Can Liberty return to form in must-win Game 3 of WNBA Finals?،
NEW YORK — The last time a WNBA team won back-to-back titles, the New York Liberty were on the losing side of the WNBA Finals. Can they stop history from repeating itself?
It will be a tough climb, but at least the Liberty will have their home crowd to help them. Trailing 2-0 in the best-of-five series, they host the Las Vegas Aces in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC) at Barclays Center.
“We believe in each other,” said Liberty Guard Sabrina Ionescu. “We’re on the pitch; we’re playing very well at home with this fan base and we understand what’s at stake.
“We’re not pointing fingers or blaming anyone else for our actions. It’s something we’ve been working on all year: just taking ownership. Vegas did what they were supposed to do, it “That is, protect their land. Now it’s our job to do that. What we’re supposed to do.”
This will be the first WNBA Finals game in the Big Apple since August 29, 2002, when the Los Angeles Sparks defeated New York 71-63. It was at Madison Square Garden, the longtime home of the Liberty before it was purchased by Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai in 2019, and the Finals were then a best-of-three series.
The Sparks won Game 2 in Los Angeles 69-66 on August 31, 2002. Coupled with their sweep of Charlotte in the 2001 finals, the Sparks followed the four-time champion Houston Comets as back-to-back winners. No one would have imagined then that more than two decades would pass without another WNBA team repeating.
Since 2002, the Minnesota Lynx and Seattle Storm have each won four titles, the Phoenix Mercury and Detroit Shock three each. But none of them came in consecutive years. If the Aces do so, it will spark “dynasty” talk, especially since their main four A’ja Wilson, Chelsea Gray, Kelsey Plum and Jackie Young are also all under contract with Las Vegas next year.
The Aces have been sharp throughout the playoffs, going 7-0, and are looking to win their third playoff series. New York coach Sandy Brondello sought to ignite the Liberty on Friday with heated language about its efforts in the first two games. But something she said after Game 2 on Wednesday could bluntly describe what has happened so far in this series.
Brondello, explaining why the Liberty lost the first two games of the finals by a combined 45 points, said she didn’t know why they didn’t play better.
“Is it because of our opponent? Maybe,” Brondello said.
The experience of Aces together should never be underestimated; Wilson, Plum and Young have been teammates since 2019 and Gray joined them in 2021. Gray said she can now read their minds on the court. That was especially the case Wednesday, when the Aces scored a game-high 38 points in the first quarter. Their defense was exceptional and was reflected in their offense. While the Liberty struggled to make shots even wide open, the Aces shot 52.9%.
“[We] “We executed shots with a high degree of physicality and awareness,” Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon said. “And there were things during the season, adjustments that we knew we wanted to make. But we didn’t pull the trigger because we wanted to save them [for the playoffs].
“It’s not a magical thing. But we’ve kind of kept small tweaks in the bag for a more holistic approach.”
That said, the Aces did not play well in their two regular season visits to Barclays. The Liberty knocked the Aces off the field 99-61 on August 6. It was closer on August 28, but New York won 94-85.
That’s the kind of mojo the Liberty hope they can create on Sunday. Otherwise, what was supposed to be a competitive series between the top two seeds in the league will instead be a coronation for the Aces.
“This is the time where we want to do our best,” said Breanna Stewart of New York. “Just making sure we do it for each other. Playing in Vegas is very difficult, everyone knows that. And now we’re back in New York.”
