The Connecticut Sun and Las Vegas Aces win opening games in the WNBA semis

The GIST: And then there were four. The best-of-five WNBA semis tipped off yesterday with two top-notch clashes to start the party.

No. 3 Connecticut Sun vs. No. 2 NY Liberty: Connecticut picked the perfect time to get their first win of the year vs. New York, topping the superteam 78–63 on the road to take a 1-0 series lead. With the Libs limiting Sun star Alyssa Thomas, the rest of the Connecticut roster stepped up, namely Rebecca Allen (18 points), who clearly took the red pill.

• The Liberty, meanwhile, looked sluggish in the second half, netting a mere 23 points across the final 20 minutes en route to their season-low total of 63. Yeesh.

• Watch for the seafoamers to crank up the intensity — specifically MVP candidate Breanna Stewart — with Game 2 on deck from the Big Apple, tomorrow at 8 p.m. ET.

No. 4 Dallas Wings vs. No. 1 Las Vegas Aces: As one superteam sputtered in the second half, the other one surged — the Aces poured on the points in yesterday’s 97–83 domination of the Wings. Who else but A’ja Wilson tied a WNBA playoff record for field goals made in a single game. Nothing but net.

• In terrifying news for the Dallas faithful, the rest of the Aces’ big four balled out, too, with Jackie Young, Kelsey Plum, and Chelsea Gray all dropping double figure point totals. See if what happened in Vegas happens again in Game 2 tomorrow at 10 p.m. ET.