This part is not up for dispute: Las Vegas Aces guard Kelsey Plum has been playing the last two rounds of the WNBA playoffs with wrapping on the pinky finger of her dominant left hand. The wrap was first visible during Game 1 of the Aces' second-round series against the Dallas Wings, and it's been there every game since.
During Game 2 of the WNBA Finals on Wednesday, ESPN's Holly Rowe reported that Plum had been playing with a broken finger. In postgame press, a reporter asked Plum if that was accurate. Plum froze for several seconds; this is not, in my experience, the typical behavior of a person with an intact finger. She looked directly at Aces floor general Chelsea Gray. Ma'am, shouldn't you have looked instead at your own finger? Gray offered some typical veteran leadership by whispering "Just say no," and Plum indeed said no and continued snacking.
That's enough proof for me, though Plum's play tells a different story. Game Two was Plum's best outing of the postseason: 23 points, eight assists, and three steals in the Aces' 104-76 rout of the New York Liberty. It's a shooting-hand injury, but since that finger wrap first appeared, Plum has shot 47 percent from the field (in line with her season average) and 44 percent from three (above her season average of 39 percent). Apparently a busted pinky does not interfere with those quick-trigger step-back threes.
Plum was just one prong of a balanced Aces' offensive attack—A'ja Wilson and Jackie Young added 26 and 24 points respectively—that left the Liberty looking hopeless. New York had not lost back-to-back games all season, until this series, where they've been outscored by 45 points. The Aces will look to close out the series in Brooklyn this afternoon.
