The Liberty failed to force Game 5 and the Aces celebrated a WNBA championship on the Barclays Center court.
WNBA Finals MVP A’ja Wilson and the Aces became the first team to win back-to-back championships since the Los Angeles Sparks (2001-02) after winning Game 4, 70-69. Wilson led the way with 24 points and 16 rebounds.
The fourth quarter was wild.
The Libs’ season was on the line with 8.8 seconds remaining. Breanna Stewart received the inbounds pass while being guarded by forward Alysha Clark. The 2023 MVP attempted work on Clark, but the Sixth Player of the Year stood her ground. The ball skipped around and ended up with Courtney Vandersloot in the corner. She airballed her three-pointer. Jonquel Jones recovered the miss and attempted a putback.
But the clock hit zero. The season was over.
Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said the final play has been drawn up before this season. It’s worked before, but didn’t force a Game 5.
“Yeah, I mean, just a play we ran before. Get the ball in Stewie’s hands,” a dejected Brondello said postgame. “Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. So we got it where we wanted to and we didn’t make it.”
The Aces won the first few minutes of the fourth, 7-2, to go up seven before Brondello called a timeout. But, Sabrina Ionescu’s three-pointer with 6:36 remaining cut the deficit to two. Then with two minutes remaining, Stewart missed a wide-open three that would’ve cut the deficit to one. Wilson quickly followed with a made fadeaway that pushed the lead to six.
Vandersloot attempted a heroic comeback by draining a three and forcing a steal with her team down three with less than a minute remaining. Ionescu’s free-throw line jumper got the Libs within one.
But the comeback was foiled and the Liberty walked off the court after missing a good chance at forcing a do-or-die Game 5 in Las Vegas. The Liberty — one of the WNBA’s original franchises — are still without a championship. And they failed to get the job done after securing a franchise-record 32 regular-season wins.
After coming up short, Brondello said her message to the team was that she’s “proud of what you’ve done at the end.”
“We’re still proud of the journey that we had so I just reminded them of that,” Brondello said.
Las Vegas started center Cayla George and Clark in place of star Chelsea Gray and center Kiah Stokes, who are both nursing foot injuries.
The Aces’ offense looked stuck without Gray. Her absence was clear from the start as the Aces committed eight first-quarter turnovers. On the defensive side, the Aces continued to go under screens while defending Vandersloot. She stayed aggressive and hit three treys in the first half en route to nine points at the half. The veteran guard finished with a team-high 19 points.
George started the game defending Betnijah Laney and was subject to the perimeter while her teammates initiated most of the off-ball action on offense. George connected on a trey while dishing three assists and grabbing three rebounds in the first half, but she got torched by Laney. Without much resistance, Laney ended the first half with 11 points on 50% shooting. Laney finished with 15 points and four assists.
Vandersloot and Laney’s quick starts put the Libs up nine at halftime. The lead could’ve been bigger but Stewart and Ionescu missed some easy shots. The duo combined to shoot 2-of-12 in the first half while the whole team shot 39% from the field. The Aces shot 37% in the first half. Stewart and Ionescu finished with 10 and 13 points, respectively.
Stewart’s postseason ended after missing 14 of her 17 shot attempts. She missed all of her shots from behind the arc and eventually got outplayed by Finals MVP Wilson.
The subpar shooting continued in the third quarter. Both teams were unable to make a shift right after halftime. The Libs were content with George shooting three-pointers rather than getting beat by the team’s stars. George eventually shot 3-of-10 from downtown and finished 11 points.
The quarter was sloppy. Silly fouls were committed by the Libs and Aces. Both teams were playing like they were on the brink of elimination. Brondello went to the bench to get support from Marine Johannes and she later threw up an airball while being open.
This was the Aces’ chance to take control. In the final five minutes of the third, the teams traded buckets and Wilson scored nine of her 24 points. The Aces won the third, 23-12.
They carried the momentum into the fourth. Jackie Young made big shots down the stretch, including a layup with 2:25 remaining to break a tie at 64. She made three of four shot attempts and scored nine points in the fourth. Reserve guard Sydney Colson played 15 minutes and the Aces outscored the Liberty by 17 points when she was on the floor.
Kelsey Plum played every minute in Game 4 and finished with seven points.
