hebard. The eighth overall pick in the draft, Hebard is no stranger to great point guard play, having run the pick-and-roll at Oregon with No. 1 overall selection Sabrina Ionescu and averaging 17.3 points and 9.6 rebounds with the Ducks.

"The Chicago Sky is not here on vacation," DeShields said. "We came here to play basketball. We came here to compete for a championship."

Unlike the Sky, the Aces will be dealing with some personnel moves as star center Liz Cambage has opted out of playing this season and point guard Kelsey Plum continues to recover from a torn Achilles. Cambage's absence means Hamby - who averaged 11.0 points and 7.6 rebounds -- moves into the starting lineup after winning Sixth Woman of the Year in 2019.

But Plum's replacement is the one who carries more intrigue - former Atlanta Dream guard Angel McCoughtry. She sat out last season rehabbing a torn ACL, and the five-time All-Star with a career scoring average of 19.1 points could again take her spot as one of the league's best two-way players if fully healthy.

As McCoughtry finds her way, forward A'ja Wilson is expected to be Las Vegas' go-to scorer. The No. 1 overall pick in 2018 had some sophomore growing pains playing alongside Cambage but still averaged 16.5 points and 6.4 rebounds in 26 games.

"The mental part is going to be the most demanding," Aces coach Bill Laimbeer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "You get here, and nothing is going to be the same that you're used to in training camp or life in general. I told them the teams that stick together mentally and pick each other up, and just try to be as mentally strong as they can, if it's sustainable, then those are the teams that are going to have an advantage."