PHOENIX \u2014 From the bottom of her right ear, etched precariously down the side of her neck, is the reminder of what Jewell Loyd has gone through the last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m resilient,\u201d Loyd said.<\/p>\n
That was the response Loyd gave when asked what she\u2019s learned most about herself after spending the first 10 years of her career in Seattle \u2014 how she\u2019s adjusting to new life in a new chapter of her career.<\/p>\n
She answered without being prompted about the tattoo she got before her first season in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
The word \u201cresilient\u201d stretches vertically down her neck. It\u2019s a mantra of what the Aces\u2019 sharpshooting guard has endured, sketched in the most sensitive of areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing that I\u2019ve grown a lot in who I am, where my life\u2019s at,\u201d Loyd said, \u201cit\u2019s way bigger than basketball to me. Little things that I tried to do earlier in my career or do things you try to prove, that\u2019s irrelevant.\u201d<\/p>\n
Loyd\u2019s first season in Las Vegas could end Friday hoisting the WNBA trophy when the Aces attempt to complete a 4-0 finals sweep of the Phoenix Mercury. The title would be the Aces\u2019 third in four seasons.<\/p>\n
\u2018It\u2019s been great\u2019<\/p>\n
The 32-year-old\u2019s resiliency was tested before she even joined the Aces.<\/p>\n
Loyd requested a trade from the Seattle Storm \u2014 the team that drafted her No. 1 overall in 2015 \u2014 in December, three weeks after the team launched an investigation regarding accusations of harassment and bullying from the coaching staff. No wrongdoing was found.<\/p>\n
She was traded to the Aces on Jan. 26<\/a> in a three-team deal that sent standout guard Kelsey Plum to the Los Angeles Sparks.<\/p>\n Loyd has never responded publicly to what went wrong in Seattle. She also took the high road<\/a> when a Storm assistant coach allegedly cursed<\/a> at Loyd in her return to Seattle on June 1.<\/p>\n Whatever happened, Loyd has moved on. Her new surroundings have put her at peace with everything.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been nice to be in a new area and new city, find out more about myself,\u201d Loyd said. \u201cJust being around great people. I can\u2019t say enough. This organization, from top to bottom, has been some of the best people I\u2019ve been around, just understanding who we are as people, what we need as people.\u201d<\/p>\n The transition on the court, however, got off to a slow start. Loyd\u2019s 11.2 points per game this season were the lowest since her Rookie of the Year campaign in 2015 (10.7). She started the first 25 games, averaging 10.4 points on 36 percent shooting.<\/p>\n Then she approached coach Becky Hammon with a crazy idea: Move her to the bench.<\/p>\n It worked. The Aces won 18 of their next 19 games, including the franchise-record 16-game winning streak they took into the playoffs. Loyd, in 27 minutes, shot 42 percent from the floor and 41 percent from 3-point range in that stretch.<\/p>\n \u201cShe just keeps playing the game and the next play, and that\u2019s really great as a coach,\u201d Hammon said. \u201cBut as a teammate, she\u2019s about the next play and winning the next play for the group, whoever that is.\u201d<\/p>\n Mamba mentality<\/p>\n The Aces didn\u2019t get off to as slow of a start<\/a> in Game 3 of the finals as they did the first two games. They trailed 8-4, but weren\u2019t playing poorly in a hostile environment against a team trailing 2-0 in the best-of-seven series.<\/p>\n Loyd entered the game with 6:57 remaining.<\/p>\n Point guard Chelsea Gray said Loyd\u2019s \u201ccalm, confident personality\u201d is infectious. Though Loyd isn\u2019t as loud as she is, Gray sees \u201ca lot of relatable things with her and Kobe (Bryant) being around her.\u201d<\/p>\n Loyd, nicknamed the Gold Mamba by the late NBA legend, channeled that mindset with four straight 3-pointers during a 17-0 run to take a 21-8 lead.<\/p>\n Those were the only baskets Loyd made. She finished with 16 points in 30 minutes, but that stretch was crucial to the Aces\u2019 90-88 win Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI know everybody looks at the stat sheet and goes, \u2018Oh, she had four threes.\u2019 But she\u2019s doing so many other things,\u201d Hammon said. \u201cSprinting to the corner and getting space for everybody. It\u2019s such a selfless thing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018That damn Jewell Loyd\u2019<\/p>\n Loyd, a two-time champion with the Storm, improved to 9-0 all time in the WNBA Finals. Three of those wins came against the Aces in the 2020 \u201cWubble\u201d during the COVID-19 pandemic in Bradenton, Florida.<\/p>\n A\u2019ja Wilson had a front-row seat to it all in her first finals appearance that year. She knew the series was over before it started.<\/p>\n Not because of how overmatched the Aces were against a high-powered Seattle team.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I saw Jewell with gold Kobes on, I said, \u2018Yeah, it\u2019s been cool,\u2019\u201d Wilson said, laughing.<\/p>\n The four-time WNBA MVP has gotten to appreciate Loyd\u2019s work ethic, calling it \u201cmagical.\u201d Her footwork and finding ways to creating space are masterful.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes my jaw is dropped because I\u2019m like, \u2018That\u2019s that damn Jewell Loyd,\u2019\u201d Wilson said. \u201cI\u2019m grateful that she\u2019s now with us, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n Loyd appreciates the culture that the Aces have set. She said Hammon always asks about family and other off-court things that make it easier to come to work.<\/p>\n When it comes to basketball, Loyd said, she just wants to play and \u201cwe want to celebrate everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s one win from celebrating a championship for a third time, putting a cap on the season that is her new tattoo\u2019s namesake.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve never liked the attention. I\u2019m glad that it\u2019s never been about me,\u201d Loyd said. \u201cBut now I\u2019m able to really connect with all the people and give back.\u201d<\/p>\n Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @DannyWebster21<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n Up next<\/strong><\/p>\n Who:<\/strong> Aces at Mercury<\/p>\n What:<\/strong> WNBA Finals, Game 4 (Aces lead 3-0)<\/p>\n When:<\/strong> 5 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n Where:<\/strong> Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix<\/p>\n TV:<\/strong> ESPN<\/p>\n Radio:<\/strong> KRLV-AM (920)<\/p>\n Line:<\/strong> Aces -3\u00bd; total 163<\/p>\n Series schedule<\/strong><\/p>\n Game 1: Aces 89-86 <\/p>\n Game 2: Aces 91-78<\/p>\n Game 3: Aces 90-88<\/p>\n Game 4: at Mercury, 5 p.m. Friday<\/p>\n x-Game 5: at Aces, noon Sunday<\/p>\n x-Game 6: at Phoenix, 5 p.m. Wednesday<\/p>\n x-Game 7: at Aces, 5 p.m., Oct. 17<\/p>\n x-If necessary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 From the bottom of her right ear, etched precariously down the side of her neck, is…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":291611,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[62,67,132,68,232],"class_list":{"0":"post-291610","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\/115349198255496651","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291610","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=291610"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/291610\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/291611"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=291610"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=291610"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=291610"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}