Chelsea Gray showed off her brilliant shooting throughout the postseason and emerged as a candidate for the WNBA Finals MVP. In eight playoff games, Duke’s 5’11 guard averaged 23.3 points, 7.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game while shooting 60.5% from the field and 52.0% from beyond the arc.
“She makes big plays,” teammate Kelsey Plum said. Per ESPN. “She wants to have the ball when it matters. “When she has the ball, you feel secure.”
Her tenacious shot-making was a key reason Las Vegas entered Game 3 on Thursday with a 2-0 lead and a chance to sweep the series and win its first title in franchise history. Gray plays with a level of confidence and swagger that makes him one of the most dangerous players on the court. She has five 20-point games this postseason, one shy of the league’s all-time record, according to ESPN.
Heading into Game 3, 96 of Gray’s 124 shots in the playoffs were contested. She knocked down 61 of those contested shots (63.5%). That’s significantly better than the 50 percent she made on uncontested shots during Las Vegas’ run to the finals, according to ESPN.
“What makes her special is her ability to make contested shots,” Sun coach Kurt Miller said. “This league is full of amazing players who take open shots. The difference with Chelsea is that she hits more contested shots than anyone else. “Chelsea excels against a variety of players defending them.”
When asked about Gray’s high level of play, coach Becky Hammon spoke about how she and Gray immediately connected when Hammon first joined the Aces. The two point guards have bonded over the fact that they had to deal with two serious knee injuries during their careers, and can empathize with the process it took Gray to rebuild his career after suffering back-to-back knee injuries before the start of his professional career.
“But it builds the toughness you’ll need in the future,” Hammon said. “It’s really shocking for any athlete, but you only have two choices. Either you don’t get better or you try hard to get better. We saw what Chelsea did.”
The Aces will complete a series sweep of the Connecticut Sun on Thursday at 9 PM EST.
