NEW YORK — Breanna Stewart’s hands slumped to her hips as a Las Vegas Aces’ dogpile broke out at midcourt at Barclays Center. For a split-second, she lingered in front of the New York Liberty bench, taking in the on-court celebration that the Liberty had entered Wednesday night seeking to avoid. The Las Vegas Aces won the 2023 WNBA championship with a 70-69 Game 4 victory, becoming the first repeat champions since 2002. They finished the series, and season, on the same court that four months earlier Stewart said the Liberty would protect.
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The Liberty’s season ended abruptly. New York possessed the ball with 8.8 seconds to play trailing by a point. Coach Sandy Brondello said the plan was to “get the ball into Stewie’s hand.” Sometimes, perhaps often, that plan pans out as prescribed. Stewart was named league MVP for the second time after averaging 23 points per game in the regular season and setting franchise scoring records throughout her first season in New York. This time, however, was different. “It just didn’t work out,” Brondello said.
With just over four seconds on the clock, Stewart was double-teamed in the lane and passed the ball to Betnijah Laney, who swung it to Courtney Vandersloot in the left corner. Vandersloot said she was trying to get her jumper up on the rim. Hopefully, she said, it would go in, or a teammate could score on an offensive rebound. Neither happened. Her shot air-balled. New York’s title run had been halted.
If the ending felt sudden, the Liberty players’ departures from Barclays Center were drawn out. For more than an hour, players trickled out of their locker room. Some, like Laney, left with family beside them. Others, like reserve wing Kayla Thornton, who exited with her sweatshirt hood up, left all alone.
At 11:36 p.m., about 75 minutes after the Aces’ celebration began, Stewart was the last Liberty player to leave the locker room. She was greeted by her circle — family members, her agent and later team owner Clara Wu Tsai. Stewart said her disappointment was “high.” She struggled, mightily, finishing with just 10 points, while making just three of her 17 shot attempts, the worst shooting night of playoff career.
Breanna Stewart on her level of disappointment right now: "High."
Vandersloot on her level: "Very high."
— Ben Pickman (@benpickman) October 19, 2023
The Liberty, fueled by the high-profile offseason acquisitions of Stewart, Vandersloot and Jonquel Jones, had championship aspirations. They set a franchise-record with 32 wins and sought to claim the Liberty’s first title. In Game 1 of the finals, they squandered a three-point halftime lead and lost by 17. In Game 2, they were blitzed, fell behind 19-2, and never recovered.
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Their 14-point win in Game 3 provided hope they could become the first-ever team to overcome a 2-0 series deficit. They entered Game 4, with both Aces guard Chelsea Gray and center Kiah Stokes sidelined with foot injuries. An opportunity to even the series, and eventually win it, seemed within grasp.
“It would have been nice to play a Game 5, and then lay it all out on the table,” Brondello said.
But New York squandered its chance.
Las Vegas coach Becky Hammon tried tactics her team had never employed before. She played at least one entirely new lineup. Guard Kelsey Plum was given freedom to roam off Vandersloot in an effort to stop Jones in the paint. Stewart knew Las Vegas would “junk it up.” The Aces did, and Brondello said the Liberty’s second-quarter offense lacked flow. Though it led by nine points at halftime, New York trailed by two after the third quarter. Brondello said the Liberty “played too fast” in the period, allowing their lead to evaporate as they scored only 12 points. They shot 36 percent for the game and never led in the fourth quarter, despite urging from the sellout crowd of nearly 17,000 fans.
Throughout the playoffs, New York’s offense struggled to string efficient games together. Jones was a double-double machine, recording eight consecutive to open the postseason. But she was limited on Wednesday night, and took only eight shot attempts and just three in the second half. She finished with a meager six points.
Vandersloot led New York with 19 points, yet she also finished with a game-high five turnovers. Just over 30 minutes after the final buzzer had sounded, Vandersloot, still in uniform, hugged her wife, Allie Quigley, in front of the Liberty locker room. The reality of the loss was starting to settle in.
“Credit to Vegas,” Brondello said. “They were down and they found a way.”
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As New York’s loss seeped in, Stewart, Brondello and Vandersloot wouldn’t look too far into the future to speculate how the Liberty could build off this year’s foundation. “It’s hard to answer these questions right now,” Vandersloot said, “because we’re all so disappointed and it’s such an emotional time.”
“We’ve got to take it as a learning experience,” Brondello said. “Now, and as we move forward, (we’ve got to) remember how it feels and use it as motivation.”
Players who return to the Liberty next season might do so. Their quest to win a championship will begin anew.
But all that is seven months away. It does little to mitigate the sting of Wednesday, the blank looks, slumped shoulders, and woes against the Aces.
“We’re disappointed,” Brondello said. “It’s all of us, and we just didn’t have it tonight.”
And they also recognized a championship had slipped away.
GO DEEPERTrotter: Becky Hammon was built for the championship moment, just like her players(Photo of Breanna Stewart: Sarah Stier / Getty Images)
Ben Pickman is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the WNBA and women’s college basketball. Previously, he was a writer at Sports Illustrated where he primarily covered women’s basketball and the NBA. He has also worked at CNN Sports and the Wisconsin Center for Journalism Ethics. Follow Ben on Twitter @benpickman
