by Tate Hutchinson
Finishing with a second straight season with a league-best 32-8 record, the WNBA’s New York Liberty have been showered with awards and recognition for their historic regular-season success. Despite their immense star power and sensational play through 40 games, the team made their goal clear: tear through the playoffs and bring home their first title to NYC.
Throughout the season, The Harlem Times has shared pieces cataloging the New York Liberty’s community outreach and historic on-court success on the hunt for their first championship. And now, the Liberty are just one step away from making their goal a reality.
And after getting bounced in the Finals last season, New York’s star players strived to build chemistry throughout the regular season, packing the box score as they tore through their schedule to earn the league’s top seed once again.
Breanna Stewart, the Liberty’s do-it-all superstar, put up a line of 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.7 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game, earning her All-Defensive First Team honors. Her fellow Olympic gold-winning teammate Sabrina Ionescu stuffed the stat sheet, with averages of 18.2 pts and 6.2 assists per game as the lead guard on the top three-point scoring offense in the league.
Starting center Jonquel Jones held down the WNBA’s third-best defense by controlling the boards, averaging an elite 9.0 rebounds per contest and headlining the All-Defensive Second Team. The underrated Betnijah Laney-Hamilton was a consistent fixture in the starting lineup, shooting 40% from deep with hounding defense in critical moments.
Veteran PG Courtney Vandersloot rounded out the starting lineup for the regular season, providing leadership, passing vision, and gritty defense. However, with a decline in production as a starter, Liberty coach Sandy Brondello made the adjustment to use her playmaking to lead the bench unit.
As part of this adjustment for the playoffs, rookie forward Leonie Fiebich was named a starter. Her 6’4” size, shooting ability, and competitive poise as a rookie makes for a matchup nightmare and gives the team an edge they lacked in 2023. Fiebich, who played in all 40 games for the Liberty, finished second among all qualifying rookies in WNBA history in three-point percentage, at 43.3%.
As the top seed, the Liberty had earned the crucial home-court advantage for the entirety of the playoffs, regardless of the opponent. And for their first matchup of the postseason, New York welcomed the eighth-seeded Atlanta Dream to the raucous Barclays Center. As a slower-paced team that ranked top-three in rebounding, the Liberty would need to prioritize their size and shot-making to keep the Dream off the glass.
And the Liberty set the tone early, in historic fashion. New York did not miss a single shot until nearly seven and a half minutes into the game, maintaining a considerable lead and cruising to a 83-69 win in Game 1. Breanna Stewart’s skillset was on full display, putting up a crucial 20-point, 11-rebound double-double. And in her first postseason game of her WNBA career, Leonie Fiebich looked undaunted by the pressure; the German rookie set a career-high of 21 points on 7-of-8 shooting, with a lights-out 4-of-4 from three.
The next game, the Dream came out strong and took a double-digit lead, but the Liberty withstood Allisha Gray’s 26-point performance thanks to an explosive 36-point, 9-assist masterpiece from Sabrina Ionescu. A double-double of 20 points and 13 boards from Jonquel Jones contributed to their rebounding focus, helping to secure the 91-82 victory and advance.
With the Dream dispatched in a sweep, the Liberty were set for their long-awaited rematch with the Las Vegas Aces in the best-of-five Semifinal series. To return to the biggest stage, the Liberty would have to exorcize their playoff demons in dramatic fashion, against the same team that sent them home on the Liberty’s own home court in the WNBA Finals.
In Game 1, this time in front of their Brooklyn fans, Breanna Stewart and the Liberty stuck to their game plan, playing with confidence on the way to a 87-77 home win. Stewart had her top scoring playoff game in a Liberty uniform with 34 points, while Ionescu put up 21 points and Jones secured 12 rebounds. The star trio’s all-around effort limited the unanimous MVP of the league, A’ja Wilson, to 21 points and a season-low six rebounds.
After the cathartic win, Sabrina Ionescu credited the home crowd for their momentum-shifting presence, especially seeing New York City increasingly get behind the team throughout her career. “Getting drafted here and being able to be a part of this organization from when there were 3,000 people in the stands to now, with there being a sellout…it feels like you can almost achieve anything in this building.”
At Game 2, the hype at Barclays Center was striking. With a chance to take an ironclad 2-0 lead on their home court, the 14,000-strong crowd’s atmosphere was explosive in a revenge series where emotions were high. And with New York Legends such as Carmelo Anthony and Alicia Keys in attendance, it felt like the whole city was rallying behind the Liberty, hungry for another shot at their first championship.
Ahead of the game, Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon made note of the Aces’ poor shooting luck in Game 1, promising that the team would shoot much better than 25% from three this time. And the defending champions were doing just that, shooting a lights-out 7-of-14 from deep at halftime. But, up and down the roster, the Liberty were just getting it done at every level, energized by the overwhelming fans in the building.
Led by the ever-steady Courtney Vandersloot, the Liberty’s bench stepped up big time amidst the foul trouble of multiple starters, putting up 21 points on ludicrous 69% efficiency. Vandersloot made excellent cuts to the rim, hitting multiple acrobatic layups and completely changed the game with pestering defense in the closing lineup. Kayla Thornton led New York in scoring at halftime, hitting momentum-shifting buckets that would go on to spark huge Liberty runs.
But the clear MVP of the game was Sabrina Ionescu, who has clearly elevated her game after last year’s disappointing playoff. She ignited the crowd in the clutch moments of the final quarter, hitting shot after huge shot, eventually nailing a pull-up jumper to put her team up 83-81 with just over a minute to go. And with multiple crucial stops in the final minute, the Liberty held on for the 88-84 victory amidst thunderous applause.
Up 2-0, the Liberty weathered the deluge of Vegas’s elite shotmaking and put the defending champions on the brink of elimination. But the team was not yet ready to celebrate after protecting home court. “Being up 2-0 is great, but we haven’t won anything,” Ionescu remarked postgame. “We’re not patting ourselves on the back, talking about how happy we are…we’re a hungry group.”
Although a 2-0 comeback is unprecedented, the Liberty were right to not underestimate the two-time champs, the winners of 11 straight playoff games at home. A 16-0 run in the third quarter from the Aces helped them to emerge from a close first half, finishing the game shooting 52.1% overall and 40.6% from three. Aces stars A’ja Wilson, Kelsey Plum, and Jackie Young combined for 63 points, and the team’s defense held Ionescu to just four points on 1-of-7 shooting.
Eager to send her team back to the Finals, Sabrina Ionescu was primed for a bounce-back performance. In a 76-62 Liberty victory decided by the defense, the superstar guard led all scorers with 22 points, cashing in five threes. And the other member of the Liberty’s key duo, Breanna Stewart, came down with 14 crucial rebounds in a game where New York out-rebounded Las Vegas, 48 to 27.
In spite of the cathartic victory, Stewart echoed the team’s dedication to their main objective. “We haven’t done anything yet…this was a tough series, an emotional series for a number of different reasons. But we’re going to the Finals and we’re hosting Game 1 and Game 2. We’re ready to go.”
With home court in the Finals, the Liberty will welcome a familiar foe in the Minnesota Lynx. The only team to defeat New York multiple times all season, the Lynx are led by 2024 Defensive Player of the Year and MVP runner-up Napheesa Collier. Her two-way talent will pose a challenge, and as she has elevated her play as the top scorer in the playoffs, the Liberty must hope to halt the Lynx superstar’s momentum to win their final series.
This series will mark New York’s sixth trip to the WNBA Finals, as they strive to make history and win their first championship trophy. They will certainly have their work cut out for them, facing a Lynx team that has won four championships since 2011; the star-studded clash between the Liberty’s unstoppable offense and the Lynx’s tenacious defense will make the Finals their toughest test yet. However, with the city behind them and the team playing at their best, the Liberty appear ready for the challenge.