Liberty Keep Focused, Lynx Keep Talking

All season long, the Minnesota Lynx have made it known how they feel about the New York Liberty. Fans griped about being "robbed", coaches questioned decisions, and when Emma Meesseman chose Liberty seafoam over Lynx green, Minnesota's head coach, Cheryl Reeve made it plain: "She made the wrong choice". Then there is Courtney Williams, not one to mince words, calling the Liberty a "punk ass team" on StudBudz livestream and doubling down in postgame pressers.

“The fire is there. They beat us. I don’t need more ammunition” Williams said. “I don’t like them. I love them as people. But when it comes to basketball… I don’t care who they are playing. I want them to lose because they beat us. That’s competitive nature. It’s not personal. It’s competitive. Y’all beat us. So I want y’all to lose everything.”

Courtney Williams doesn’t like the New York Liberty and wants to get revenge for losing to them in the WNBA Finals 😳

Via adukemn on X pic.twitter.com/2O2jxjcCVx
— WNBA Got Game (@wnbagotgame) August 17, 2025

Williams recognized the rivalry cuts both ways, but the chatter has only come from the Lynx locker room.

“Honestly, it don’t matter. They know we don’t like them like the same way they don’t like us. I mean, I would think they don’t like us. So, it’s like, I’m gonna talk it’s not gonna change. I don’t care if they like our team. They shouldn’t like our team because we don’t like their team. So it don’t matter like we know that they gonna come out and give us a best punch same way we will. So me talking trash. It changed nothing, whatever.”

When Williams referred to New York as a “punk ass team,” Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello couldn’t help but laugh.

“I heard about the punk ass thing. That’s it. So, I just called out—I saw Jaylyn [Sherrod], and then I saw Natisha Heideman. I’m like, who’s calling us a punk ass team? She goes, not me, not me,” Brondello joked.

Coach Sandy Brondello on the Lynx “Punk ass team” comment

Key takeaways:
1. Sandy wants all the smoke
2. Rivalries are great for the league
3. Minny needs to build a bridge and get over it #wnba #nyliberty

( 🎥 @busyxb ) pic.twitter.com/offyhwb40j
— NYLFTV (@NYLibertyFanTV) August 18, 2025

Brondello acknowledged what everyone already sees.

“I think rivalries are great," Brondello said. "Yes, do we have a rivalry? They play it down. Of course, we have a little rivalry, and it’s great for the league. I don’t know why they play it down… yes, we don’t like each other. That’s just how it is.”

But when Jackie Powell of The Next brought up the original sore spot - Minnesota’s frustration over Meesseman choosing New York - Brondello didn’t sugarcoat it: “Get over it,” she said with a grin.

But the Liberty locker room hasn’t been quite as amused. Reported by Lucas Kaplan of Nets Daily, Jonquel Jones admitted the trash talk caught her off guard:

“It’s kind of been taking me aback a little bit, to be honest with you. So, I don’t know, I haven’t had a chance to really talk to [Courtney] in person yet, but it’s just, it is what it is, I guess.”

Natasha Cloud took a different approach, embracing the challenge and making it personal on the court.

“Yeah, I know Minnie loves to talk about us a lot. We live rent free, but this is another game of just really feeling good about ourselves,” Cloud said.

She added, “Me and Courtney go way back. And so, this is who she is as a player. I love Courtney at the end of the day, when it comes down to it, but we’re competitive on the court… You got what you wanted, I’m gonna get in your [expletive].”

In the final regular season meeting between these two squads, New York did their talking with a win. On the court, the Liberty delivered a performance as loud as Minnesota’s words. Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones both posted double-doubles, with Ionescu racking up 11 assists - more than the entire Lynx roster combined (11–10). For the 13th time this season, New York had at least five players in double figures (Cloud 10, Fiebich 10, Jones 22, Ionescu 17, Meesseman 13), extending their WNBA lead for the most such games.

Sabrina Ionescu — Brandon Todd / NY Liberty

Although the Liberty kept their focus, there were some playful jabs last night. Cloud waved goodbye to Courtney Williams as Williams dribbled out to a shot-clock violation, a silent white-flag moment. When asked about where her big four-point play ranks among her clutch shots against the Lynx, Ionescu shrugged: “Not as high as the last one against them,” referencing her iconic game-winning shot in Game 3 of the finals.

The Lynx may have owned the sound bites. The Liberty still own the trophy. For New York, no words are necessary. The defending champs let the game speak for itself. After the win, Ionescu summed up the Liberty’s focus: “It’s us vs us.”

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