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Meet the Liberty
Before Caitlin Clark, there was Sabrina Ionescu – a college player with sublime skills who elevated the sport. She and Breanna Stewart are as formidable a duo as has ever existed in the WNBA. This year, Stewart has averaged 20.5 points and 8.5 rebounds, while Ionescu’s season stat line is 18.2 points and 6.2 assists. Jonquel Jones, the 2021 league MVP with Connecticut, has been a steady third scoring option in her second season with the team.
In Game 3, while Ionescu struggled through much of the contest, Stewart powered her way to 30 points and 11 rebounds. Ionescu made the clutch shots late.
New York had two players on the US roster this summer (Stewart and Ionescu) and two players for Germany – Nyara Sabally and Leonie Fiebich.
The Liberty posted the best record in the regular season at 32-8. The Lynx were second at 30-10.
Meet the Lynx
The coach will be familiar to those who saw the Olympics – she’s Cheryl Reeve, who coached Team USA to gold this summer by the narrowest of margins.
Reeve was in charge for all four of the Lynx’s championships – every odd year from 2011 to 2017 – thanks to the consistent excellence of Seimone Augustus (newly inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame), Lindsey Whalen (already in the Hall), Maya Moore (sure to be in the Hall soon) and Sylvia Fowles (also Hall-bound, surely).
The key player now is Napheesa Collier, the only Lynx player on the US roster this summer. She averaged 20.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game in the regular season. Kayla McBride, the team’s eldest player at 32, averaged 15.0 points, while Courtney Williams was the top distributor with 5.5 assists along with 11.1 points per game.
Two Minnesota players were on non-US teams in the Olympics – Australia’s Alanna Smith and Canada’s Bridget Carleton. Smith is playing through a back injury.
Hello, everyone in Guardian-land. Nice to see you all again.
Tonight, we might witness the coronation at last of the New York Liberty, a star-studded and star-crossed team through their 28-year history, in which they’ve reached the Finals five times and come up empty.
Game 3 was an absolute scorcher. The Minnesota home crowd was rocking … until it wasn’t, as New York roared back and took a stunning win.
Wherever you are, thanks for joining us. This one should be a thriller.
Beau will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s a look back at the Liberty’s stunning Game 3 win on Wednesday night.
English (US)