LAS VEGAS — After losing by 16 in Game 1 and giving away homecourt advantage of the WNBA semifinals to the Indiana Fever, A’ja Wilson was as upset as she has been all season.

“I told my team yesterday that the loss yesterday was more embarrassing to me than the 53-point loss (to Minnesota) because we really didn’t do anything,” Wilson said Monday. “We didn’t do our job, so if we come to  work and do our job, it’s a different story.”

WNBA Finals: A'ja Wilson has Aces one victory from first championship - Chicago Sun-Times

In order for the Aces to get back to their winning ways, setting the tone started with Wilson. Las Vegas’ roster has turned over in recent years, and the departures of Candace Parker, Alysha Clark and Sydney Colson, among others, have left Wilson not only as the Aces’ best player, but also as their leader.

Las Vegas needed a bounce-back game Tuesday from its star, and she has grown accustomed to shaking off individual bad performances. The last five times Wilson had made fewer than 30 percent of her field goals prior to Game 1, she responded with an average of 30.8 points and 12.2 rebounds.

She posted 25 points and nine rebounds in the Game 2 90-68 win, shooting 10 of 18 from the field after making 6 of 22 Sunday. Leading by example on the court comes easily to Wilson.

Keeping the locker room together has been a new challenge, but is also the natural evolution of a veteran in her eighth season trying to take on a bigger role for her team.

“My leadership skills looked different this year, it wasn’t something that I was used to,” Wilson said. “I had to put us all together as a team and figure out what makes people go.”

That process kicked into high gear after the loss to the Lynx on Aug. 2. Coach Becky Hammon tasked individual Aces with designing their own scouting reports for every game going forward, and Wilson took the lead on that assignment. She was in charge of players-only meetings before the coaches got a look at the scouts.

Wilson noticed that some of her teammates were more willing to speak up in those meetings with her at the helm than when the entire coaching staff was involved. She met them at their level and then relayed that information to Hammon and her assistants.

“She’s communicating and talking a lot more in huddles and meetings and organizing us, little things on scouting reports during practice,” Aces guard Chelsea Gray said. “She’s just a lot more vocal, which is a step that she wanted and needed to take. … Her ability to relate and talk to everybody on different levels all the time has been great this year, and everyone has needed that.”

Hammon has said that this Aces roster more than others she’s coached required positive encouragement. She created highlight reels to remind players of their strengths and constantly reinforced how close she felt they were to turning the corner, even when they passed the midway point of the season with a .500 record.

Wilson latched onto that and figured out how to uplift her teammates and instill confidence in them. New Aces’ additions, like Dana Evans from Chicago, NaLyssa Smith from Dallas and Indiana, and even Jewell Loyd from Seattle, came from teams on which they no longer felt valued.

Earning validation from the best player in the world changed their trajectories.

“I want people to feel great in their own way, because that’s how we continue to push forward in life,” Wilson said. “This basketball’s going to stop dancing, but I need my teammates to know that I believe in them, we believe in them.”

“How she pours into each person on the team, that’s not really talked about a lot,” Loyd said. “The confidence she gives all the players and all the coaches, it’s remarkable.”

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The Aces want to follow Wilson’s lead on the court, but seeing her vulnerability off of it has brought them closer. They’re watching her grow, navigating a new role and learning how to be better for her teammates; it makes their superstar more relatable. It has created a culture where they are able to hold each other accountable and confidently respond to a blowout loss. They know what Wilson will produce, but they can also rely on her to coax the best out of the rest of them.

Smith struggled in the series opener, making a string of defensive miscues that allowed the Fever to get in a first-half rhythm. Las Vegas doesn’t have frontcourt options beyond her, so Hammon was forced to ride with her and hope that Smith improved upon her earlier performance.

The four-year forward responded with her best playoff performance yet, scoring 18 points and adding seven rebounds while keeping the Aces’ defensive shell intact. As has been the case since Smith was traded from the Wings, she relied on Wilson’s communication to help her in tough spots.

“Having somebody alongside of me like A’ja, where she’s talking to me on the back side and telling me where things are at that helps a lot,” Smith said.

The Aces go as Wilson does. She had to take more ownership of the team to get Las Vegas where it wanted to be — as if the league’s only four-time MVP needed more on her plate. That is the price of greatness. Sometimes she falls short, but 19 wins in the last 21 games is a solid report card for Wilson’s new role.