It took them nearly 3 decades, but the New York Liberty can finally call themselves WNBA champions following their thrilling overtime victory over the Minnesota Lynx on Sunday.
Sabrina Ionescu collapsed at centre court following her team’s 67-62 OT win against a Minnesota squad that gave the Liberty everything they could handle in their 5 game series. But in the end, the best team from the regular season proved they were the best team in the postseason as well.
“When I hugged Stewie, I was just sobbing in her ear,” said Jonquel Jones, who finally won her first title after four Finals appearances. “I didn’t say one word. I was just crying the whole time. I was just so happy to win and to do it with her.”
As confetti rained onto the court, the Liberty could finally shed the distinction of being the only original WNBA franchise without a title. Being able to clinch the championship on its own floor as Sinatra’s “New York, New York” blared over the speakers made it that much sweeter.
“To be able to bring a championship to New York, first ever in franchise history, it’s an incredible feeling,” Breanna Stewart said. “I literally can’t wait to continue to celebrate with the city because I know it’s going to be bonkers.”
“We knew we had more in the tank to give and 20 more minutes for the end of the season,” Stewart continued. “That’s it. I felt like, because I was just thinking about today, whether we win or lose, we want to put it all on the line because last year when we lost, there was more in the tank. And this year that wasn’t happening.”
“I knew and I came in with a game plan of it doesn’t matter,” Stewart said. “I want to play defense. I want to rebound. I want to do the little things and I’ll continue to be aggressive and shoot my shots. But if they’re not falling, they’re not falling. And I’m not going to let that affect the way I do things.”
With a team high 17pts to go along with 6 boards and an assist, Jonquel Jones was named Finals MVP after turning in a vintage performance over the past 5 games to propel her team to victory.
“[Jones] led us,” Stewart said. “Her dominance in the paint and on the boards, helps on defense. Everything that we needed, she was there.”
After a heartbreaking 4 game defeat last year to the Las Vegas Aces in the finals, New York looked every bit the part of a team of destiny this season going 32-8 in the regular season, and locking up the number 1 seed heading into the postseason.
They made short work of the Atlanta Dream via a first round sweep, and then avenged their 2023 loss by dispatching the defending champion Aces in 4 games in the semi-finals. From there it was a heavyweight slugfest between the two best teams from the regular season as the Lynx pushed New York to the brink, but came up agonizingly short in the end.
The New York Liberty’s first WNBA championship will be celebrated in style with a ticker-tape parade up the Canyon of Heroes beginning at 10 a.m. in Lower Manhattan on Thursday, October 24th, Mayor Eric Adams announced on social media Monday.
Photo: John Mac. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.