One year after a heartbreaking loss in the WNBA Finals, the New York Liberty emerged victorious, beating the Las Vegas Aces 76-62 to advance to the WNBA Finals. The win guarantees their second-consecutive Finals appearance — and ends the Aces’ chances for the elusive three-peat. New York had won the first two games at home to take a resounding 2-0 lead in the series, but dropped Game 3 on Friday night.
On Sunday afternoon, the Liberty seemed recharged, jumping out to an early lead behind 12 first-quarter points from Sabrina Ionescu, who struggled mightily in Game. Ionescu hit her first three three-pointers, and finished the afternoon with a game-high 22 points on 7-14 shooting, including 5-8 from three.
New York held a 3-point lead at the half, and a 2-point lead heading into the fourth quarter, but they began the final period on an 18-5 run to take control of the game — and of their destiny in this series. The final period began with back-to-back layups by Ionescu and Leonie Fiebich (11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists), and included three-pointers by Ionescu and Jonquel Jones (14 points, 6 rebounds).
On the Aces side, a tumultuous season comes to a close at the hands of the same team they defeated in the Finals last season.
From the beginning, Las Vegas acknowledged that this was a much-improved Liberty team from last season. They dropped their first two games of the series before responding with a resounding Game 3 win — but ran out of steam in Game 4.
“New York is a lot better than they were last year, plain and simple,” Kelsey Plum said ahead of the semi-finals match-up. “If you go down the line, like pound for pound, individually — all of them are better.”
In Game 4, A’ja Wilson led the way with 19 points on 7-13 shooting, 10 rebounds, and 5 blocks. Kelsey Plum added 17, but shot just 5-19 from the field, while Tiffany Hayes scored 11 off the bench. Jackie Young, who had an outstanding Game 3, shot just 1-10 from the field for 4 points.
The Liberty will host the winner of the series between the Connecticut Sun and Minnesota Lynx, with Game 1 of the Finals scheduled for Thursday at 8pm ET at Barclay’s Center. The Lynx lead the Sun 2-1 in the semi-finals, with Game 4 currently underway.
This is New York’s sixth Finals appearance, but the franchise is one of a handful to never win a WNBA championship. Later this week, they’ll get the chance to compete for one again.
The win against the Aces was an important stepping stone en route to the ultimate goal. Las Vegas had won the last two titles, and though they fell to the No. 4 seed this season, they were an undeniably formidable opponent.
But, this Liberty team was assembled with a championship in mind, and Breanna Stewart made that clear in her postgame presser:
“We haven’t done anything yet.”
