{"id":171727,"date":"2025-08-24T12:57:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T12:57:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/171727\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T12:57:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T12:57:10","slug":"becky-hammons-blunt-response-to-aja-wilsons-mvp-tear-says-it-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/171727\/","title":{"rendered":"Becky Hammon\u2019s blunt response to A\u2019ja Wilson\u2019s MVP tear says it all"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6g\">The Aces and A\u2019ja Wilson are on fire, going into the final six games of the season trying to keep an already impressive ten-game win streak alive. After looking like a team that would struggle to make the playoffs to start the season, the Aces <a href=\"https:\/\/highposthoops.com\/aces-will-get-back-to-championship-form-if-becky-hammon-gets-her-wish\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">surged to the No.3 seed<\/a>, surpassing the New York Liberty and Phoenix Mercury in the standings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6j\">A\u2019ja Wilson has, unsurprisingly, been the engine behind the Aces\u2019 success. She scored 30 or more points in five of the last ten games and recorded eight double-doubles. With Napheesa Collier sidelined due to an ankle injury, Wilson has done her best to <a href=\"https:\/\/highposthoops.com\/a-ja-wilson-thrilling-late-season-burst-threatens-napheesa-collier-mvp-run\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">turn around the MVP conversation in her favor<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6m\">After Wilson recorded 36 points on 63.6% shooting from the field, 13 rebounds, one assist, two steals, and two blocks in a 91-81 win over the Washington Mystics, Aces head coach Becky Hammon was asked if she thought Wilson was the MVP of the league yet again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6p\">\u201cThere\u2019s zero doubts in my mind,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/m.youtube.com\/watch?v=8qE5k7YCuOE\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Hammon responded<\/a> confidently.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6s\">Hammon isn\u2019t the first coach to push her star player\u2019s MVP case this weekend. Nate Tibbetts made the case for <a href=\"https:\/\/highposthoops.com\/star-s-continued-greatness-elicits-blunt-mvp-admission-from-mercury-coach\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">why Alyssa Thomas should win MVP<\/a>, and Cheryl Reeve advocated for Napheesa Collier, arguing that the Lynx wouldn\u2019t be the top team in the league without her. Adding Hammon\u2019s statement to the list of MVP endorsements says everything there is to be said about this year\u2019s MVP race: it is a close race. All three players have been playing exceptionally well and deserve the honor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s MVP race is reminiscent of the one in 2023<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-6\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6y\">The MVP race is different every year. Last season, for example, there was no doubt that A\u2019ja Wilson was the MVP. She won the award unanimously. In the previous season, the choice wasn\u2019t quite as obvious. Much like this year, three players made excellent cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"71\">Breanna Stewart, Alyssa Thomas, and A\u2019ja Wilson were battling it out, leading the top three teams in the league and putting up impressive numbers all around.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"74\">Stewart ultimately won the award with 446 points and 20 first-place votes. Thomas and Wilson weren\u2019t far behind, though, receiving 439 and 433 points, respectively.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"77\">This year\u2019s MVP race seems very similar with three players making strong cases. Collier has the clear advantage that she is playing for the best team in the league and leads the league in points per game while also leading the best defense in the WNBA. She does everything for a team that has suffered few losses with her on the court this season. Wilson and Thomas have historic milestones on their side, though. Thomas continues to break any triple-double record imaginable, and Wilson was the first player in WNBA history to finish a game with at least 30 points and 20 rebounds.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Aces and A\u2019ja Wilson are on fire, going into the final six games of the season trying&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":171728,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-171727","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wnba","8":"tag-sports","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wnba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115083860038013670","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}