The Guru’s WNBA Report: New York Rides 4th Quarter Surge Back to the Finals Snuffing Vegas Two-Year Reign While Connecticut Rallies to Force Game Five

By Mel Greenberg @womhoopsguru

Taking a slim 53-51 lead into the fourth quarter in one of the two Game 4s in the WNBA semifinals played Sunday afternoon, the New York Liberty exploded on the road 23-11 in Las Vegas over the final ten minutes to power their way to a 76-62 victory and claim the best-of-five series 3-1 effectively ending the Aces’ two-year reign over the league.

Sabrina Ionescu, the top overall pick in the 2020 draft out of Oregon, scored 22 points as she bounced back from her miserable showing Friday night that was one factor in preventing the top-seeded New Yorkers from executing a 3-0 sweep over their fourth-seeded opponent.

However, as the Liberty return to finals where New York will have home court advantage when the series opens at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, Thursday, it will take a bit longer to learn the identity of the opposition.

In the other semifinal that was played following the New York triumph, the third-seed Connecticut Sun at home at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, roared back from a 50-43 halftime deficit outscoring the second seed Minnesota Lynx 49-32 to win 92-82 knotting the series 2-2 and sending it back to Minneapolis and a decisive Game 5 Tuesday night at 8 p.m. on ESPN2 at the Target Center.

For New York, the win Sunday was a sweet payback for a year ago when the Aces narrowly took Game 4 in the finals in Brooklyn to claim the championship 3-1and the league’s first two-peat since the Los Angeles Sparks across 2001 and 2002.

The Liberty stepped up last season joining Vegas in superpower status by bringing in some of the top WNBA talent headlined by former UConn sensation Breanna Stewart, who won several titles with Seattle and some MVP honors besides the regular season citation won for her play with her new team.

“To hold Vegas to 24 points in the second half is pretty impressive,” New York coach Sandy Brondello said.

But New York, one of the remaining from the original eight WNBA teams from the inaugural 1997 summer, has yet to win a championship.

Certainly, the bitter loss 12 months ago to a squad missing some key players to injuries heightened the mission in 2024.

 The Liberty were the best of the upper tier this summer and went 5-0 over the Aces, three in the regular season, and the first two back home in this series before Vegas put a temporary halt on Friday night.

Winning in Sin City enabled the visitors to snap Vegas’ playoff record 12-game home win streak.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Stewart cautioned following her double double performance with 19 points and 14 rebounds. “This was a tough series, an emotional series for a number of different reasons.

“But we’re going to the finals and we’re hosting Game 1 and Game 2. We’re ready to go. Just the feeling of not satisfied.”

Although this will be the sixth finals appearance for New York most came in an earlier era until the drought ended last season.

Vegas coach Becky Hammon, an early New York star as an undrafted free agent and now in the Basketball Hall of Fame, spoke afterwards of the byplay of the two squads.

“We talked our crap, they heard, and they get to talk their crap,” she said.

“It’s Not personal. I can talk crap all I want. At the end of the day, I have mad respect for Sandy,” she said. “Sandy coached me. Me and Sandy go way back.

“Sab, Stewie, I have mad respect for those players. I think Stewie is phenomenal.”

Vegas was trying to win three straight crowns for the first time since the defunct Houston Comets won the first four titles through 2004 and after dropping the first two in Brooklyn also trying to be the first to rally from an 0-2 deficit in any playoff series.

Jonquel Jones, whose collegiate career was in the A-10 at George Washington, scored 14 for New York, while Leonie Fiebich, one of the all-rookie team recipients, scored 11.

A’ja Wilson, the unanimous choice for season MVP and former South Carolina star on Dawn Staley’s first of three-coached NCAA champions, had 19 points, 10 rebounds, while Kelsey Plum scored 17 for the home folks and Tiffany Hayes had 11 points.

Wilson talked about the challenge trying for a three-peat.

“It's hard,” she said. “You get everybody’s best. They were giving us their best before the banners started going up. You’re everybody’s Super Bowl.

“It sucks, it stinks, but i'm very proud about the group that we had.”

In talking about New York’s quick recovery from Friday’s loss, Ionescu said, “It was really nice to see how we stuck together. Obviously, we had a kind of rough game last game and it can go one of two ways.”

With Vegas dispatched things don’t get easier facing either of the squads looking to advance and were the top two defensive units.

Connecticut, which came into the league as an expansion club a few years after the launch as the Orlando Miracle under the NBA Magic, has never won a title but has been to the finals several times after the team was purchased by the Mohegan Indian Tribe and moved north.

Minnesota won four titles in the last decade and should the Lynx win No. 5 that would be a WNBA record for coach Cheryl Reeve, enabling the former La Salle star from South Jersey to snap the tie with Van Chancellor who guided Houston.

Both have steered USA to Olympic gold, but Reeve would be the first to do both in the same calendar year.

Reeve will be inducted into the Philadelphia Sports Hall of Fame on Nov. 7.

But there’s still work to be done in the present and the Sun has not made things easy by stealing Game1 in Minnesota and then forcing Game 5 after dropping the next two.

Alyssa Thomas, the former Maryland standout from Harrisburg, nearly added to her prowess acquiring triple doubles with 18 points, 11 assists, and eight boards for the home team.

Looking to Tuesday, Sun coach Stephanie White, who guided Indiana to a title last decade, said, “Both of these franchises have been here, right? We have a lot of players on our roster that have been here and understand certainly what it takes and tonight’s effort is not going to be good enough.

“We expect them to make adjustments. We’ll make some tweaks and adjustments as well. It’s about making plays. It’s about the extra efforts, the hustle plays.

“It’s not about not being denied and finding something deep inside of you that just allows you to come out on top.”

Ty Harris, finally back in the lineup for the Sun after being sidelined with an ankle injury in Game 1 of the series, scored 20 points.

Napheesa Collier, the WNBA defensive player of the year, continued her offensive dominance for the Lynx scoring 29 with 13 rebounds.

“We’re not happy with, you know, how we came out the last two games,”the former UConn star said. “Our offense was able to lift us up last game, but if that’s not working, we have to rely on our defense.

“It’s not been good last two games. So we have to go home and defend our home court. We’re both playing for our lives, sows have to play at that level of intensity.”

Minnesota’s last finals in 2017 brought the Lynx’s fourth title in seven tries.

Natasha Hiedeman scored 12 against Connecticut, which she had played for in the recent past.

Except for Sunday’s Game 2 in the finals, which will air at 3 p.m. on ABC, the rest will all air at 8 p.m. on ESPN.

A New York/Connecticut finals would be the second that could be dubbed an Amtrak series following the one Washington won over the Sun in five in 2019.