As the seconds ticked away in Game 4 of the championship series, Breanna Stewart jumped to grab the inbounds pass. Her team, the New York Liberty, trailed by one point with only 8.8 seconds left. The pressure was mounting, and the weight of elimination loomed large.
Stewart drove towards the block, spinning in the lane as the opposing team’s guard stepped forward to double-team her. The reigning MVP kicked the ball out to the wing, her last touch of the season. The ball wound its way to Courtney Vandersloot’s hands on the baseline, and with 1.7 seconds left, she launched the ball towards the basket. It sailed over the rim, and Jonquel Jones grabbed it for a put-back, but the red light gleamed on the backboard, and the clock read 0.0. The scoreboard sealed it: the opposing team had won, and the Liberty’s season was over.
Eleven months later, Vandersloot reflected on that moment, saying, “We have a scar as a team. We are working through that.” The Liberty had led by nine at halftime, playing a shorthanded team without their point guard, center, or legend. They were playing on their home court, but it wasn’t enough.
Fast-forward to the present, and the Liberty are gearing up to face the same team in the semifinals. They’ve had a remarkable season, with the best record in the league, and have beaten their opponents all three times they’ve played. But the question remains: will the scar of last season’s defeat motivate them or haunt them?
Sabrina Ionescu, Stewart, and Jones formed a superteam, with expectations of delivering a championship to New York for the first time since 1973. They dared to speak of a dynasty. But after last season’s heartbreaking loss, they’re left to confront the reminder of that trauma.
Ionescu says, “We responded this year and had the year that we did. And it’s something that gives us confidence.” But as the Liberty know, their opponents are still the back-to-back champions. It doesn’t matter how many times they beat them during the regular season if they can’t get three wins to advance to the championship finals.
The semifinals are a step closer to winning the franchise’s first title. And to celebrating near a logo – any logo. And to raising a banner to the rafters. The semifinals vs. their opponents are an opportunity to etch a new memory – one that’s celebratory – and not a painful reminder of almost.
“We’ve got some unfinished business,” Ionescu says. “We’re going to play our best basketball because we’ve got a lot of basketball left in us.”
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