Liberty won’t be facing regular-season Aces

Open WNBA semifinals at Barclays Center Sunday

September 26, 2024 By John Torenli, Sport Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Liberty All-Stars Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart will be pumped and ready for Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals Sunday at Barclays Center. AP Photo by Adam Hunger

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The Las Vegas Aces readily admit that the New York Liberty “kicked our butt all three times” during the regular season.

But for the two-time defending WNBA champions, that was then and this is now.

Especially as the they prepare for Game 1 of the WNBA semifinals against the top-seeded Liberty Sunday at Downtown’s Barclays Center.

“They’ve been the best team all year. They played like a team ,,, with an edge,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon ceded after her dynastic squad advanced to its sixth consecutive semifinals Tuesday by completing a two-game sweep of the Seattle Storm.

While the Aces (27-13) were busy doing what they always do this time of year, the Liberty (32-8) had already advanced earlier in the evening, rallying past Atlanta for a 91-82 Game 2 triumph at Barclays.

Even before New York knew its opponent, 2023 WNBA Most Valuable Player Breanna Stewart expressed how important it was for the Liberty to take two in a row from the Dream and get ready for the next round.

“We wanted to win this series for many reasons, obviously staying in New York,” said Stewart.

“But knowing that the time between the quarterfinals and the semis, this is the most we have,” she added. “So for us to kind of recover, get back into it and be ready for, the semifinal series on Sunday is really important.”

Stewart and her teammates had to be gearing up for the Aces since this season began, even if they are seeing them one round early this postseason.

Las Vegas became the first repeat champion in the WNBA since the Los Angeles Sparks won back-to-back titles in 2001-02 last fall.

The Aces did it by thwarting New York’s bid for its first-ever crown in its initial Finals appearance since 2002.

They even closed the Liberty out at Barclays Center in a thrilling Game 4 that came down to the last shot.

Aces coach Becky Hammon and WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson celebrated their second straight championship in Downtown Brooklyn last October. AP Photo by Frank Franklin II

After reconvening and reloading for the 2024 “Run it Back” campaign, New York tied the franchise mark for regular-season wins, grabbed the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs and went 3-0 vs. Las Vegas.

“They kicked our butt all three times,” Aces guard Kelsey Plum admitted after putting up 29 points in Tuesday’s series finale against the Storm.

“This is a fresh start,” she added. “But there’s no secret. They’ve taken care of business and they’ve done what they needed to do, and that’s why they have the 1 seed. So it’s an uphill battle.”

The Liberty, who have lost five Finals since the league’s inception in 1997, aren’t likely to let their guard down based on Plum’s praise.

They know the Aces were without unanimous WNBA MVP A’ja Wilson the last time they met at Barclays on Sept. 8, when Stewart had 21 points and 11 rebounds in New York’s 75-71 win.

Also, Las Vegas was missing veteran guard Chelsea Gray due to a foot injury when the Liberty beat the Aces 90-82 in Sin City on June 15. All-Star forward Jonquel Jones dominated that contest, putting up a career-high 34 points.

New York also won 79-67 at Michelob ULTRA Arena on Aug. 17 behind 23 points from All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu while Jones pulled down 17 rebounds.

But just like a proven champion, the Aces never blinked.

Following an uncharacteristic 6-6 start to the season, Vegas went 21-7 and emerged victorious in all but one of its final 10 contests, the loss to the Liberty here on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush earlier this month.

“We’ve worked our way there,” said Hammon. “I feel like we got our edge back probably in the last three to four weeks. I don’t think we’re the same team that New York has seen.”

Wilson, Plum and Gray will be looking for a three-peat against Stewart, Jones and Ionescu.

But this time around, the Liberty’s Big Three will have home-court advantage, beginning with the first two games here in Brooklyn, where New York had lost two in a row before dispatching the Dream without leaving our borough.

“New York is a lot better than last year,” Plum pointed out. “Just plain and simple. They’re bigger. They’ve shot the ball at a better clip. Pound-for-pound, individually, if you go down the line, all of them are better players.”

Ionescu is a prime example of the Liberty’s improvement.

She lit up Atlanta for a franchise record-tying 36 points Tuesday and handed out a team-high nine assists to get New York in position to host the Aces with plenty of rest.

“Your goal is to win a championship, but you got to win these two and so I think it’s understanding how important these games were because you drop one at home and then you got to go on the road,” Ionescu said.

“We have a few days here to kind of prepare, get ourselves mentally and physically ready for the war and the battle that we’re gonna face ahead.”

Liberty coach Sandy Brondello, who guided Phoenix to the WNBA crown in 2014, knows that having Ionescu at her best entering this series and beyond is a key to New York’s championship mandate.

“We know how important Sabrina is to us, our overall success,” Brondello noted. “But I mean, she does a lot of great things. She’s a winner. In the end, she’s a winner. She wants to win.”

So do the Aces, who can become the first team in the league to win three consecutive titles since Houston grabbed the league’s first four championships from 1997-2000.

But not if the title-starved Liberty can help it.

“It’s a total team effort. It takes everyone to be on the same page,” Brondello said of winning Title I for Brooklyn.

“Understanding what the game plan is, and I think being able to have that experience with one another now, you know, going through last season, it really helps us.”

Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. Sunday.

Rookie sharp-shooter Leonie Fiebich was the Liberty’s secret weapon during a two-game sweep of Atlanta in the opening round of the playoffs. AP Photo by Lindsey Wasson

GIVE ME LIBERTY: While the Aces and Liberty get ready to rumble in Brooklyn, the Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx will be meeting in the league’s other semifinal series. The Lynx, who took three of four games from New York this year, including the Commissioner’s Cup Final at Barclays, swept past Phoenix. The Sun needed two games as well to stop rookie Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever from reaching the semis. … Including the postseason, the Liberty are 18-4 in Brooklyn this year. No. 4 seed Vegas boasts a 14-6 road record. … New York rookie Leonie Fiebich started both games and had 30 points vs. Atlanta on 10-of-12 shooting, including a 6-of-7 performance from 3-point range. … Game 1 will be televised by ABC. Game 2 will be here on Tuesday and Game 3 is in Sin City on Oct. 4 at 9:30 p.m. Game 4, if necessary, will be Oct. 6 in Vegas. If the series comes down to a fifth and decisive game, it will be back in Brooklyn on Oct. 8.