Kelsey Plum Must Eat Past Words About Liberty Players After Aces WNBA Playoffs Loss
The New York Liberty defeated the Las Vegas Aces by a score of 76-62 on Sunday, which means that the Liberty will be advancing to their second consecutive WNBA Finals and the Aces' quest for a three-peat has come to a bitter end.
There was a ton of intrigue about this Aces vs. Liberty series because it was a rematch of last year's WNBA Finals, which Las Vegas won in four games.
While these two teams boast what are inarguably the two best rosters in the entire league, the Aces seemed to gel better as a team last season; likely because it was the first season where New York's elite players (Sabrina Ionescu, Breanna Stewart, and Jonquel Jones) were all playing together.
After the Aces won the 2023 WNBA Championship, Las Vegas guard Kelsey Plum had some criticism of the Liberty roster.
"As much as they’re a team, they’re not a team, if that makes sense," Plum told Yahoo Sports reporter Alex Smith back in October 2023. "They’re really good individual players, but they don’t care about each other. And you can tell in those moments. They revert back to individual basketball."
This comment has since resurfaced in the aftermath of Sunday's Aces loss to New York, with one X user reposting it and saying, "BYE NOW".
BYE NOW pic.twitter.com/8oFPzO5sQ8
— correlation (@nosyone4) October 6, 2024
Plum's comment is especially intriguing because the Aces lacked cohesion and chemistry on the court throughout their 2024 season, and looked like a shell of the squad who had won two straight WNBA titles.
The Liberty likely used this comment as motivation in the offseason, and must be feeling even sweeter because of it right now.
Grant Young covers Women’s Basketball, the New York Yankees, and the New York Mets for Sports Illustrated’s ‘On SI’ sites. He holds an MFA degree in creative writing from the University of San Francisco (USF), where he also graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and played on USF’s Division I baseball team for five years. However, he now prefers Angel Reese to Angels in the Outfield.