WNBA playoffs: Liberty eliminate back-to-back champion Aces, advance to Finals for second consecutive season

The New York Liberty have gotten revenge on the Las Vegas Aces. After losing to their superteam rival in the Finals last season, the Liberty bounced back to defeat the Aces in the semifinals this time around. They completed that task with a 76-62 win in Game 4 on Sunday afternoon. 

Now, the Liberty are on to the Finals for the second consecutive season. There, they’ll try to win the first championship in franchise history. The Liberty are one of three active franchises, along with the Connecticut Sun and Atlanta Dream, without a title. They are also the only original franchise still in operation that has not lifted the trophy. 

The Liberty were in control for most of Game 4, but foul trouble, turnovers and poor shooting prevented them from running away until the fourth quarter. They used a 17-3 run in the middle of the frame to effectively end the game. Breanna Stewart didn’t shoot the ball well, but put up a huge all-around performance with 19 points, 14 rebounds, five assists and three blocks, while Sabrina Ionescu hit five 3-pointers en route to 22 points and seven rebounds. 

When the Liberty put this superteam together last winter, the immediate expectation was to win it all. They weren’t able to get that done last season, and have been a team possessed this summer. The nature of their elimination to the Aces in Game 4 of the 2023 Finals — blowing a double-digit second-half lead at home and losing by one when Courtney Vandersloot airballed a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer — fueled them all summer long. 

“We have a scar as a team,” Vandersloot said about Game 4 lst month. “We are working through that. I feel like we had a legitimate chance and we let it get away from us. It was like, ‘No one to blame but ourselves.’ That’s hard to deal with. And that’s something that you remember.”

The Liberty were the best team in the league all season long, as they tied a franchise record with 32 wins and earned the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs for the first time since 2015. They had the best offensive rating (107.0), the third-best defensive rating (95.3) and best net rating (plus-11.7). 

So far in the playoffs, it’s been more of the same. The Liberty have lost just once, and have had a double-digit lead in every single win so far. Regardless of whether the Minnesota Lynx or Connecticut Sun win the other semifinal series, the Liberty will be the favorite.