A'ja Wilson believes the Las Vegas Aces' latest run to the WNBA Finals feels different to those that came before, after they "went through the mud" to get there.

The Aces, who won back-to-back WNBA titles in their first two seasons under head coach Becky Hammon in 2022 and 2023, will face the Phoenix Mercury for the 2025 crown.

They ousted the Indiana Fever in five games in the semifinals, triumphing 107-98 in overtime on Tuesday in Game 5 to put the tie to bed.

Wilson scored 35 points and Jackie Young had 32, becoming the first pair of team-mates to each drop 30 points in the same game in WNBA playoff history.

The Aces reached the playoffs off the back of a 16-game winning streak to end the regular season, having had a losing record as recently as late July.

Wilson, who was named WNBA MVP for the fourth time last month, surpassing Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie and Lauren Jackson (all three-time MVPs) for the all-time record outright, said: "Obviously, we're not complacent.

"It's not an, 'Oh, we're happy to be here,' because we worked our butts off to get here. 

"But it does definitely feel a lot different from the ones before, only because we went through the mud for this. 

"Like coach always says, we weren't necessarily buried, we were planted. We sometimes have to let the soil get moisture and then we had to grow. Now we're still growing."

ACES ARE HEADED BACK TO THE FINALS 

The @LVAces advance to the 2025 WNBA Finals presented by @YouTubeTV after winning the Semi-Finals 3-2 against the Indiana Fever!

Their last Finals appearance was in 2023 when they won it all!#WelcometotheW pic.twitter.com/AynZok1pe1

— WNBA (@WNBA) October 1, 2025

Coach Hammon echoed those sentiments, saying: "Our road has been broken. It's been a twisty, windy one but here we are.

"Your studs have got to be studs at this time of year, and they were."

The Fever lost their leading scorer Kelsey Mitchell, who had 15 points on Tuesday after averaging 20.2 throughout the regular season, in the third quarter after she experienced cramping.

But Indiana still managed to take the game the distance, earning high praise from opposing coach Hammon. 

"When Kelsey went down, I felt we let up," Hammon said. "That's a mistake, emotionally. Like I said, they just wouldn't go away. They played their hearts out."