LAS VEGAS — On the day she was unanimously named WNBA MVP, Las Vegas Aces star A’ja Wilson had a first half to forget, scoring just four points on 1 of 8 shooting.

But of course there was a second half in which she could flourish, and there was also a big lift off the bench from guard Tiffany Hayes. The Aces took advantage of both on Sunday to beat the Seattle Storm 78-67 in Game 1 of their best-of-three first-round playoff series.

“The basketball gods have a funny way of showing me that sometimes you just have to get out of the mud,” Wilson, now a three-time MVP, said of shaking off the poor start to finish with 21 points, eight rebounds and five blocks. “I love doing that because it keeps my mind busy. My teammates never make me doubt myself. And I do that sometimes … and they always lift me up.

“In the second half, the game calmed down for me and I really started to dissect the defense. That’s when I started rocking and rolling.”

Earlier Sunday, Wilson said he was moved to tears when he saw a video of her being honored by a tribute from the league’s other three-time MVP winners: Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes and Lauren Jackson, all Naismith Basketball Hall of Famers. Then-WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert was on hand at Michelob Ultra Arena to present Wilson, 28, with her third trophy.

Wilson finished third in a very close MVP race last season, and the fact that one voter placed her fourth was almost epic. Wilson said she wanted to make sure she left no room for doubt this season. And she didn’t, finishing with the highest scoring average in WNBA history at 26.9 points per game and becoming the first player to score over 1,000 points in a season.

Seattle, playing without forward/center Ezi Magbegor (concussion), was still able to slow Wilson early. The Aces were 2-of-18 from the field and trailed 18-9 after the first quarter. That’s when Hayes came alive for Las Vegas.

Wilson did not attempt a field goal in the second quarter, the first quarter this season in which that happened. But Hayes had 12 points in the second quarter and finished with 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting.

It was a special game for Hayes. Her mother, Dorothy “Jenny” Hayes, was flying from Florida on her first-ever plane ride. When Hayes played for UConn from 2008 to 2012, her mother lived in Connecticut to be close. Hayes spent her first 10 WNBA seasons with the Atlanta Dream, and Jenny, who worked as a FedEx delivery driver and was able to relocate with her daughter, lived in Georgia at the time.

Jenny, who admits she has a fear of flying, promised to come to Las Vegas for her daughter’s birthday and the playoffs.

“I want to give my mom a shout-out,” said Hayes, who turned 35 on Friday. “She was my coach my whole childhood. She had never flown before and she flew here. I’m glad she was able to come.”

Hayes played last season for the Connecticut Sun and then decided to retire. But in May, the Aces signed her to return to the league. A starter for most of her career, Hayes has come off the bench in all but five games this year and is a contender for Sixth Player of the Year.

The Aces are the two-time reigning WNBA champions. But Hayes, who was a member of two NCAA championship teams while at UConn, has yet to win a WNBA title. She hopes to win that trophy with the Aces, who host Game 2 on Tuesday (ESPN, 9:30 p.m. ET).

“She gets us going. Her energy is always there,” Wilson said of Hayes. “That’s our game changer. She’s really one of our X-factors.”

Wilson, of course, is the biggest X-factor of them all. Even as she struggled offensively on Sunday, her defense was solid. In the third quarter, Wilson scored 15 points, the most of any quarter during the playoffs in her career. In the fourth quarter, Wilson helped limit the Storm to just two points.

“The MVP MVP’d,” Seattle coach Noelle Quinn said. “She’s MVP for a reason.”