Fiifi Frimpong: Liberty looking to claim franchise’s 1st title, recharge NY sports scene

NEW YORK — Star forward Breanna Stewart was suiting up for her Liverpool, N.Y., Little League softball team the last time the Liberty appeared in a WNBA Finals. She was just 8 years old in 2002 when the Libs were swept by Hall of Famer Lisa Leslie and the Los Angeles Sparks, 2-0.

The Liberty had never made it back to the Finals until this season. This appearance will end a 21-year drought, something Stewart still can’t fathom.

“It’s unbelievable that it’s been that long,” Stewart said Wednesday during the team’s final practice before they packed their bags for Las Vegas.

The drought is exactly how Stewart described it: Unbelievable. During that 21-year span, New York sports fans have been subject to pure mediocrity.

One of the least popular teams — New York City FC — brought the city its last professional championship in 2021. You have to go back 10 years before then to remember another championship in New York City, when Eli Manning and the Giants did the impossible and beat the undefeated New England Patriots.

The Core Four Yankees — Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Mariano Rivera and Andy Pettitte — brought a World Series home to the Bronx in 2009. The franchise hasn’t gotten back to the Fall Classic since.

The team looked ready to foster another elite core after using a 2016 retool to assemble the Baby Bombers — Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Luis Severino and Greg Bird — but only one is now producing exceptionally and under contract with the Yankees for the future. Also, the team has been owned by the Houston Astros in the postseason three times since 2017.

The Mets are the Mets. They haven’t won a World Series since 1986 and made a U-turn midway through 2023 after executing offseason transactions to win it all.

Aaron Rodgers and the Jets’ season went up in smoke during the first offensive drive of the season after the quarterback ruptured his Achilles. The last time a New York City hockey team hoisted the Stanley Cup — the Rangers in 1994 — Liberty players Nyara Sabally, Han Xu, Sabrina Ionescu and Marine Johannes weren’t even born yet.

Nets fans never got a parade in Brooklyn and witnessed eventful exits of superstars James Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. The Knicks are improving, but still aren’t real contenders to win the franchise’s first championship since 1973.

Knicks legend Walt “Clyde” Frazier led his team to the championship before Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello’s fifth birthday.

But the Liberty are for real and they’ll face off against the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA Finals in hopes to secure the city’s first pro basketball title since the 70s and the first title in franchise history.

“You can feel the weight from the fans and just the excitement around the city,” Stewart said. “Understanding that this is a huge moment for New York basketball [and] for the Liberty.

“We want to take advantage of that.”

Stewart and the Liberty will have to get by a juggernaut that made easy work of their postseason opponents before arriving in the Finals. While Brondello was leading her team through battles against the Washington Mystics and Connecticut Sun, Becky Hammon and the Aces easily swept the Chicago Sky and Dallas Wings.

The Aces defeated the Sky by an average of 25 points in the first round. The average margin of victory was smaller in the semifinals series against the Wings — eight points — but Dallas never posed a serious threat to the defending champs.

Now, the two teams that worked all season to downplay the “superteam” label and lessen the buzz of a possible Finals matchup will finally meet in the best-of-five series to crown the soon-to-be champions.

“The media talked about these superteams,” Brondello said with a smile after Wednesday’s practice. “So I’m glad it’s all worked out. May the best team win. But, hopefully, it raises the profile to show the wonderful athletes that we do have.”

The two faces of the league — Stewart and A’ja Wilson — will battle at least three more times after meeting five times in the regular season, including in the Libs’ Commissioner’s Cup victory on Aug 15. The series will start weeks after Stewart was named the 2023 WNBA MVP for the second time of her career. Two-time MVP Wilson finished third, behind Sun star Alyssa Thomas.

Hammon will go against the same basketball mind that was her own head coach in 2010 as a member of the San Antonio Stars. Brondello was also an assistant on the Stars during Hammon’s first three seasons with the team from 2007-09.

“I’m just really proud for both of us to be leading some great organizations and playing for a championship final against each other,” Brondello said.

“[We’re two former players that played in this league. She played a little bit better than me,” the Liberty head coach added before laughing. “We both played in this league and I had the opportunity to coach her and she was one of the smartest players I’ve ever been around.”

The Liberty edged the Aces, 3-2, in the regular season, including the Libs’ Cup game, The Aces only had star Candace Parker for the first matchup of the series, a 98-81 blowout win for Las Vegas. Parker, who underwent foot surgery in the summer, is out indefinitely but her team will still deploy a roster that includes 14 All-Star Game selections between Chelsea Gray (5), Jackie Young (2), Kelsey Plum (2) and Wilson (5).

The Liberty roster features players with 20 All-Star Game selections among Stewart (5), Ionescu (2), Courtney Vandersloot (5), Stefanie Dolson (2), Betnijah Laney (1) and Jonquel Jones (4).

The difference in the series may come down to the elite guards who have already carried their teams to wins in the regular season. Stewart and Wilson played below their standards in the four regular-season matchups against each other in 2023. In the four games, Stewart averaged 18 points on 36% shooting from the field and 22% from downtown, all below her season averages.

Wilson averaged 17 points on 48% shooting while grabbing seven rebounds, which are also below her season averages.

But in the wins for both teams, the guards excelled and were the common denominator for success. Wilson is an otherworldly talent, but the Aces will go as far as Gray takes them. When she’s on, the offense is fluid and her teammates have an easier time contributing. Her elite court vision and urgency to push pace got her a 22-point triple-double that bought Las Vegas a bounce-back win on Aug.17 after dropping the Commissioner’s Cup Game.

She also led the charge in the first matchup between the two teams. Gray, Plum and Young all recorded at least six assists in the easy 98-81 win on June 29.

But how will Las Vegas defend the deep ball and deal with a reemerged Jones that just overwhelmed the Sun and Mystics?

Ionescu torched the Aces for six treys en route to a 31-point night and 38-point shellacking in Game 2 between the teams in the regular season. She added five more treys in the final matchup and led all scorers with 25 points. The Libs shot 38% from downtown in regular-season wins against the Aces, which is a small notch higher than the 37% the team shot on the season.

They even shot well from behind the arc in losses: 39%. To the Libs’ demise, they relied too much on deep shots in the second loss to the Aces. Thirty-nine of the 64 total attempts came from behind the arc. But as of late, the team has been riding the success of Jones in the paint, which keeps the sharpshooters from settling too much from behind the arc.

Jones will enter the Finals averaging 17 points and 13 boards while shooting 53% in the postseason. The same numbers from her in the series could set up a lethal Liberty inside-out game that the team didn’t establish in the first half of the regular season.

The Aces can’t forget about Laney, who was key in the Liberty’s second round against the Sun. She averaged 16 points, five rebounds and four assists in the series, all marks that surpass her regular-season averages.

Johannes is capable of stealing a game for the Libs as well, like she did after recording a game-high 17 points with five treys in the Cup Game. The outing led Hammon to describe her as “a sniper” who contributes off the bench and is “out before you even see her.”

“There’s not a lot of room for error against this team,” Hammon said after her Cup Game loss.

Let the fun begin.