The New York Liberty beat the Las Vegas Aces 93-85 at Barclays Center on Tuesday to win the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup for the second time. It wasn’t pretty for most of the night, but it ended with a trophy and a statement from their star guard.
Sabrina Ionescu dropped 26 points, grabbed five rebounds, and dished out five assists. She hit five threes, including the dagger with under 16 seconds left that basically put the game away. It was the kind of performance the Liberty have been waiting for all season.
Here’s the thing. Ionescu has been in a brutal slump. Like, historically bad for someone of her caliber. Before Tuesday, she was averaging career-lows across the board — 9.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.4 assists, shooting 34.6% from the field and 27.3% from three. She missed 12 games earlier this season with ankle and back injuries, and coming back has been a struggle. She admitted as much recently.
But against the Aces, she looked like the player who signed a three-year, $3.74 million extension in the offseason. She wasn’t perfect — 9-of-19 from the field is still shaky — but it was the first time she cracked 20 points all season. That matters.
Ionescu’s defiant message after the win
After the game, Ionescu wasn’t shy about what the night meant. “I always continued to have that belief in myself since I know the work I put in. (An) injury or two isn’t going to diminish who I am,” she told the AP’s Doug Feinberg.
That kind of confidence is easy to have after a win, but it’s harder to hold onto when you’re shooting 27% from deep and everyone’s wondering what happened. The Liberty need this version of Ionescu. They already have Breanna Stewart, who threw up 25 points, 11 boards, four assists, two steals, and two blocks against the Aces. When both are clicking, New York is a nightmare matchup.
How the Liberty pulled it off
The Aces climbed back from a 17-point deficit in the fourth quarter, which is exactly what you’d expect from a team that won back-to-back championships. But the Liberty answered with a 15-2 run to close it out. That kind of response is what separates the contenders from the pretenders.
New York also won this tournament in 2023, also against Las Vegas. So they’ve now beaten the Aces twice on the big stage. That’s not nothing, especially with the playoffs coming up.
For Ionescu, this game might be the turning point she needed. One good performance doesn’t fix everything, but it’s a lot better than the alternative. She knows it, her teammates know it, and the rest of the league probably does too.
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