Liberty Get Home-Cooked Reminder In Sweep of Seattle

The New York Liberty got a healthy, loud reminder of what they're fighting for on Thursday night at Barclays Center.

Brandon Todd

BROOKLYN-The New York Liberty found literal shelter from the Storm on Thursday night.

Long locked onto the WNBA playoff bracket, the Liberty got a warm, loud reminder of what they're fighting for as they played one of their final home games of the 2024 regular season. Betnijah Laney-Hamilton led the way with 18 points as New York secured a 77-70 victory over the Seattle Storm, the former WNBA employers of current contributors Kennedy Burke and Breanna Stewart.

"It's to make sure we're playing our best basketball," veteran Courtney Vandersloot when asked about the team's goals for the final regular season hours. "It's a long regular season, we've had a lot of lineup changes in terms of injuries and all of these things. We're just making sure that we're playing New York Liberty basketball at the right time, going into the postseason."

"[Playing at our peak] is clicking on all cylinders, both defensively and offensively. I don't think tonight was that at all times ... but I think we see glimpses of it, and we're like this is what we want to look like. But we got to make sure that we're playing that for 40 minutes, because, you know, 20 minutes, 30 minutes 30 minutes isn't gonna get it done in the playoffs."

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

With the win, New York (28-6) maintained its multi-game game atop the WNBA leaderboard and reduced its magic number to four in trems of a lock-up. Those downplaying the meaning of seeding the parity-packed WNBA ... the idea of avoiding the defending champion Las Vegas Aces in a potential second round set could be dangerously tantilizing ... were literally drowned out by the seafoam faithful.

Though Thursday's weeknight outing (10,873) partly paled in compared to the Liberty's average turnout of 12,484, the star-studded seats (featuring NBA legend Dwyane Wade, "CeLiberty Row" regular Jason Sudeikis, and a surprise in-game performance from rapper Flava Flav) did their part in a testy challenge from Seattle, another potential round two opponent if things stay as they are.

Despite a few amitted glances, the Liberty reps were unable to fully view Flav's performance, as it occured during the third/fourth quarter break that interrupted their game-changing run that sealed the deal. They were nonetheless appreciative of the attendees and hope to give Brooklyn more opportunities to stop by and serve as sixth women on what the team hopes its its first postseason championship run.

"We want to be able to play in front of our fans," center/forward Jonquel Jones said. "We understand how much they drive us as well. Not every team is going to have that homecourt advantage ... We know we can do it, and it's a goal of ours."

Seeing packed Brooklyn crowds has been a rewarding moment for the tenured Vandersloot, who has felt the love and support through her season-plus in New York.

"The game has really grown. People are showing up," the 14th-year veteran said. "It's almost like we're taking it for granted here, because it's been like this for the last two years. Every single night the fans show up. It's just a crazy environment. So it's almost like we expect it."

"t's a fun environment, especially because I come from the time when it wasn't like that. I've been around a lot of played in a lot of empty arenas and so it's great to see where the league is at.

The Liberty have no doubt carried the demons of last fall's championship heartbreak at the hands of the Aces and the lack of homecourt advantage has been one of the most nagging: New York posted a franchise-best 32-8 record last year but that was two games behind Sin City. The Finals festivities thus began with two road games and partly contributed to a 2-0 deficit in the best-of-five set before a minute of Brooklyn-based Finals action ever tipped off.

" I think [we recall] the experience of what we went through last year," head coach Sandy Brondello said. "We feel like we play great basketball here and our home crowd is awesome ... I don't look too far ahead. It's more one game at a time, but I think [homecourt] helps us. We're home, we're in our own beds, we're in our own routines. So we would like that."

There are three more opportunities for Brooklynites and more to take in the sites of a playoff chase before the quest begins anew. The next lands on Sunday late afternoon when New York faces the aforementioned Aces (4 p.m. ET, ESPN).

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