By: Olivia Hinck
Every league feeds on the drama of its historic rivalries. The NBA has the Celtics and the Lakers, the MLB has the Yankees and the Red Sox, and the NFL has the Cowboys and the Giants. Now, the WNBA joins the competitive party with a fresh rivalry of its own: The New York Liberty and the Las Vegas Aces.
Professional women’s basketball has never been in a better place than it is right now. On Oct. 15, the New York Liberty and their home court, Barclays Center, broke the WNBA’s gate receipt record by welcoming 17,143 exuberant fans for Game 3 of the finals against the Las Vegas Aces (ESPN). Women’s basketball has always been here, and has always been an entertaining display of talent, but why has it taken so long for the world to appreciate it? And what can this sudden surge of popularity be attributed to? The likely answer: is two dominant superteams battling it out with the high stakes of a WNBA championship hanging in the balance.
Since an action-packed free agency this past winter, these two teams have stood out from the pack. The Aces, fresh off a championship in the 2022 season, added WNBA legend Candace Parker to an already stacked lineup of Kelsey Plum, Chelsea Gray, Jackie Young, and reigning MVP A’ja Wilson. The Liberty made huge moves of their own by signing former MVPs Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones as well as veteran point guard Courtney Vandersloot to pair with sharp-shooter Sabrina Ionescu. Since these tantalizing off-season moves, fans have dreamt of a post-season matchup between these two powerhouses. All of that anticipation has turned into a reality this October.
Each superteam has worked its way through the playoff bracket with relative ease. The Aces swept both the Chicago Sky and Dallas Wings while the Liberty took down the Washington Mystics and Connecticut Sun. The stage was set for the highly-anticipated finals matchup that has been forecasted since both teams leveled up this offseason.
Game 1 in Vegas was a tight contest through the first half with both teams flying out of the gate with strong performances. Marine Johannes of the Liberty came off the bench to provide a much-needed shooting spark with 14 points in the first half. For the Aces, Plum and Wilson anchored the offense by outplaying the Liberty starters on offense and simultaneously locking them up on defense. Despite being down three points heading into the third quarter, Vegas harnessed the momentum they created before halftime to create some separation on the scoreboard. Jackie Young continued a stellar performance on both sides of the court, leaving Liberty guards frustrated without an effective method of slowing her down. Ultimately, the Aces’ three-headed monster of guards – Plum, Gray, and Young – was too much for the Liberty to handle defensively and they opened up a 19-point lead midway through the fourth quarter, making it impossible for New York to mount a comeback.
With Vegas throwing the first punch in Game 1, it would be reasonable to assume that New York would bounce back with an inspired performance to avoid digging themselves into a 2-0 series deficit. Unfortunately for Liberty fans, this assumption couldn’t have been farther from reality. The Aces delivered an absolutely dominant performance from start to finish, never leaving their impending victory in question. It wasn’t just a good game – it was record-breaking. After a crippling 19-2 run to open the game, the Aces never let up en route to a 38-point first quarter, the largest total of its kind in WNBA finals history. Pairing the red-hot barrage from the Aces with the Liberty’s ice-cold 23% three-point shooting resulted in a 28-point margin of victory for Las Vegas. New York was now staring down the barrel of a 2-0 series deficit, which no team in WNBA finals history has ever recovered from.
How would the Liberty respond to this seeming death sentence? Heading back to their Barclays Center stomping grounds, fans of the squad were revved up to fiercely cheer for their team on the brink of elimination. Finally, the Liberty stars showed some real signs of life for the first time in this series. 2023 MVP Breanna Stewart recorded a 20-point double-double while Jonquel Jones stuffed the stat sheet with a 27-point showing. Notably, two Aces starters were injured in this game – orchestrating point guard Chelsea Gray and center Kiah Stokes – rendering them sidelined for Game 4 and raising questions of depth for the defending champs.
A glimmer of hope from the do-or-die Game 3 win rejuvenated the Liberty and opened the door for an improbable comeback, and this energy was palpable in the way New York opened Game 4. Through the first half, the Liberty enjoyed a fairly stable double-digit lead and their defense seemed to stifle the Aces, who were down two starters and struggling to find continuity (exemplified by 8 first-quarter turnovers). But Vegas head coach Becky Hammon must have delivered some poignant words of wisdom at halftime because the teams swapped roles in the third quarter. Superstar A’ja Wilson put the team on her back as she inspirationally led the Aces’ charge to outscore the Liberty 23-12 in the third. Las Vegas, despite all of their missing personnel, found their groove in the second half and survived a mini-comeback that brought New York within one point in the final minutes of the fourth. On the last possession of the game, the Liberty had a chance to force a Game 5 with a three-pointer from Courtney Vandersloot, but the Aces’ scrambling defense displayed their unmatched team chemistry as the Liberty had no room to get off a clean shot.
As the final buzzer sounded, the reality of the victory hit the Las Vegas Aces. For the first time since 2002, the WNBA can boast back-to-back champions. Pure euphoria spread across the faces of Aces players as they received their finals trophy at midcourt, and A’ja Wilson added the title of Finals MVP to her already impressive resume. The Aces were the championship favorites all season long, and you know what they say: what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.