Ellie Wave, Charter Flights Keep Busy Liberty Uniquely Fresh

The New York Liberty found unique ways to stay in the game amidst a speedy Commissioner's Cup slate.

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

BROOKLYN-The New York Liberty addressed an elephant in the room with the literal elephant in the room.

The powers that be in the WNBA scheduling department certainly made sure that the Liberty's attempt to defend its spot in the Commissioner's Cup final was a challenge.

New York's revamped five-game slate en route to in-season glory was packed into five days and massive miles: Brooklyn bookends sandwiched visits to Chicago, Atlanta, and Connecticut, but each part ended in a victory. Not only will the Liberty (11-2) get to defend their CC crown on June 25 but they'll get to host the festivities at Barclays Center, as the stretch ensured that New York would prevail in all tiebreakers.

While most of the wins were far from easy (the trials exacerbated by losing both Nyara Sabally and Courtney Vandersloot), the journey began with a 104-68 shellacking of the Indiana Fever on June 2.

The weekend win was one where everything went right for the Liberty: Betnijah Laney-Hamilton led the team in scoring with 20 points and neutralized touted rookie Caitlin Clark on defense before turning her attention to Indiana leading scorer Kelsey Mitchell. Elsewhere on the box score, Jonquel Jones posted an 18-point, 13-rebound double-double while Burke posted her first double-figure game after a year away from the W with 10 off the bench.

Yet ... something was missing: the Ellie Wave.

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

The scoreboard's one-sided nature offered the Liberty headliners, spared from the carnage they created by head coach Sandy Brondello a rare chance to partake in the late-game fan display where Barclays Center visitors wave their arms (often accompanied by towels bestowed at the gate) in the style of team mascot Ellie the Elephant's trunk to the tune of DJ Frosty's "Ride That Wave."

While there were originally no plans to engage in the Wave (often saved for close, high-impact games), players often engaged in late strategy sessions, game-planning, or comeback-mounting specifically requested it as the countdown to an assured victory commenced.

Getting their own towels involved in the craze added a little extra volume as New York closed in on a blowout victory, one that certainly provided some metropolitan assurances after consecutive losses and two more close games against meandering competition.

"I requested the wave. They weren't going to do the wave," Vandersloot, who has missed the past three games due to personal reasons, said with a smirk after the win. "I like when the crowd gets involved in it. Ellie is so much fun to watch ... A moment like this, this is fun. We've worked so hard, it's stressful with all this stuff but then when you're up by 30 and you can relax a little and just enjoy the moment, it's cool to get your crowd involved."

"It's not a lot that we're up by that much to kind of be able to do that," point guard Sabrina Ionescu said. "For me, it kind of brought me back to my college days. We did a lot of those chants and got the crowd going. But Ellie's been amazing all season long. To be able to stay locked in but also understand there's so much energy in the building, Ellie played a big role in that."

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

Those who packed Barclays Center that night are no doubt grateful that the whipping of sideline towels was the most exercise that Liberty starters had during the fourth quarter: while the team medical and wellness staffs no doubt played their role as well, a rare reprieve from the usual fourth quarter antics no doubt set a healthy tone for the busy road ahead.

Beyond the mastodon madness, metropolitan refreshment came in the Liberty's own unique ways: over the three-game road trip, New York posted an advantage of at least plus-10 on the scoreboard during the fourth quarter, including a 25-15 output in Saturday's visit to Uncasville against the previously-undefeated Connecticut Sun.

Head coach Sandy Brondello credited last season's bittersweet assembly, one that featured a CC title and came a stone's throw away from the frarnchise's first postseason championship, for creating chemistry that is proving explosive late in games.

"I think the chemistry that we built last year and the experiences that we had (last season) helps us now," Bronello said. "I think our connections even go to another level regardless of what happens in those other quarters. I've always felt confident going in and we just go to another level. I think that's the ability that really good teams have."

Furthermore, New York's experience has literally faced calmer skies, as the team has reaped the benefits of the WNBA's new charter flight program ... a project long championed by current bearer of seafoam and reigning league MVP Breanna Stewart, who was more than happy to reap in the fruit of her labor.

"I think that for us, it's great that we can play the game and then we get out of there as quickly as possible to get to the next city," Stewart said before the Liberty's win in Connecticut on Saturday. "We get in pretty late but at least we have the whole next day to kind of just rest, recover, and get ready for the next one."

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

"I believe the charter helps because we're able to get into a new city after the game and have the entire next day to just rest," Ionescu added. "Coach does a really good job of not using those practice days too hard for us, for the players that played a lot of minutes. We're able to just rest and take care of our bodies because there's a lot of demand coming forward in the next games."

With the Commissioner's Cup slate completed, New York has now been partly blessed by the most conventional means of inactivity: days off. Having capped things off with Sunday's narrow win over Washington, the Liberty are engaged in a nearly-full week off, as they have a few extra to prepare for the first of three WNBA Finals rematches with the Las Vegas Aces on Saturday afternoon (3 p.m. ET, ABC).

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