Is a New York Liberty championship as inevitable as a Celtics title was?

brooklyn — It is said that the New York Liberty ruled the world. WNBA Season is a huge understatement. They won by an average margin of 9.2 points and finished the season with a record of 32-8. They boasted two consecutive wins in eight games. They had three All-Stars and probably could have chosen one more.

From the moment the Liberty “super team” was formed last year, expectations were sky-high. Brianna Stewart came to the Big Apple as a perennial MVP candidate and won that honor in her first season. Sabrina Ionescu was already considered an elite guard and had all the makings of a franchise player. Jonquel Jones was just a few years removed from his MVP season with the Connecticut Sun. Sandy Brondello has a proven track record as a WNBA coach, leading the Phoenix Mercury to the championship in 2014.

Their first season together ended in disappointment – they played against an ace team in Las Vegas that featured a trio of elite guards. and A'ja Wilson was playing the best basketball of her career. Briana Stewart — grieving the death of my father-in-law — Liberty had a rare struggle in the playoffs, losing in the finals in four games.

It's not uncommon for new, stacked teams to underperform in their first season, and the Miami Heat's big three proved that in 2011 — historically, teams with star-studded players It is certainly common for it to take about a year for everything to click together. We'll be together.

But all signs point to this Liberty team winning the championship. They averaged the second-most points per game at 85.6 points and led the league in rebounding with 36.6 points. They had the league's best net rating, winning games by an average margin of 1.7 points (for reference, the Connecticut Sun's +/- was +8.1 and the Lynx's +8).

In less than 10 days, their fate will be decided, and the core led by Stewart, Ionescu and Jones will either bring a championship back to Brooklyn or suffer a second straight loss in the Finals.

The first step in rectifying last season's playoff disappointment has been completed. New York handily defeated Las Vegas in four games on Sunday, effectively defeating a team that had troubled them all offseason. Conversely, New York is just three wins away from winning the franchise's first WNBA title. Liberty players made it clear that while they were happy to win in the semifinals, it was not their ultimate goal.

of celtics Similarly, they were the most dominant team in the regular season by a mile during last NBA season. They finished with a league-high 64 wins, 18 losses, and a historic plus/minus rating of +11.34. All the while, their past shortcomings were counted against them when predictions about the 2024 season were thrown around. Pundits and analysts had a hard time overlooking a 3-0 win over Miami in the 2023 Eastern Conference Finals, followed by a 2-1 lead in the 2022 Finals.

Needless to say, the Celtics put those concerns to rest and won in the postseason as well as in the regular season. They finished the playoffs with a record of 16 wins and 3 losses. dallas mavericks Win the NBA Championship in 5 games. The Celtics didn't have the best player in basketball, as did the Liberty, but their starting five was so well-rounded and their defense so solid that losing streaks seem inevitable in hindsight. Their regular season success carried over into the playoffs without missing a beat.

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It's entirely possible that they missed out on a similarly obvious championship arc with Liberty, as both teams have similar flows.

Liberty's version of Jrue Holiday is Leonie Fievich. It's not a completely accurate comparison, but what Fivic has done to elevate both ends of New York is reminiscent of Holiday's impact on Boston. Like Holiday, Fibich, perhaps surprisingly, emerged as the best shooter on a team full of shooters while playing a central role on defense. Like Holiday, newly acquired Fivic took some time to figure out his direction before coming into his own late in the season.

In this scenario, Sabrina Ionescu is probably Jaylen Brown. It was no surprise that Ionescu would win Finals MVP, her jump as a playmaker and defender pushing her from an elite scorer to an elite player (Brown's jump was greater on the defensive end, while Ionescu's He was more of a playmaker). Both went from All-Star to truly elite in just one season.

Brianna Stewart isn't in the middle of an eye-popping shot, but she is a focal point on both ends of the floor, a connecting passer who can put the ball on the floor, be a playmaker, rebound, and defend. She's the much more accomplished and slightly more capable Jayson Tatum.

Jonquel Jones is Liberty's version of Al Horford, except he's only 30 years old. Jones does the dirty work. She defends at a high level and is a nightmare for opposing big teams. And she can shoot the three-ball surprisingly well for a player her size, making it very difficult for opposing teams to guard Liberty.

Bethnia Rainey Hamilton is Derrick White in New York. An elite and versatile defender who can score at a high clip, he's a near-All-Star and a fan favorite. Laney Hamilton is playing through a knee injury, but she's still exactly the type of player you want on any roster.

Comparisons between players aren't perfect, but this Liberty team may be as close to perfect as any WNBA team we've seen in recent years.

There's just one caveat. The only team to beat Liberty multiple times this season is the Minnesota Lynx, who New York will face in the finals. Because Denver was eliminated before the Finals, the Celtics did not have to face the Denver Nuggets, a team they had dominated in the regular season.

Photo by Catalina Fragoso/NBAE, Getty Images

Unlike the Celtics, New York faces its toughest opponent in the regular season. The Lynx have a 3-1 record against Liberty this year, including a win in the Commissioner's Cup in June. If ever there was a team built to beat New York, this Lynx team might be it. So while they'll probably go into the Finals as the favorites, a championship isn't inevitable simply because of this matchup — at least not in the same way as it is with the Celtics.

Sure, anything can happen in a basketball game. However, by defeating the Sun in Game 5, the Minnesota Lynx ensured that the New York Liberty Finals matchup would be as competitive as possible.