The Guru Report: An Exciting WNBA Finals Conclude a Historic Year in Collegiate and Pro Women’s Basketball

 

By Andy Lipton

Leading the ‘Break

 

I’m sure Jim Morrison of the Doors didn’t have women’s basketball in mind when he helped write and sing the song “Light My Fire” in the 1960s. But the opening lyrics now come to mind:

 

                           You know that it would be untrue

                                    You know that I would be a liar

                                    If I was to say to you

                                    Girl, we couldn't get much higher

                                    Come on, baby, light my fire

                                    Come on, baby, light my fire

                                    Try to set the night on fire

 

Women’s basketball has been on fire the last 12 months.

 

And that has created a fire in many new women’s basketball fans, men and women.

 

For all those who once said it couldn’t get much higher, well, they were wrong.

 

As the popularity of women’s collegiate and professional basketball exploded, starting with last October’s start of the college basketball season and culminating in the 2024 WNBA Finals,  with attendance, television and other media engagements setting new records, and with women’s basketball entering into society’s broader culture, with it’s good and bad influences, viewers were treated to terrific basketball.

 

October 15, 2023, was the omen of things to come as the University of Iowa Hawkeyes played the DePaul University Blue Demons in an exhibition game at Iowa’s football stadium, Kinnick Stadium, in front of 55,646 fans setting a NCAA single game record for the most attended women’s basketball game ever.

 

The 2024 WNBA Finals was a fitting end to a historic 12-month period for women’s basketball.

 

 It matched up the two teams with the best regular season records in the WNBA, the New York Liberty at 32-8, and the Minnesota Lynx at 30-10.

 

Having followed the Liberty for many games I can say that he Liberty’s offensive firepower was impressive.

 

Both iterations of their starting five could all score. At their best, which was often, it wasn’t one one-on-one play. It was outstanding player and ball movement. Often with pace.

 

Despite not having followed the Lynx closely, it was hard not to be impressed with a team that had seven new players on the team, two of whom were starters, Courtney Williams and Alanna Smith.

 

Both teams tied for 3rd in the league in field goal percentage at 44.8%.

The Liberty led the league in three-pointers made with 405 with the Lynx third at 380.

 

The Lynx and Liberty were one and two in the league, respectively, in assists per game. The Liberty and Lynx were one and three, respectively, in offensive rating.

 

Both teams played outstanding defense. The Lynx and the Liberty were two and three in the league, respectively, in defensive rating. The Liberty team had length.

 

During the regular season the Lynx defeated the Liberty three games to one, including winning the Commissioner’s Cup Championship.

 

But as Liberty Coach Sandy Brondello said during the playoffs, her team that arrived in the postseason was a better team than the one in the regular season.

 

The Liberty’s Goliath versus the Lynx’s David?

 

 Maybe one way to look at it.

 

Lynx Coach Cheryl Reeve implied that the Liberty was a super team. The New York squad had the current MVP in Breanna Stewart, a former, MVP in Jonquel Jones, a WNBA champion point guard in Courtney Vandersloot, and one of the best guards in the league in Sabrina Ionescu.

 

Height-wise the Lynx starting lineup was smaller than the Liberty.

 

Alanna Smith at 6’4” gave away two inches and what seemed like a lot of weight to the 6’6”Jonquel Jones.

 

Napheesa Collier is 6’1” compared to Stewart’s 6’4”.

 

Kayla McBride is 5’11” compared to the Liberty’s Leonie Fiebich’s 6’4”.

 

Williams is 5’8” versus Ionescu’s 5’11”.

 

The Lynx Bridget Carleton is 6’1”. The Liberty’s Betnijah Laney-Hamilton is 6’0”.

 

But David came with more than a slingshot and was also in the heavyweight class.

 

Referring to her team after the final game, Coach Reeve said, “We never got the disease of me. Not one single player on the team got the disease of me. Not one…No one ever put themselves first, no one. That is incredibly difficult to find in this day and age.”

 

In the WNBA Finals Goliath closely prevailed, but David gave notice and hope that the Davids of the world have a chance to do likewise.

 

Reeve, the WNBA’s 2024 Coach and Executive of the Year, said, “You can build a team like ours, you don’t have to be a super team.” 

 

It was the best of five in the Finals.

In Game 1, in the Barclays Center the Lynx made a most unlikely comeback from 15 points down with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter to win the game in overtime 95-93.

 

In Game 2 at Barclays the Liberty led by just 2 with 3:40 to go in the game, and then pulled away to win 80-66.

 

In Game 3 at the Target Center in Minneapolis with the game tied 77-77 with one second left, Ionescu hit a 28 foot step-back jump shot to win the game 80-77.

 

In Game 4 at the Target Center two days later, with the score tied 80-80 with two seconds left regulation, Bridget Carleton was fouled by Ionescu and hit two free throws to win the contest for the Lynx 82-80.

 

The series was going the distance between these two heavyweights.

 

Game 5 would be the last few rounds of a 15 rounder.

 

With the series tied 2-2, the teams flew back to New York for the deciding 5th game.

 

It would be the third game in five days, and the fifth game in 11 days.

 

The minutes played for many of the players were high.

 

Would fatigue be a deciding factor?

 

Before Game 3 Alanna Smith was asked if fatigue would be a deciding factor if the Series went 5 games.

 

Smith: “I would say only if we let it be a deciding factor.

 

“I think when you focus on your fatigue and how you are feeling at the end of the season it can influence the game, but if it goes to a five game series, and we’ve got what, three games left, and I know we’re all capable of  pushing through three games.”

 

Before Game 3, Vandersloot was also asked about fatigue being a deciding factor in the Series.

 

Vandersloot: “I don’t think so. I mean this is the Finals. Everybody at this point is kinda running on fumes but also you know being fueled by so much adrenaline. 

 

“I mean this is what you work so hard all season for to be in this moment. You’re not thinking about how tired you are. You know you can always push further than you think you can.

 

“Especially us.  We’re conditioned to play at a high pace. And you know that’s when we’re at our best. 

 

“We have players on the bench that can come in, if needed. You know that’s one of our strengths, our depth. I think at this point in the year you’re not thinking about fatigue.  You’re just pushing through and knowing that two more wins and you get as much rest time as you need.”

 

 

Game 5

 

In front of 18,090 fans at the Barclays Center with a number of celebrities on hand, including the former New York Liberty player Teresa Weatherspoon, still a beloved New York Liberty icon, who played in the 1st ever WNBA Finals in 1997 with the Liberty and played in the Liberty’s first four WNBA Finals in the first six years of the WNBA’s existence, the two heavyweights entered the arena excited, poised, and a bit fatigued.

 

First Quarter

 

Both teams were able to get off good shots, but the outside shooting of both teams was off.

 

Looked like a number of shots hit the front rim, a sign that legs were fatigued and not getting their normal lift.

 

But the Lynx executed a number of pick and rolls and back door cuts, freeing players for layups and took a 19-10 lead after the end of the quarter.

 

The Lynx ended the quarter with a 6-0 run. Most of the points by both teams were layups. Ionescu was 0 for 5 and Stewart was 0 for 3. Courtney Williams was 1 for 5 and Collier was 4 for 8

 

 

Second Quarter

 

Lynx and Liberty started to play tough defense.

 

The Liberty fell behind 32-20 with three minutes left in the quarter. But the Liberty finished the period strong with some energy, getting five offensive rebounds, a block and a steal in the last 2:23 of the quarter, and were down by 7 at the half, 34-27. 

 

The Liberty had gone to the foul line 8 times in the 1st half, the Lynx none.

           

Collier was 7 for 13 from the field for the first half.  McBride 4 for 5.

 

Ionescu 0 for 9. Stewart 2 for 9. 

 

The Liberty did not make a three-point shot in the first half, taking only three threes.  The Lynx made only 1 out of 4.

 

Third Quarter

 

It’s been said that defense wins championships.

 

Both teams played outstanding on ball and help defense for the first half of the period.

 

 Maybe fatigue was plaguing the offense. Maybe the teams familiarly with each other, now in their ninth game of the season against each other, helped each other’s defense.

 

Nevertheless, a testament to the tremendous commitment to defense by both teams.

 

By the 4:02 mark the score was 38-36. The Liberty had gotten off to a good start, but scoring was still hard to come by, particularly for the Lynx.

 

But the Lynx then had a defensive lapse as the fresh legs of second year Liberty player Nyara Sabally, who had averaged less than three points a game and approximately nine minutes of play in the first four games in the series, sparked her team scoring nine points in the last three and a half minutes of the quarter with four close-in baskets and 3 out of 4 fouls shots to help to give the Liberty a 47-44 lead going into the 4th quarter.

 

The Lynx shot 3 for 14 for that quarter from the floor.

 

4th Quarter

 

These two heavyweights continued to throw punches at each other, i.e., take shots.

 

The Liberty often missed. Both teams kept shooting and there was no quit in either team’s defense.

 

They did not let fatigue impact their defensive efforts. 

 

The Liberty shot 4 for 18 from the floor in the 4th and the Lynx shot 7 for 15 with Collier shooting 3 for 4 and McBride 3-5.

 

It was a lesson for all ballplayers.

 

You play defense, you are a valuable basketball player.  And a lesson in life.

 

Life can throw challenging situations which can make you weary, but if you want to succeed in that situation, quitting is not the answer.

 

The game stayed close during the 4th quarter. Until approximately the 1:30 mark, the Liberty held the lead by one to four points, except being down by one for about a minute in the middle of the quarter.

 

But with about a minute and a half to go, the Lynx tied the game on a Collier layup, and about 30 seconds later Collier put the Lynx up by two with a reverse layup.

 

With 38 seconds left, Stewart missed two foul shots, and the Lynx still had a two-point lead.

 

A Fiebich offensive rebound off Stewart’s second missed foul shot gave the Liberty another chance, but Ionescu missed a three-point shot.

 

The rebound was tied up and on the jump ball Carleton was called for a violation. 

 

Ionescu then missed another three-pointer.

 

Carleton got the rebound with 27 seconds left but missed a driving layup with six seconds to go and the Liberty had one more chance.

 

Ionescu was the inbounder of the ball inside of the half-court line.

 

 Breanna Stewart cut from the far side of the court towards Ionescu to get the ball from Ionescu, but was picked up by McBride.

 

Stewart then cut back towards the inside of the three-point line and was closely fronted by McBride.

 

Ionescu somehow threaded a pass past McBride to Stewart who took one dribble into the lane went up for a shot and missed, but a foul was called on a helping Alanna Smith.

 

Stewart then made both foul shots to tie the game.

 

McBride tried a long distance shot with three seconds to go, missed, and the game went to overtime tied 60-60.

 

After the game Coach Reeve was very upset by what she considered the inconsistent foul calling in a number of the games. (Coach Brondello was upset after game 4 with the reffing in that game.)

 

Reeve believed the foul on Stewart was a marginal call at best and reflected the inconsistency in reffing in Game 5.

 

Reeve said Collier had been held a number of times and fouls were not called.

 

Collier did not go to the foul line once in the whole game despite shooting 23 times from the field. Overall in the game, the Lynx went to the foul line eight times and the Liberty 25 times.

 

Overtime

 

Eight seconds into the five-minute overtime, the Liberty got the jump on a three-point shot by  Fiebich.

 

At 3:15 it was fresh legs Sabally who scored on layup giving the Liberty a 5-point lead.

 

With the Liberty lead at three with 16 seconds to go, Carleton missed a three-pointer and Sabally grabbed the rebound to help seal the victory.

 

 Sabally had 13 points and 7 rebounds in 17 and a half minutes of play.

 

Final Score: Liberty 67, Lynx 62. 

 

The Liberty outscored the Lynx 7-2 in overtime.

The Liberty had nine offensive rebounds versus the Lynx’s four. 

 

The Liberty out rebounded the Lynx 44 to 33.

 

The Lynx took 70 shots shooting 37.1% and the Liberty had 72 shots shooting 30.6%. Ionescu shot 1 for 19 from he floor. Stewart, 4-15.  Fiebich, 4-11.  Williams, 2-14. Collier, 11-23. McBride, 7-11. 

 

The difference in foul shots was the big difference in the game. Lynx 7-8, Liberty 21-25.

 

Going into the Finals, I thought the player who had the best chance of making the difference in the series was the Liberty’s Jonquel Jones. 

 

She had an outstanding season in all aspects of the game, scoring inside and out, defending, rebounding, passing, ball handling, moving well, and well conditioned.

 

As the series began, the Lynx seemed outsized against Jones.

 

To the Lynx’s credit they played excellent team defense, and in the case of Alanna Smith, individual defense, against Jones, making it tough to get her the ball down low.

 

Jones played it cool, and as the series progressed Coach Brondello urged her Liberty team not to force the ball to Jones down low if the pass wasn’t there.

 

Jones started the series on fire scoring 10 points in the first quarter of Game 1 with Collier guarding her.  Later in the game, Smith started guarding her.

 

Jones ended Game 1 scoring 24 points on 9-14 shooting, 5-5 from the foul line.

 

In Game 2 she scored 14 points on 6-13 from the field, 2-2 from the foul line.

 

Game 3: 13 points on 5-10 from the field, 2-2 from the foul line.

 

Game 4:  21 points on 7-10 from the field, 4-5 from the three-point line, 3-3 from the foul line.

 

Game 5:  Liberty’s leading scorer with 17 points. 5-10 from the field and 7-7 from the foul line.

 

All told in the Finals, Jones shot 32-57 from the field for 56% and 19-19 from the foul line.  She did not miss a foul shot in all five games. 

 

Eat your Wheaties kids and make your foul shots.

 

Jones had the most Liberty field goals in the Finals despite Stewart and Ionescu taking 95 and 81 shots, respectively.

 

Jones received the MVP Award for the Finals.

 

As time ran out in Game 5, Stewart and Jones hugged for a long time at half-court.

Jones said after the game she was sobbing in Stewie’s ear. She and Stewart had spoken so much about coming together and what they envisioned they could do in New York. 

 

Jones spoke how she wanted to get her game to Stewie’s level, how she watched Stewie be so great for a long time in high school, college, and the WNBA, ad wanted to play against her, and ultimately be her teammate.

 

They made it happen. They both joined he team before the 2023 season began.

 

For Jones, the fourth try in the Finals was the charm.

 

It was a dream come true, and worth the wait to do it with Stewie. Jones lost in the Finals in 2019 and 2021 with the Connecticut Sun and last season with the Liberty.

 

It was an incredibly exciting series with an exciting final game that ended with the passionate, loyal, and fun-loving, yet well-behaved, fans of the Liberty celebrating the team’s first WNBA Championship.

 

A great season for both teams, their fans, and the game of basketball.