Liberty Grateful, Sympathetic In Ironic Final Run

The New York Liberty's final regular season couple has more or less become the basketball equivalent of a choose-your-own-adventure book.

Thursday marks the final day of the 2024 WNBA regular season, with the playoff set to get underway this weekend. Locked into the first of eight seeds, New York can alter its first-round fate with one more win on Thursday night against the Atlanta Dream (7 p.m. ET, Liberty Live/NBA TV).

Entering a fateful Thursday, Atlanta currently holds the final playoff spot that is destined for at least two first-round dates with New York. The Dream (14-25) holds a one-game lead on Washington and Chicago, both of whom will no doubt be pulling for the Liberty if and when they handle their own business on Thursday.

New York (32-7) previously helped Atlanta out with an 87-71 win on Tuesday in the nation's capital, one that evicted the relatively surging Mystics (13-14 since dropping their first dozen) from No. 8. Though they're playing primarily for pride after closing in on the mathematically inevitable, Liberty personnel has embraced the de facto gift at the end of the schedule, one that has afforded them early showdowns against teams that have been firmly entrenched in playoff mode for the past month.

"I think that kind of helps because playing them early in the year and the end of the year, things change a little bit. [Playing them now] just gives you a better feel for the team," Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said. "We just got to take care of our business ... and then see who our opponent will be."

Aug 7, 2024; Paris, France; Australia head coach Sandy Brondello directs players against Serbia during the Paris 2024 Olympic Summer Games at Accor Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

Reserve forward Kayla Thornton hoped that there would be no slippage of identity in the immediate future, even if the Liberty are destined to be heavily favored in their coming contests.

"I think we can't lose focus on what got us here, and what got us here is us all playing together, trusting each other, and realizing that we have one of the amazing starting fives and one of the best benches in the league," Thornton said, coming from a place of gratitude after the Liberty lost a Sunday afternoon heartbreaker to Minnesota. "We have to understand that, and we have to walk in that, and we have to have the faith and know that we are who we are."

Brondello partly sympathized with the chasers, likening their cause to her recent Olympic endeavors: the Australian national team she oversaw was forced into a series of must-wins after dropping their group play opener to Nigeria.

The Opals responded with three consecutive wins and eventually brought home bronze medals for their efforts ... which only proves how dangerous they can be, no matter what the records say.

"I know what that felt like at the Olympics after we lost our first one," Brondello said prior to Tuesday's win in Washington. "We had our backs against the wall and that just raises it to another level, your focus and your mindset."

Though their playoff fate is sealed and the path determined, the Liberty do have one extra nugget to play for on Thursday: a win would be the 33rd of the active campaign, which would break the franchise record set last season.

On the other hand, an Atlanta victory would place them in the eighth seed regardless of what transpires elsewhere on the Thursday scoreboard. If Atlanta falls, they'll also clinch if Chicago and Washington likewise lose or if Washington wins and Chicago loses. In addition to the obvious Atlanta loss requirement, Washington gets the spot with a win and a Chicago win while the Sky will swipe it with a win and losses for both the Dream and Mystics (h/t Alexa Philippou, ESPN).

Make sure you bookmark All Knicks for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!