Aces and Liberty face 0-1 holes after defensive meltdowns in WNBA semifinals

The No. 3 Las Vegas Aces lost Game 1, 71-60, to the No. 2 Golden State Valkyries on Sunday, and the No. 8 New York Liberty dropped their opener, 92-82, to the No. 4 Atlanta Dream, per sports.yahoo.com.

Both WNBA champions now face a 0-1 deficit in their best-of-five semifinal series, with Game 2s scheduled for Wednesday.

The Valkyries and Dream are two of the league's three best regular-season defensive units, according to sports.yahoo.com, and they showed why on home court. The defenses stood strongest to start the semifinals after a regular season defined by high-powered offenses.

The two most recent champions were put on the back foot early, but neither roster is flailing heading into the next game.

DEFENSIVE MELTDOWNS

The Aces did not just lose Game 1. They lost it the way their coach said they would if they ignored the one thing she preached for two days.

"We played like ass and only lost by 10," Aces coach Becky Hammon said after the 71-60 loss to the Valkyries, per sports.yahoo.com. "Dissect that however you want."

The dissection starts on the glass. The Valkyries doubled up the Aces in rebounding, 52-25, and turned that into a 20-5 edge in second-chance points, according to sports.yahoo.com.

Hammon did not need the box score to explain it.

"All we talked about for the last 48 hours was rebounding and blocking them out, and we did not do it," Hammon said, per sports.yahoo.com. "Period. I could end this whole thing right now, don't ask me about the game, it's rebounding. That was it."