The Las Vegas Aces had Game 2 against the Indiana Fever under control. Until they didn’t.
Before they knew it, Caitlin Clark, enflamed by a technical foul, turned the game around in the second quarter, helping the Fever rally, take control in the second half, and stave off elimination and send the series back to Las Vegas for Game 3.
Obviously, Clark’s stellar play (27 points, 15 assists, seven rebounds) before fouling out in the fourth quarter is the major storyline most will focus on. But just as important was the struggle of another star to dominate the way she did in the series opener.
The final statline (22 points, nine rebounds, three steals) says Aces megastar and MVP frontrunner A’ja Wilson had a solid performance in the Game 2 loss. But that doesn’t tell the entire story, not just because she couldn’t match her 38-point explosion from a few days ago in Vegas.
A'ja Wilson on the heated exchange with a fan on the baseline.
— ESPN (@espn) September 30, 2026
Wilson was assessed a technical foul and the fan was removed from their seat. pic.twitter.com/woeXm06Lic
After going 15-of-19 from the field in Game 1, Wilson got up just 11 shot attempts in this one, making five in addition to going 12-of-13 from the charity stripe. Most notably, Wilson didn’t attempt a single shot in a critical third quarter. You read that right. She didn’t just go scoreless. She literally didn’t shoot once—not even a free throw.
By the time she started getting involved with shots and free throws in the final frame, the damage was largely done. (And that was before the incident with the fan that got her heated and earned her a technical foul.)
That simply can’t happen if the Aces want to oust the upstart Fever squad and their star Clark, who now has her first playoff win under her belt and looked activated in front of her home crowd.
As head coach Becky Hammon mentioned during a timeout, the Fever’s aggressive defense in the second quarter and beyond, which included some intense double-teams in the paint and a sprinkle of full-court pressure, had Wilson and the Aces out of sorts after the opening stanza. That often meant Wilson’s one-on-one touches happened further from the basket, forcing her to either give up the ball or take contested midrange jumpers to avoid bringing doubles. Now that the Aces have seen that, they need to scheme up ways to free Wilson up for isolation touches or to better punish the Fever for being over-aggressive defensively.
Sure, Wilson can’t be expected to score 38 points every night, nor does she need to. (Jackie Young, who put up 31 in Game 2, is pretty good, after all.) But when you have the best player in the world on your team, you have to make sure she gets her shots one way or another. And if she’s not feeling comfortable or in a flow on offense, you have to figure out a way to get her there.
Fortunately, the Aces will get to dictate the terms of engagement more on Thursday in Las Vegas, and the day off will give Wilson, Hammon, and Co. time to develop their counter to the Fever’s increased pressure. Plus, one can imagine she’s going to come out determined to put Indiana away after the way this game ended. It wouldn’t be surprising to see her shoot 10 times in the first quarter, honestly.
That’s what it’s going to take for the Aces to win. Because if the first few games of this series have taught us, the Aces need more A’ja Wilson, not less.
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