Las Vegas Aces officially forfeit game after canceling due to travel woes
Last Friday, the Las Vegas Aces made the tough decision to cancel their game versus the Washington Mystics after a series of unfortunate events led to over 24 hours of sleepless travel, concluding just hours before the game.
The Aces were originally planning on leaving Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon, and would have had a chance to practice once Friday before their game, originally scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. The start time was at first pushed back an hour, but after consulting with the WNBA Players’ Association and medical professionals, the team (not the WNBA) opted to cancel the game entirely.
Full statement on tonight's canceled game in Washington. 👇 pic.twitter.com/SBCypeCav8
— Las Vegas Aces ♦️♠️ (@LVAces) August 4, 2018
The Aces took a risk in canceling the contest while sitting 1.5 games out of a playoff spot, knowing that the season is almost over and the game would be hard to reschedule. However, they also highlighted that WNBA teams have to travel on commercial flights, while NBA teams get chartered airplanes.
Unfortunately, that risk led to an official tick in the loss column, as the League announced Tuesday that Aces forfeited the game when they “failed to appear.”
The WNBA has issued the following release: pic.twitter.com/YumtTwHZvt
— WNBA (@WNBA) August 7, 2018
Given that they weren’t a lock to make playoffs in the first place, it may have been the right call to cancel the game – but it certainly stings that the Aces now play the Atlanta Dream on Tuesday afternoon as the first of the final six games of the season, with 2.5 games to make up on the Dallas Wings.
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