The Guru Report: The New York Liberty Averts WNBA Finals Sweep By Las Vegas Extending The Aces to Game Four

By Mel Greenberg @Womhoopsguru

NEW YORK — Thanks to a myriad of lead-up factors, two women’s basketball events that tipped off Sunday afternoon at the same moment here on national broadcast network ABC and out in the Midwest on a major collegiate conference network, both the near future of the WNBA and it’s not far down the road future were both on display.

The near future was provided by the New York Liberty who enabled the ongoing best-of-five finals to still have one to the delight of an energetic 17,143 sellout crowd in the Barclays Center by finally getting competitive with an 87-73 triumph over the Las Vegas Aces, depriving the defending champions of a 3-0 sweep and at least temporarily the first back-to-back trophy achievers since 2002.

Meanwhile a record crowd of 55,646 for an NCAA women’s basketball game, this one an exhibition, filled Iowa’s Kinnick Stadium, to see last spring’s national runnerup Hawkeyes beat DePaul 94-72.

The game was the idea of Iowa coach Lisa Bluder, encouraged by the crowd that came out in support of the Hawkeyes’ return home after the title game loss to LSU.

On display for the home team was reigning national player of the year Caitlin Clark, who could be arriving in the WNBA as early as next March, potentially as the overall No. 1 draft pick.

Clark hasn’t lost a step, based on Sunday, scoring triple double number with 34 points, 10 assists, and 11 rebounds.

There will be anticipation Monday on the TV numbers on both events, especially here with a TV Rights deal coming up in 2025 not soon after the next NCAA negotiations, which has picked up momentum after the near 10 million viewing the title game. Furthermore, once taboo as something to avoid, Sunday’s games were competing right in middle of another heavy NFL slate, though that already happened once this season, and the league held its own.

League commissioner Cathy Engelbert has called the next rights deal a key to solving financing such things as teams’ desires to fly charter.

In recent years Engelbert kept repulsing desires for expansion, saying “when the time is right,” which she finally pronounced it is so with the recent announcement awarding NBA Golden State Warriors the newest team to start in 2025. One owner was involved in the start-up of the former American Basketball League, which landed a team in Philadelphia, while he also owned the San. Jose Lasers.

A second new WNBA team is expected to be named, Portland now being said to be the frontrunner, especially after Toronto bidders fell apart.

As for the immediate future, on Sunday here it was all about the Jones girl, as in Jonquel Jones, whose guardian is Temple second-year coach Diane Richardson, who was here in a VIP section.

South Carolina coach Dawn Staley was also here to cheer on her former collegiate super star A’ja Wilson on the Aces. Retired Rutgers Hall of Fame coach C. Vivan Stringer was reported to be coming support of he former standout Betnijah Laney, who plays for the Liberty.

Jones had her best number of this postseason, yet, scoring 27 points on 10-of-15 shooting with eight rebounds, as New York awoke from the opening two game thrashing back in Sin City to embrace the vibe and harness the acquired home crowd advantage here in the East, winning for the first time at home in a finals.

“I was doing whatever I can to get this team a win,” Jones said.

Former UConn star Breanna Stewart has never lost in any finals in her entire basketball career and in this game for the Liberty, the 2023 MVP voted by a national media panel scored 20 points with 12 rebounds, four assists and two blocked shots.

Jones, a former Connecticut Sun star and a previous league MVP arrived in the offseason as the first of several blockbuster signings enabling the New Yorkers to break a 21-year finals hiatus.

“She was huge for us,” New York coach Sandy Brondello said of Jones, who had four of the Liberty’s 13 three-pointers. “Those 3’s changed the moment of the game a bit. The ball went in. Other games the ball weren’t going in for us. We got back to our identity. Proud of the effort and commitment and connection we had. Now we’ve got to do it again.”

That attempt comes Wednesday night at 8 p.m. as either Las Vegas finishes off what it’s pursuing or the Liberty tie the series and sends it back too Las Vegas for an penultimate game five.

New York hadn’t won a finals game since the famed Teresa Weatherspoon half-court shot in 1999 at the end of regulation at Houston to tie the series 1-1 before the former Comets came back the next day to win the then best-of-three competition.

Weatherspoon, hired a few days ago as the new coach of the Chicago Sky, was in the building yesterday with other Liberty greats of the past as Rutgers’ Sue Wicks.

Associated Press national women’s writer Doug Feinberg noted in his postgame report, since the ‘Spoon Shot no New York area men’s or women’s pro team has made it that far since.

The scene here was akin to the glory era when celebrities regularly attended games when the Liberty played in Madison Square Garden under previous ownership.

Robin Roberts of ABC’s morning news show was here as was rocker Joan Jett, a regular attendee those early years for both the league and the Liberty, one of the original eight charter teams. Actor Jason Sudelkis also was among the crowd as was NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, local great and UConn standout Sue Bird, who retired after last season, playing her entire pro career with the Seattle Storm, which won several titles. Big East commissioner. Val Ackerman, the first WNBA president, was on the list of notables at the game sent by the league as was actress Aubrey Plaza, and UConn coach Geno Auriemma. 

Despite the differential at the finish, the game did not become that way until the near the end of the fourth quarter.

New York was up 43-40 at the half, got it to double digits at 61-50 after the third and then just when it looked like Las Vegas was on the way to spoiling the afternoon, cutting its deficit to six on the play of Wilson, also a past MVP, Stewie scored, as did Laney on a layup following her steal of Jackie Young.

The Aces are owned by NFL Raiders owner Mark Davis, and recently former quarterback great Tom Brady bought into Las Vegas.

One former New York member in the building was on the other team’s bench. That would be Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon, once favored to be the first female NBA coach after her long stint on the staff at San Antonio until hired last season by Las Vegas to return to the WNBA, the first to win a title in her initial year coaching in the league.

The Aces had won their first seven games in the playoffs this season until Sunday.

Here in the Barkley’s Center for Las Vegas, former University of Washington star Kelsey Plum scored 29 points, Wilson had a double double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, but concern on the opposition arose during the press conference after point guard Chelsea Gray left the game in the middle of the fourth quarter with a foot injury and later seen off a video camera moving with crutches.

“I can’t give you an update,” Hammon said immediately after. “I’ll let you know when we know.”

If Gray can’t go Wednesday, Hammon said the Aces would fill the duties “by committee.”

Prior to the game,  the WNBA announced the results of the national media voting to determine the first and second all league squads.

The first team consisted of three unanimous picks who were in the MVP race most of the season in Stewart, Wilson, and the Connecticut Sun’s Alyssa Thomas,  a former Maryland star.  The Minnesota Lynx’s Napheesa Collier, who starred at UConn, and the Dallas Wings’ Satou Sabally completed the first five.

The second team consists of the Los Angeles Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike, the Aces’ Jackie Young and Chelsea Gray, the Seattle Storm’s Jewel Loyd, and New York’s Sabrina Ionescu.

Coming Next: The Lead-Up to the Collegiate Season begins.

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