Aliyah Boston Doesn’t Hide Feelings on Ex-Teammate’s Hand in Fever’s Game 2 Loss

Aliyah Boston probably has the toughest assignment of her WNBA career against the Las Vegas Aces. Boston has been tasked to stop 4-time MVP A’ja Wilson over a period of at least 4 games. Game 1 was pretty successful, Game 2, not so much. Wilson went off for 25 points for 10-18 from the field. She was met with a surprise punch from her former teammate, NaLyssa Smith. Who gave the support Wilson desperately needed, scoring 18 points and 7 rebounds. 

Smith had a +/- of +14, impacting the game in more ways than one. The now-Aces star was drafted second overall by the Fever in 2022. But after an underwhelming 2024 season, Indiana moved Smith to Dallas as part of a multi-team deal. They brought Sophie Cunningham to the Fever, with Dallas receiving Smith and the 2025 No. 8 pick in the package. Months later, Dallas traded Smith to the Aces for a 2027 first-round pick, and she was back to haunt the Fever. However, Boston had only nice things to say about her former teammate. 

She told the media, “I would definitely say probably her offensive rebounding. She had a few… gave them second chance points, got herself to the free throw line. So for us, we just got to tighten down on that, box out because obviously she’s super athletic, and she does a great job of getting to the glass.”

Smith had 3 crucial second-chance points, along with Wilson, who had 7. They flipped the script in their “house”, winning the battle around the basket 44-32, a 24-point turnaround from the opener, and Smith was pretty essential to this improvement. Smith scored 14 points in the paint, the same as A’ja. Smith brought the energy in a scrappy game that involved a lot of 50-50 balls and transition action.. The former Fever star is not afraid of the return to Gainbridge in Game 3.

“I think it’ll be cool,” Smith said of returning to Indiana. “They always have a great crowd. It’s going to be different being on the other side of things, but I think we know how to weather storms. We’ve been in environments with big crowds already, so I think we’ll be fine.”

As far as Aliyah Boston and Indiana are concerned, the paint battle just got even more heated. Boston and Natasha Howard are the two who can give back the physicality. Game 3 was too physical, even for Becky Hammon, who ended up on the winning side. Boston experienced the brunt of it and even skirted a fine after the game. 

Aliyah Boston Avoids WNBA Fine After A 41-Foul Game

The game got severely physical, and that was by design. “Give me the effort,” Aces coach Becky Hammon said pregame. “We’ll be fine, but we can’t come out and have them play harder than us.” and then Hammon gave a quotable, “You can’t tiptoe into a bar fight.” Game 1 had a total of 27 fouls as opposed to 41 in Game 2, including 16 in the third quarter. Aliyah Boston was in the thick of it in the paint, going up against A’ja Wilson, who is often accused by the fans of having a ‘favorable whistle,’ and she navigated criticizing the referees post-game. 

Boston said, “It looks like we were almost too physical, but yet at the same time, I feel like we have to be able to get that on the other end. Um, I think, you know, sometimes when you just look at the game as a whole, when you look at the way that um it works. Sometimes you manipulate different ways and you have smaller matchups. So, I mean, I just don’t think it’s really possible all the time for some of those smaller matchups to really do such a clean job of that. But hey, I’m here to hoop, so I know my business.”

That last part probably saved her some dollars. Caitlin Clark was recently fined for an Instagram comment, “Refs couldn’t stop us.”Becky Hammon had some harsh words for the referees, along with Stephanie White. But Boston wants to avoid that fiasco. It’s probably for good since she has to guard the best player in the world. The Fever will welcome the Aces to Gainbridge for a very anticipated Game 3.

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