After 26 years, the Liberty best the WNBA’s other superpower to win their first trophy

Venerunt. Viderunt. Vicerunt. They came. They saw. They conquered. 

There will be other moments of truth to come. Bigger ones, for sure. But for the New York Liberty, established 1997, last night was a night of firsts: their first appearance in the WNBA’s Commissioner’s Cup final, a comprehensive 82-63 win over the defending Cup champs from Las Vegas. New York won the first trophy in franchise history. They’re also the first team to beat the Aces in Vegas this season, the first to beat them twice and they’ve now held them below 64 points twice when no one else has held them below 77. For all the talk about how bright the Liberty’s future looks, perhaps we’ve grown blind to that future being now.

Emblematic of what separated the league’s two best teams on the night was this play from the third quarter.

Sabrina Ionescu, trapped on the baseline, picks up her dribble. Seeing Ionescu apparently out of options, Aces forward Alysha Clark rotates back out to the perimeter, forgetting Kayla Thornton, who Ionescu finds for the uncontested lay-up. That bucket put New York ahead for good on the night. Thornton also added a pair of threes late in the quarter to push the lead from two to eight. Ionescu added a trio of treys in the final frame to seal the deal.  

Ionescu is one of the handful of Liberty players who are talked about almost exclusively; between her, Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones, Courtney Vandersloot and Betnijah Laney, that’s five All-Stars, two MVPs and a plurality of future Hall of Famers all in the same starting lineup. The Liberty didn’t go from five straight losing seasons to title contention because their players improved their credit scores. They’re having the best year in their history because they added star after star after star. But a cosmos of stars without satellites would be lonely indeed.

The Liberty and the Aces are built on star power, and last night the stars played pretty evenly, with the Vegas starting five outscoring New York’s 55-54. The difference came down to their depth. The Liberty reserves made eight 3-pointers, the Aces’ zero, giving New York’s bench a 28-8 edge and making all the difference. The Liberty can compete for titles because they have the top-end talent to do so. The Liberty won their first because of their all-around talent. Maybe the game plays out differently in Vegas has Candace Parker healthy and available. Maybe. Try to make sense of history through all its maybes and you’ll end up with a can of worms. New York’s subs shot 10-of-15. Las Vegas’ shot 4-of-14. That’ll do it.

A lot of who was doing it was Marine Johannés, who tied a season-high with five 3-pointers. A player who could start for many teams at either guard position, Johannés has seen her minutes drop and her profile change, but she remains an integral part of what makes the Liberty so successful; per 36-minutes, she makes more long bombs than anyone besides Ionescu.

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The Commissioner’s Cup MVP award went to Jones, another player whose journey and sacrifice is one of the bigger reasons for the organization’s rise to power. A dominant presence since the All-Star break, she poured in 16 points and 15 rebounds and carved out some time to protect the rim, too.  

New York’s defense has been the big story in these teams’ recent meetings. In their two games the past 10 days, the Aces — who average 23.5 points per quarter — have fallen short, managing 22, 22, 9 and 8, then 11, 23, 14 and 15 last night. Two reasons the Liberty have defended them so well: their switching defense helps keep the Aces mostly out of the paint and reduced to taking jumpers, and they’re keeping Vegas away from the foul line. The Aces take just under 20 free throws a game; in their last two against the Liberty, they took a total of 24. New York also had three times as many offensive rebounds and controlled the glass on both ends.

So, mission one accomplished: the Liberty are the 2023 WNBA Commissioner’s Cup champions. The journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step; every dynasty begins with a first trophy. It’s too soon to label new York a “dynasty”; that’s a matter of multiple years and titles. Their hunger to win is unmistakable, and now that they have a taste for it and the muscle memory of achieving it together, a league championship feels more within their reach than it has since halftime of the inaugural single-game 1997 Finals. Who knows when or where the next conquest may be? Whether it’s this fall, next year or after, we – and the Liberty – will always have this moment, and this memory. If it’s true that you never forget your first, then last night was a dream worth never waking from.