Sabrina Ionescu Looks Forward to ‘Upset’ Opportunity in First-Round Matchup With Lynx
After another loss to the Atlanta Dream, the New York Liberty are now locked into a first-round matchup with the Minnesota Lynx. Finishing with the final playoff seed isn’t where the Liberty hoped to be. After a disappointing 2025 season, they were supposed to look like a super team again, especially with a fourth All-Star coming in.
However, Satou Sabally barely played, and Sabrina Ionescu and Leonie Fiebich also missed a lot of time with injuries. After another inconsistent season, the Liberty will have to go through a Lynx team that has largely dominated the regular season.
Ionescu, for one, welcomes the challenge.
“There’s obviously a rivalry with having played them in the finals and having won,” Ionescu told reporters after the loss to Atlanta, per a video on the Liberty’s YouTube channel. “They’ve been the best team all year, and we haven’t, but now we get an opportunity to go out and upset a one seed, and I think that excites us. We know we’re not a traditional eight seed.”
Pulling off a first-round upset is never easy, but the Liberty certainly have a shot. They have star power and playoff experience, and, most importantly, they know that they can beat the Lynx.
New York played Minnesota well in the regular season
The Liberty took the season series against the Lynx 2-1. They split the two games that Napheesa Collier missed, and then handed the Lynx a 93-81 loss on the weekend. Breanna Stewart and Jonquel Jones led the way with double-doubles, and Sabrina Ionescu scored 17 points. Pauline Astier and Marine Johannes also scored in double digits.
Minnesota’s stars, meanwhile, struggled. Collier scored just 14 points and turned the ball over six times. Olivia Miles scored 20 points, but also matched her five assists with five turnovers. The Liberty’s full-court pressure bothered her.
The Lynx will undoubtedly come into the playoffs prepared to play better, but the Liberty can challenge them in a way none of the other lower seeds can. As Ionescu said, New York is not a traditional No. 8 seed. If their big three play well, the Liberty can beat anyone.
Given the history from the 2024 WNBA Finals, the Lynx-Liberty series also comes with one of the most intriguing storylines of the playoffs. The Liberty won their first title in an eventful Game 5 that only went to overtime because Breanna Stewart got to the free-throw line on a controversial foul call. After the game, Cheryl Reeve said that the title had been stolen from the Lynx. Now, those same cores will have to battle it out in the first round, and an early exit would be a disaster for either team.
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Elaine Blum covers women’s basketball for On SI from Europe. She has been writing about women's hoops since 2023 and holds a Bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism and a master’s degree in American Studies with a focus on women’s and gender studies. She started playing basketball when she was 10 years old and won several league and state championships at the youth and senior level.