Sabrina Ionescu set the tone when the Liberty locked up their spot in the WNBA semifinals with Tuesday night’s 91-82 win over the Atlanta Dream at Barclays Center.
“We’ve got unfinished business,” she said on the broadcast before the Las Vegas Aces secured the opposing semifinal spot with a win over the Seattle Storm.
The Liberty have been out for revenge this season and if they fall to the Aces again — a round before last year’s finals ouster — a lot of questions will be thrown at the top seed.
They’ve been served a high-pressure early opportunity for a chance at vengeance starting Sunday.
“[The Liberty have] played like a team pissed off,” Aces coach Becky Hammon told reporters Tuesday. “They’ve played with an edge. And we’ve worked our way there. I feel like we’ve gotten our edge back in the last three to four weeks.”
The Liberty were 3-0 against the Aces in the regular season after losing the best-of-five finals in four games last season.
However, Chelsea Gray and A’ja Wilson each missed one of those matchups for the Aces, and the Liberty’s Courtney Vandersloot and Betnijah-Laney Hamilton each missed at least one of those games.
In recent weeks, the Aces, who are chasing an elusive three-peat, have looked more like the two-time defending champions that they are — winning eight straight, including the playoffs — after starting the regular season 22-13.
Gray started the season with the foot injury she suffered in last year’s finals, which placed Jackie Young in a new position as facilitator.
The offense didn’t click as easily and 2024 MVP Wilson carried much of the load.
The Aces defense also was vulnerable, such as when they allowed 32 points in the fourth quarter for the Wings to earn a come-from-behind win on Aug. 27.
However, since then, Hammon has reset her team and the Aces won nine of their last 10 regular-season games.
But the regular season is history and Sunday will provide a clean slate for the Liberty and Aces in a series filled with storylines.
Here’s a look at a few:
Liberty’s backcourt improvement
From the closing statements of the 2023 season, the Liberty made it evident that they were looking for players who were athletic, had length, and were defensive-minded to add to their bench.
They’ve found that in Leonie Fiebich.
Fiebich impressed throughout the regular season and was made a starter for the playoffs, in place of Vandersloot. At 6-foot-4, Fiebich adds size, can shoot from outside and defend opposing guards.
In the finals last year, Ionescu and Vandersloot had trouble slowing the Aces backcourt, allowing the guards to score 72 of Las Vegas’ 99 points in Game 1. They also had trouble shooting against their defense, scoring just 17 and 19 points collectively in the first two games of the series.
Among Gray, Young, and Kelsey Plum, the tallest is Young at 6-foot. Fiebich’s height will certainly help the Liberty keep a strong defensive front on the Aces guards.
Stewart vs. Wilson
The semifinal series will feature a meeting of the two most recent MVPs, and whoever gets the better of it will likely earn a finals berth.
This season, Wilson set out to earn the award after losing it in 2023 to Stewart.
Walker averaged a league-best 26.9 points, along with 11.9 rebounds and 2.6 blocks.
Stewart, however, is still longing to bring her home state its first championship as she tries to rebound from last year’s performance.
She failed to make a game-winning shot that would have extended last year’s finals and shot just 35.8 percent in the series.
Depth threats
Both teams have players on the bench who can get hot on any given night.
Tiffany Hayes has done that recently for the Aces, scoring 20 points off the bench in their Game 1 win over Seattle after 21 points in their regular-season finale.
The 12-year veteran is averaging 14.5 points on 63.2 percent shooting in the playoffs.
The Liberty’s bench is deeper with Vandersloot ready to provide a spark.
Kayla Thornton has three games of 16 or more points.
