The Liberty are at the top of the WNBA world and will be the center of attention in the WNBA on Tuesday night when they host the Minnesota Lynx in Long Island to play for the Commissioner’s Cup.
The Liberty defeated the Las Vegas Aces to win the league’s in-season tournament last year, and have a perfect record of 5-0 in this year’s tournament so far, earning the right to host this tournament with a chance to win for the second consecutive year.
But because the NBA Draft created a scheduling conflict at their usual home stadium, Barclays Center, the game was moved to UBS Arena, about 20 miles east on the Queens-Nassau county line.
According to reports, after trying to resolve the scheduling issue several months ago, the decision to play the games outside of Brooklyn did not sit well with the Liberty organization.
“It’s a shame we’re not playing at UBS. I don’t want to sugar coat it,” Liberty forward Jonquel Jones told reporters. “I’d love to play at Barclays with the home crowd and everything, but at the end of the day, this is New York.”
The Liberty proved it doesn’t matter if you’re playing at home in the Commissioner’s Cup Finals when they defeated the Aces in Las Vegas last season, and they enter this game as the best team in the WNBA with a 15-3 record.
The Liberty defeated the Atlanta Dream 96-75 on Sunday night for their third straight win and 11th in their last 12 games.
The Liberties are off to the best start in franchise history through 18 games and show no signs of slowing down despite injuries to several key players.
Courtney VanderSloot and Betnijah Rainey Hamilton were both eliminated from Sunday’s win.
Rainie Hamilton (knee) and VanderSloot (recovering after missing several games following the death of her mother) are doubts for the tournament, while Nyala Sabali (back) is already ruled out.
But Liberty’s big three — Jones, Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart — did more than enough to handle the workload.
All three scored in double figures on Sunday, with Ionescu scoring a game-high 26 points, and coach Sandy Brondello felt the team’s “chemistry continues to grow.”
“Tell me about Sabrina [Jones’] “It all starts with defense, with team chemistry, ability to move the ball, spacing the floor, and defense can generate offense as well,” Brondello explained. “We have some great guys that know how to put the ball in the hole, and that definitely helps. … It’s fun to watch those guys just selflessly play basketball.”
Tuesday’s match will not only offer a chance to win hardware, but the winning team will receive a $500,000 prize, and each player who participates will receive $5,000 worth of cryptocurrency.
“We want the money,” Lynx star Napheesa Collier told the Minneapolis Star Tribune over the weekend. “Even if there wasn’t any money, the competition would be fierce. But there’s money at stake, so the players are going to play hard.”
