And down the stretch they come!

While the WNBA race for postseason positioning may not replicate the excitement during the final half-minute of the Kentucky Derby, the New York Liberty are going to the whip this month in pursuit of the top overall seed.

Owners of the best record in the league with seven games remaining, the Liberty (27-6) aren’t taking any opponent for granted.

They had won a season-high-tying eight in a row before a sobering loss to second-place Connecticut (24-9) on Aug. 24, when they were last seen in Downtown Brooklyn.

New York did go 2-1 on its three-game road trip, with two impressive wins in Phoenix and Seattle sandwiched around a baffling letdown at league-worst Los Angeles on Aug. 28.

The Liberty were in danger of losing two in a row for the first time since late May last Friday before pulling away for a 98-85 victory that saw them outrebound the Storm by a stunning 45-17 margin, the widest in franchise history.

With a star-laden roster featuring reigning WNBA Most Valuable Player Breanna Stewart, 2021 MVP Jonquel Jones and All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu, New York has not been shy about its desire to raise the first-ever world championship banner at Barclays Center.

“Well, I’ve got really good players now,” said Liberty coach Sandy Brondello after grabbing her 75th win with New York since taking over at the helm in 2022.

The Australian native came here after eight playoff years in Phoenix, where she guided the Mercury to the 2014 WNBA crown.

Now, she’s aiming to deliver Title I to the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.

“Such a great organization and we’ve got great aspirations to try and win that championship and hope that will happen,” Brondello added, “But you know, we just got to keep focused.”

Of course, New York’s Big Three aren’t the only contributors to this deep roster.

Recently returned starter Betnijah Laney-Hamilton has been coming off the bench as a key reserve while working herself back into prime playing shape after missing six weeks following knee surgery ahead of the Olympics.

“I’d say that she’s back right now,” Brondello said of Laney-Hamilton, who amassed eight points, five rebounds, and two assists over 30 minutes in Seattle.

“Just her defensive pressure that she could put on the handlers, versatility, her toughness. That was great for us.”

The Liberty are also blessed to have future Hall of Fame point guard Courtney Vandersloot, fast-emerging reserve center Nyara Sabally, offseason free-agent acquisitions Leonie Fiebich and Kennedy Burke, as well as ever-active backup forward Kayla Thornton.

Stewart, Jones and Ionescu appeared to need a bit more help last year after falling in four tough games to Las Vegas in the WNBA Finals, dropping Game Four by one point at Barclays.

The Aces have won back-to-back titles and are bidding for the league’s first three-peat since Houston won four championships in a row from 1997-2000.

Thus far this season, the Liberty are 2-0 against Las Vegas, which will be here on Sunday, and 3-1 vs. Connecticut, giving them the edge over both teams in case of a tiebreaker scenario.

But they have dropped two of three to Minnesota (24-9), including the Commissioner’s Cup Final on June 25.

New York will host the Lynx here on Sept. 15, with the winner gaining the tiebreaker advantage due to the Commissioner’s Cup meeting not counting toward either team’s regular-season mark.

But Brondello has insisted throughout the campaign that the Liberty are vulnerable to any opponent on any given night in the best women’s basketball league on the planet.

That proved true against the 12th-place Sparks (7-25), who beat New York, 94-88, during last week’s road trip to avert their season-high-tying eighth consecutive loss.

Two weeks earlier, the Liberty returned from the Olympic break to rout Los Angeles, 103-68, in a game that was no contest after New York scored 29 of the first 39 points.

The Liberty will try to avoid a similar reversal of fortune against Seattle here on Thursday in the back end of this home-and-home series.

“I feel like that’s kind of been the identity of this team all year,” said Ionescu.

“You know, that’s kind of how a season goes. Understanding this was a really big win for us (in Seattle), and, you know, everyone moving forward is just as important.”

The incoming Storm (20-13) did the Liberty a favor Tuesday, defeating Connecticut, 71-64, behind 18 points from Skylar Diggins-Smith and 17 from Jewell Loyd at Mohegan Sun Arena.

The loss dropped the Sun into a tie with Minnesota (24-9) for the second spot in the WNBA playoff seedings for next month. But both teams are three games behind New York.

The Liberty will try to lengthen or maintain that advantage during this two-game homestand.

Tip-off vs. Seattle Thursday is at 7 p.m.

GIVE ME LIBERTY:

• The Liberty are a league-best 14-2 at home this season and had won 12 in a row at Barclays before their loss to Connecticut here two weeks ago.
• Laney-Hamilton is averaging 7.0 points, 3.0 boards, and 3.0 steals since her return in last week’s road trip opener in Phoenix.
• New York will play back-to-back games in Dallas from Sept. 10-12 before returning to Brooklyn to host the Lynx three days later.
• The Brooklyn Nets are reportedly signing Chinese guard Yongxi “Jacky” Cui to a two-way contract, though the team has not yet confirmed the pact. Cui played for Portland in the Summer League, and the New York Post reported that the Nets made him a more lucrative offer to come to Brooklyn. Cui will play mostly for the Long Island Nets of the G-League but can be called up by the Nets if they need to fill a roster spot.