Past Experience Fuels Liberty in Championship Atonement

The New York Liberty aren't camping in their comfort zone when it comes to this time of year.

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

BROOKLYN-Many in the New York Liberty organization may be the last of their generation to know the meaning of the term "burn the tape."

That's no doubt what many supporters would've liked to do with the reels carrying Game 4 of the 2023 WNBA Finals: facing a 2-1 series deficit in the best-of-five set and a Las Vegas Aces group missing two starters, New York fell victim to an A'ja Wilson masterclass and dropped a 70-69 decision on their home floor of Barclays Center.

But the Liberty haven't burned the tape, destroyed the date, mutilated the Mp.4 ... they've remembered. Kayla Thornton, one of the first women off the bench, hasn't even forgotten the date of the Game 4 defeat, October 18.

"They beat us last year in the Finals on our home court with two starters out," point guard Sabrina Ionescu recalled after the most recent meeting between the two teams on Sept. 8. "Everyone in this league is amazing and they're a very experienced team. They've kind of been there, done that, they've won multiple championships. They understand what it takes to win and those teams are dangerous."

Brandon Todd, NY Liberty

This weekend ends and the Liberty's next postseason level begins with deja seafoam blue all over again: the Liberty face fall with another best-of-series with Las Vegas, one that gets underway at Barclays Center on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, ABC). This time around, the clash of the titans is staged in the semifinal stage of the WNBA playoffs but carries similar prestige.

The series features the services of the WNBA MVP from all but one of the last seven years: three of those titles sit on active holder A'ja Wilson's mantle while New York's Breanna Stewart brought two to Brooklyn, including last year's. Jonquel Jones' 2021 banner completes the set ... which doesn't even include the services of nine Olympians from the Paris Game, six alone from the star-spangled American banner.

Whereas the Liberty hope that this get-together is part two of a three-pronged journey to the franchise's first championship, Las Vegas is seeking to become the first winner of three consecutive WNBA titles since the Houston Comets took the original four ... including three over the Liberty.

There are several new cast members in this edition of the Liberty-Aces saga: unexpected depth stars like Leonie Fiebich and Tiffany Hayes have risen to the occasion while Alysha Clark and Nyara Sabally have seen their roles expand. The returning headliners reprising their roles, however, are the attractions, especially after they were reduced to de facto cameos during the three-game regular season set won exclusively by the Liberty.

Vegas, for example, fell to the fourth seed thanks in part to a slow start exacerbated by the early loss of Chelsea Gray, one of the missing women of last year's triumph. Wilson later missed the most recent matchup, a 75-71 thriller that saw the Aces clean up a 20-point Liberty lead before Ionescu heroics sealed the sweep.

Metropolitan two-way star Betnijah Laney-Hamilton watched most of that lead ... as well as all of a 12-point win at Michelob Ultra Arena on Aug. 17 ... from the bench after she endured an injury through friendly fire.

In essence, a whole new matchup gets underway in Brooklyn on Sunday, one where the sweeper and the victim more or less cease to exist.

Liberty management banked on the idea that a year of chemistry development and getting to know each other would be the secret ingredient of a championship cocktail. That faith has been rewarded to the tune of a league-best record that will ensure that the bookends of this series, or even a potential seafoam-branded WNBA Finals, will be staged on Atlantic Avenue.

"You've been able to see it all year, even with just one year together," Ionescu said of the differences of last year's Liberty team compared to this one. "We still haven't been playing together that long, but just having one season together as a group, it's like, we've kind of seen everything and have understood what it feels like to be down and up and in different situations ... We take great shots when we need to, get the ball in the right people's hands, fight for every ball, get stops when we need to."

The last Finals saw the Liberty drop two the first two games in Las Vegas, putting them on the brink before even a mere second fell off Barclays Center's scoreboard.

Those in charge of the Liberty bar have offered a bitter addition to what they're serving: heartbreak.

New York got through its first-round matchup with Atlanta by eschewing the past, dominating Game 1 to set an early tone for the brief series. When it comes to heartbreak against Las Vegas, however, they'll willingly keep their minds refreshed.

"I think where we've grown and developed the most is probably just, like, the vulnerability," Stewart told Knicks on SI. 'Being able to kind of talk about the things that are hard for us or what we're struggling with, that might be in a personal aspect, but also a basketball sense and just, like, working through hard things has been huge."

"We focus on the now, but the experience is learned," head coach Sandy Brondello said. "We've had that discussion, just making sure everyone realized how intense it will be, playoff basketball, but also how much fun it is to enjoy. We're here. We're playing playoff basketball. There's nothing better than that and we've got big goals."

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