Sabrina Ionescu Made Woeful Shooting History in Liberty WNBA Finals Win
People are going to remember New York Liberty star guard Sabrina Ionescu's performance in the 2024 WNBA Finals by the iconic three-point shot she drained during Game 3 against the Minnesota Lynx.
This is especially the case after the Liberty defeated the Lynx in Game 5 on Sunday, cementing their franchise's first-ever WNBA championship.
And this is how Ionescu and her overall Finals performance should be remembered. She has played at a superstar level all season and the Liberty would not have even gotten to a winner-take-all Game 5 in the first place if not for her.
However, she wasn't a huge help for her team on Sunday.
Ionescu finished the game with 5 points on 1-19 shooting from the field, including going 1-10 from three-point range.
Sabrina Ionescu’s final statline tonight pic.twitter.com/YSvDCOFKEK
— Real Sports (@realapp_) October 21, 2024
While Ionescu did add 8 assists and 7 rebounds, she simply could not get a shot to call all game long.
In fact, an X post from ESPN's Alexa Philippou conveyed that Ionescu had a historically bad shooting start on Sunday.
"Sabrina Ionescu is now 0-12 from the field, the most consecutive misses in a winner-take-all game in WNBA history, via @ESPNStatsinfo"," she wrote.
Sabrina Ionescu is now 0-12 from the field, the most consecutive misses in a winner-take-all game in WNBA history, via @ESPNStatsInfo
— Alexa Philippou (@alexaphilippou) October 21, 2024
Of course, all shooters have these tough performances on occasion, and there's no doubt that Ionescu is one of the world's best sharpshooters on the basketball court, regardless of gender.
But this was a bad night.
However, Ionescu nor anybody else will likely remember this poor performance because her Liberty team (perhaps controversially) are now WNBA champions after what was the most impactful and attention-grabbing season in the league's history.
Controversy and poor shooting aside, nobody can take that away from Ionescu and her Liberty team.
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.