A rematch of the 2023 WNBA Finals will determine one of the participants in this year’s championship round, as the No. 1-seeded New York Liberty host the fourth-seeded Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of their best-of-five semifinal series on Sunday in Brooklyn.
In the opening round of the playoffs, Las Vegas advanced past Seattle in its quest to become the WNBA’s first three-peat champion since the Houston Comets claimed the league’s first four championships from 1997 through 2000. This season’s unanimous MVP, A’ja Wilson, scored 24 points and grabbed 13 rebounds in Tuesday’s series-clinching win over the Storm.
With Wilson on one end and Breanna Stewart leading New York on the other, a clash of three- and two-time MVPs headlines this series. The duo has combined to claim the last three MVP awards, and five of the last seven.
Wilson garnered her third MVP on the strength of a league-leading 26.9 points per game and 11.9 rebounds, second-most in the WNBA. Stewart, who finished third in MVP voting, averaged 20.4 points, 8.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in the regular season while helping New York to the league’s best record at 32-8.
The Liberty dispatched Atlanta in the first round in 83-69 and 91-82 wins last Sunday and Tuesday. Stewart had a modest 13-point, six-rebound performance in the decisive game, while Sabrina Ionescu went off for 36 points and nine assists to set the pace.
The dynamic Ionescu could prove pivotal in this series. Last year against Las Vegas in the Finals, the Aces held Ionescu to 39 total points in four games. She had 11 assists in Game 3 — New York’s only win in the best-of-five showdown — matching her total from the other three games combined.
“Throw (the game film) out. I’m not even watching it,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said, according to the New York Post, about last year’s Finals. “It doesn’t mean anything to me. This is this year. We’re a different team. We’ve learned from our things, but we know it’s going to be a tough series.”
Wilson expressed the same sentiment, according to the Las Vegas Sun: “I feel like we’re two completely different teams. We’re not the same team as last year or two years before.”
The Aces will be a different team than the version that saw the Liberty just three weeks ago. Wilson did not play in a 75-71 New York win on Sept. 8, which completed a 3-0 regular-season sweep of the two-time reigning champions..
Kelsey Plum scored 25 points in that loss. Plum was integral to Las Vegas’ Finals win a year ago, posting at least 23 points in three of four contests. She’s coming off a 29-point effort in the Aces’ clinching win over Seattle after scoring just two in the series opener.
–Field Level Media