Sabrina Ionescu quickly made it clear that the recent loss wouldn’t happen again. However, she and her Liberty teammates had an even bigger message to share.
Ionescu bounced back from a rare poor performance, scoring 22 points. Almost a year after the Aces ended the Liberty’s championship hopes, New York returned the favor on Sunday by defeating Las Vegas 76-62 to move on to the WNBA Finals.
As the top-seeded team, the Liberty will have home-court advantage in the championship series, facing either the Connecticut Sun or Minnesota Lynx, who will compete in Game 5 on Tuesday.
This marks the Liberty’s sixth appearance in the finals, but the team is still searching for its first championship title.
“We haven’t done anything yet,” said Breanna Stewart from New York, who contributed 19 points and 14 rebounds. “This was a tough series, an emotional series for many reasons. But we’re going to the finals and hosting Game 1 and Game 2. We’re ready to go. Just the feeling of not (being) satisfied.”
New York lost in four games to a weakened Aces team on October 18, 2023, and turned that painful loss into motivation. The Liberty have been the strongest team this season, going 6-1 against Las Vegas in both the regular season and playoffs.
Ionescu acknowledged that the Aces “made us a better team,” showing respect for how tough it was for Las Vegas to win back-to-back championships.
However, the Aces’ celebrations after last season’s victory definitely motivated New York’s determination, especially when coach Becky Hammon made a comment about Stewart’s performance during the victory parade.
“We talked our crap, they heard and they get to talk their crap,” Hammon said on Sunday. “It’s part of the game. It’s not personal. I can talk crap all I want. At the end of the day, I have mad respect for (coach) Sandy (Brondello).
Sandy coached me. Me and Sandy go way back. Sab, Stewie, I have mad respect for those players. I think Stewie is phenomenal.”
The Aces, whose record 12-game home playoff winning streak came to an end, were aiming to make more WNBA history.
Last year, they became the first team since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001-02 to win back-to-back championships, and they were trying to be the first team to win three titles in a row since the Houston Comets won four straight from 1997 to 2000.
“It’s hard,” said A’ja Wilson, who led the Aces with 19 points, 10 rebounds, and five blocked shots. “Everybody wants to beat you. You’re everybody’s Super Bowl. (The loss) sucks, it stings, but I’m very proud about the group that we had.”
In addition to Ionescu and Stewart, Jonquel Jones scored 14 points despite being in foul trouble for most of the game, while Leonie Fiebich added 11 points.
For Las Vegas, Kelsey Plum (17 points) and Tiffany Hayes (11) also scored in double figures alongside Wilson.
The Aces struggled against a Liberty front line that was strong inside, getting out-rebounded 48-27. Aces center Kiah Stokes missed her second game in a row due to a concussion.
Ionescu quickly showed that this game wouldn’t be like Game 3 for her. She averaged 24.5 points in the playoffs before that game but scored only four points on 1-of-7 shooting on Friday night, not scoring until the fourth quarter.
This time, Ionescu hit a corner 3-pointer just 3:04 into the game. She ended the first quarter with 12 points, making all four of her shots, including three 3-pointers.
The Liberty were only ahead by two points going into the fourth quarter but then outscored Las Vegas 23-11 in the final period to pull away. The Aces made just 32.8% of their shots for the game, including 7 of 30 from beyond the arc.
“To hold Vegas to 24 points in the second half is pretty impressive,” Brondello said. Now, unlike last year, it’s the Liberty celebrating as they leave the opposing floor.
