Chelsea Gray has emerged as a WNBA Finals MVP candidate thanks to her stellar shooting throughout the postseason. The 5’11 guard from Duke averaged 23.3 points, 7.1 assists and 3.9 rebounds in eight playoff games, shooting 60.5 percent from the field and 52.0 percent from beyond the arc.
“She makes big plays,” teammate Kelsey Plumb said. Per ESPN. “She wants the ball in important situations. She feels safe when she has the ball.”
Her tough shot-making was a crucial reason Las Vegas entered Thursday’s Game 3 with a 2-0 lead and a chance to sweep the series and win the first title in franchise history. Gray plays with confidence, making him the most dangerous player on the court. According to ESPN, she has five 20-point, five-dime games in the postseason, one shy of the league’s all-time record.
Heading into Game 3, 96 of Gray’s 124 shots in the playoffs were contested. She knocked down 61 of the contested shots (63.5 percent). According to ESPN, that was significantly better than the 50 percent of shots she took in no contests when Las Vegas reached the finals.
“What makes her special is her ability to make contested shots,” Sun coach Curt Miller said. “There are a lot of great players in this league who make open shots, and the thing about Chelsea is that she makes more contested shots than anyone else. Elite in this respect.”
When asked about Gray’s high-level play, coach Becky Hammon talked about how she and Gray hit it off right away when Hammon first joined the Aces. The two point guards bonded over the fact that they had to deal with two serious knee injuries during their careers, with Gray suffering back-to-back knee injuries before beginning his professional career. After that, I can empathize with the process it took to rebuild my career.
“But it builds a toughness in you that you’ll need in the future,” Hammon said. “When you’re an athlete, it’s devastating, but you really only have two options: either you don’t get better or you try harder to get better. We did what Chelsea did. I have seen it.”
The Aces will look to complete the series sweep at the Connecticut Sun on Thursday at 9pm ET.
