Liberty doesn't need to watch the tape of last year's WNBA Finals loss to Las Vegas or the game that won the Aces their third straight regular season.
They don't need film.
they have feelings.
The pain of losing in the championship gave them the motivation to achieve the best record in the league this season and face a rematch in the semifinals.
“no [we haven’t watched]. The emotions are one thing, but the tapes are different,” Brianna Stewart said. “We're not complacent, we still have a chip on our shoulder, and we know how important home court advantage is in these first games.”
Liberty still remembers the heartbreaking loss to Las Vegas.
They watched the Aces celebrate their title right next to the Liberty logo at Barclays Center.
Now, they will host Game 1 on Sunday against the same foes that have become painfully familiar: two of the WNBA's supposed superteams.
“throw [the film] That's out. I didn’t even look at it,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said. “That doesn't mean anything to me. This is this year. We're a different team. We've learned from our experiences, but we know it's going to be a tough series. WNBA semifinals.”
“No, we don't have to go back. I know. We remember. We remember that. That's our motivation. It's in the past. We can't control it. But… What we can do is take control of the present. I'm the kind of gal that stays in the moment. Remember, give us motivation. “I know what I have to do.” We are more experienced now. We deal with adversity. And we will have to. ”
Liberty had a league-high 32 wins and 8 losses this season, defeating the Dream in the first round.
They also dominated the fourth-seeded Aces in three regular season games.
But the defending champions bounced back after a slow start at 6-6.
Las Vegas has won nine of 10 games behind MVP A'ja Wilson, who played on Team USA's gold medal team in Paris with Stewart and guard Sabrina Ionescu.
Liberty will be facing a team that has been improving.
However, the team is said to be more calm than the team they lost to last year.
“Yeah, to be honest, the whole postseason, it was the moments and the emotions. The runs, the highs and lows, the moments where we could have stayed a little more connected,” Stewart said. “We spent a whole year working hard on it and focusing on it.
“No matter what, we're in this together. We know the plan, we know what we're going to do, and we're not going to go off course.”
Stewart said he feels better than he did in last year's playoffs, when Wilson won the Finals MVP by a landslide, even though he was the regular-season MVP.
Liberty is stifled in the transition game, but the Aces don't turn the ball over or allow fast breaks.
And Las Vegas has a lot of isolation threats.
But the Liberty's ace in the hole is its depth.
There's former MVP Jonquel Jones and Ionescu, who is coming off a recent slump — scoring just 21 points on 9-of-35 shooting in the previous three games, but 36 points against Atlanta on Tuesday. and had nine assists, so they should be able to win even if Stewart doesn't dominate. .
The Aces won't be able to say the same about Wilson, especially if Ionescu outperforms Jackie Young.
“It's important for us to understand how much we've progressed from last year to this year and how we can continue to utilize our depth and all of our weapons,” Ionescu said.
“We just understand that this is another team that gets in the way of what we want to accomplish. I think the enthusiasm and desire to win will be the same, whether it's Las Vegas or Seattle. Just understanding that this is a team that's in front of us to achieve our goals. What happened last year is in the past. But a lot has come from it. I want to take what I learned and do my best. … I can use a lot of these experiences to help us.”
