Star Power On And Off The Court: Aces Win Game 2 With Usher In 'The House'

The Las Vegas Aces are THAT team!

They took an exciting 2-0 lead in the 2025 WNBA Finals against the Phoenix Mercury on Sunday afternoon in “The House." For the first time in league history, the Finals is a best-of-seven series and Game 1 and 2 belong to the Aces. The final score was 91-78.

Not only was there excitement on the court, but many celebrities came out to support the Aces, including Usher!

Sunday afternoon brought another thrilling matchup at Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, with Aces fans packing the stands and bringing nonstop energy.

A’ja Wilson had 28 points, 14 rebounds, and 3 assists. Chelsea Gray added 10 points, 8 rebounds, and 10 assists. Jackie Young scored her playoff career high 32 points. Young and Wilson’s combined 60 points marked the second-highest total ever by a duo in a Finals game in league history.

According to a press release sent to The Blast from the WNBA, “The win marks the Aces’ first Game 2 win in the 2025 postseason, as they entered the game 0-2 in Game 2s in 2025.”

Many celebrities celebrated the Aces big Game 2 win in Vegas.

Usher made a stylish appearance courtside for Game 2, rocking a pair of A’Ones, Wilson’s signature Nike sneakers, in a show of support for the Aces star. The moment didn’t go unnoticed by Wilson, who has long been vocal about her admiration for the R&B icon. She’s called Usher one of her all-time favorites and seeing him courtside wearing her shoes added an extra layer of excitement to an already electric matchup.

Also at the game, Candace Parker and her family, Speedy Morman, Sheryl Swoopes, Lloyd (who performed at halftime), and Floyd Mayweather.

Going back to Game 1's victory, the bench was a highlight of the game. During the postgame press conference following Game 1 of the Finals, head coach Becky Hammon shared her thoughts on the bench playing a huge role in the game.

“We’ve got options. Dana is a little scorer. She is a problem. You saw it in the previous series. Indiana switched their whole defense whenever she came in the game. They jumped into their zone to keep her out of the paint,” she said. “I thought that we responded well in the second half. Even some of the shots they hit, they hit some tough ones. You just gotta weather those storms but there are definitely things we know we can do better.”

She called Jewel and Dana two “really big time players.” And continued to say, “We have weapons and we want to use them all because we are harder to guard that way.”

She reiterated why it was a good time for the bench to have such a great game.

“It was just a really great time for our bench to come up and have a big game because I think you saw a little bit of fatigue maybe from Jackie and A’ja who kind of carried us through that last Game 5 so the rest is really important at this point for both of them,” she said. “That’s what makes us a difficult team. We have that potential for somebody else to come up and get 20, not just A [A’ja], Jack [Jackie], and Chels [Chelsea], but multiple options. They were timely today. Our bench was huge.” 

After Game 1, Wilson and Evans also took questions from the media. Wilson, who always talks positively about her teammates, shared some insight into two players who “probably go unnoticed a little bit.” 

“Dana’s our battery. She makes us play at a different pace. I told her, we go, she goes. And that’s a quick pace but we’re always gonna try to follow her because we all know she’s very hard to stop in this league, very hard to keep in front of,” Wilson said. 

“When it comes to Jewel, this has always been Jewel. These two people particularly are two of the most hard working people that I see in practice every single day. They want every drill to be perfection, and so when it comes to these types of games, it comes by no surprise to me, because I’m blessed to see it every single day. But I’m so glad they can share their gift with the world because I know they probably go unnoticed a little bit but they show up on time always and we’re grateful for that.” 

A topic on many WNBA fans' minds is the ongoing CBA negotiations and the future of the league. When asked about the negotiations, WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert said, “I think it’s all about balancing the significant increase in salaries and benefits with the long-term viability of the league.” 

“We’ve made proposals with significant rev share components already in the money, rev share components as I reported I guess it was at All-Star. They’re obviously bargaining for more. So we’re just trying to obviously balance looking out many years, because CBAs are typically several years long, whether it’s eight years, six years, whatever you want to call it,” she told the media. 

“So looking out to make sure - I think the players want this, too, that the next generation of players that come after them have a viable league to play in. That’s what we’re just kind of going back and forth determining where that right balance is.” 

She explained that she wants the owners to have a “viable business” and that they are looking to expand the league to 18 teams “by the end of the decade.” 

Next game is Wednesday in Phoenix. Game 4 will also be in Phoenix, and if a Game 5 is necessary, it will be back in Vegas.