By John “Woods” Armwood III
New York Liberty became a step closer to righting their wrong from the previous season.The Liberty defeated the Las Vegas Aces on the road, 76-62. New York joins the 2010 Seattle Storm, who went on to win the WNBA Championship. as the only teams in WNBA history to defeat the defending champions at least six times in a single season. Last season, the Liberty had a disappointing ending to the year being defeated by the Aces in the finals. This season, they beat them in the semifinals and will be advancing to the WNBA Finals to play either the Minnesota Lynx or Connecticut Suns. The ending to the series appeared to be a bit poetic, however the Liberty have made it clear they’re not content.
“We haven't done anything yet,” said New York's Breanna Stewart, who had 19 points and 14 rebounds. “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. Just the feeling of not (being) satisfied."
Similar to the first two games, the Liberty managed to control the paint and the defensive pressure forced the Aces to get out of rhythm. In fact, in the second half, the Liberty held the Aces to 24 points total. That was the determining factor that allowed the Liberty to play as fluidly and effortlessly as possible.
“To hold Vegas to 24 points in the second half is pretty impressive,” Brondello said.
Most importantly, the x-factor Liberty star guard Sabrina Ionescu scored a game-high 22 points on 50% (7-14) shooting from the field and 63% (5-8) from deep to go along with seven rebounds and two steals. Sabrina recorded at least three three-pointers for the 80th time in her career (regular season and postseason combined) to pass Maya Moore for the fourth-most by a player within the first five seasons of their career. Sabrina, who led the league with nine double-digit scoring performances in the first quarter during the regular season, tied her career high for points in a single postseason quarter with 12 on 100% (4-4) shooting from the field in the opening frame against Las Vegas.
“It was really nice to see how we stuck together,” Ionescu said. “Obviously, we had a kind of rough game last game and it can go one of two ways. ... We came out here and understood we wanted to be our best and get this done because we deserve that.”
What’s Next for the Liberty?
The Liberty will face the winner of the Semifinals series between the Connecticut Sun and the Minnesota Lynx on Thursday, October 10 at Barclays Center for Game 1 of the WNBA Finals.
“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 of the group that we had.”