It’s the inevitable reunion of the super team. However, their postseason matchup, which was expected throughout the year, will result in them being eliminated in the semifinals.
The No. 1 New York Liberty and No. 4 Las Vegas Aces will tip off a best-of-five WNBA semifinal series on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC) at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. Each franchise will return its starting five from the 2023 WNBA Finals, which Vegas won in four games against Barclays. And the team’s front office filled out a stronger, deeper bench to make history.
The Aces are aiming for a three-peat, a feat accomplished only once in WNBA history, when the Houston Comets won the league’s first four titles. Liberty is still looking for its first championship after coming up empty-handed in five finals appearances. They lost three of them to the Comets.
Liberty general manager Jonathan Kolb, who was named the 2023 Executive of the Year, announced that he will be recruiting All-Star Brianna Stewart, Added Jonquel Jones and Courtney Vandersloot. It was the franchise’s first finals appearance since 2002, but they fell short in a heartbreaking Game 4 in what could have been Liberty’s final possession.
“It’s hard to put a team together and win in your first year,” Liberty University head coach Sandy Brondello said ahead of the Commissioner’s Cup, which Liberty University hosted on Long Island in June. “We did pretty well, but I think you could tell we were all uplifted just by spending more time together.” [and] How do we continue to grow? We’ve faced adversity, we’ve had players go, and we continue to build that chemistry. ”
Aces-Liberty has no shortage of star power. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
The A’s have three consecutive No. 1 draft picks in Kelsey Plum, A’ja Wilson, and Jackie Young. Plumb, who pointed to Liberty’s lack of chemistry as the main reason the Aces were able to win the 2023 title, said Liberty has improved this week.
“New York is much better than last year, plain and simple,” Plumb said. “They’re getting bigger and shooting the ball at a better clip. Ultimately, pounding individually makes everyone a better basketball player.”
They are also playing with the hurt of losing in the finals in mind. Brondello and his team call this a wound that heals and makes you stronger. That is necessary to defeat the powerful ace.
“They’ve been our best team all year. They played with an edge, like an angry team, and we’ve been working towards that,” Aces head coach Becky Hammon said. “I feel like we’ve probably regained our advantage.” I don’t think we’re the same team we saw in New York the last three or four weeks. [this season]. ”
Here are three things you should know about this series:
Regular season results are misleading
Yes, Liberty won the regular season series 3-0. But none of those matches were truly indicative of this rematch.
Two veteran point guards missed Liberty’s 90-82 victory June 15 in Las Vegas. Ace Chelsea Gray is rehabbing a foot injury sustained in Game 3 of the WNBA Finals, and Liberty’s Vandersloot was absent for personal reasons.
Liberty wing and All-Defense candidate Bethonia Rainey Hamilton (right knee) missed Game 2, a 79-67 Liberty victory in Las Vegas on Aug. 17. This was the Aces’ first game back from their All-Star/Olympic break, but they had the longest period of rest on the team. At that time, Gray was not yet in his element and the Aces were without six players during the break.
Newly named MVP A’ja Wilson missed the final game two weeks ago, the only game played at Barclays. Liberty held off a fierce attack from the Aces and won 75-71. Las Vegas won 20-11 in the fourth, leaving New York uncertain about a possible postseason matchup.
Both teams come into this game in perfect condition, but Gray looks as if he could be fit for the playoffs for the Aces.
MVP battle
The series flows with the No. 1 draft pick and the MVP candidate. The headliners, of course, are Wilson and Stewart, who led Team USA to gold in Paris last month. They are two of the best players in the world and they will be playing against each other throughout the series.
Wilson broke records en route to one of the best seasons in league history. Her 26.9 points per game is a league record and she averaged 11.9 rebounds for a double-double and won her third MVP award last week. In a year of dominant scoring, her 21 and 24 points against New York were nothing special. She was even more motivated last time out in the Finals when MVP voters placed her fourth, placing her behind Stewart and Sun forward Alyssa Thomas in votes.
Although Stewart lifted his second trophy last season, he did not perform well in the postseason, which was a blow for Liberty. It was the first time she appeared in the playoffs without wearing a Seattle Storm jersey, and the first time she lost in the NCAA or WNBA postseason finals. In the playoffs, her scoring decreased by 20% from 23 points per game to 18.4 points per game, and in the Finals she averaged 16.3 points against the Aces. Most of that was from 3-point shooting (17.6%). Since the All-Star and Olympic breaks, she has shot 40% from three, up from a 22.9% slump through the beginning of the season.
Sabrina Ionescu finished sixth in this year’s MVP voting behind teammate Stewart, who placed third. Her improved play has put Liberty in a better position than last season, and after her own slump after the break, she rekindled herself from the 3-point line against Atlanta. Liberty center Jonquel Jones, who was the 2021 MVP while with the Sun, will be expected to have a big game with a double-double. Aces Gray, Young and Plumb all received MVP votes, and Hammon said the team will follow his guard.
Defense proves the difference
Last season, even with Gray and center Kia Stokes on the bench due to injuries, the defense made the Aces stand out and led them to the deciding game in Game 4. Hammon said after the celebration that she “made her defense” but that her group “pushed the crap out of it.”
Hammon has said recently that he has confidence in Las Vegas’ defense, but that side of the ball has been more problematic for Las Vegas this year, giving New York an advantage. Liberty finished third in defensive rating, twice scoring at least 15 points below the Aces’ season average of 86.4 points. In the 2023 Finals, the Aces improved on their scoring average of 92.8 points (99 and 104 points) in the first two games of the WNBA Finals.
Liberty’s 6-foot-4 forward Leonie Fibic, who was the Spanish League MVP and was named to the 2024 All-EuroLeague First Team, will not be in the starting lineup for Game 1 of the series against Atlanta as Vandersloot comes off the bench. I entered. This puts more size (Fiebich is 6-foot-4 to Vandersloot’s 5-foot-8) on the perimeter alongside All-Defense candidate Bethonia Rainey-Hamilton (6-foot), and the Ace’s He can slow down the high-scoring guard trio.
