Liberty Return to Playoffs in Familiar Fashion
It was deja (seafoam) blue all over again for the New York Liberty in their 2025 postseason opener.
The Liberty's first sequel to their 2024 championship run looked remarkably similar to its predecessors' climax: New York once again earned a crucial overtime victory in a defensive struggle, with Sunday's 76-69 triumph allowing it to take a 1-0 lead in its best-of-three opening round set with the Phoenix Mercury.
While New York has been eager to keep the championship ghosts back in 2024, it was almost impossible not to note the similarities to last fall's Finals finale, one that saw the Liberty earn its first postseason championship victory with a 67-62 triumph over the Minnesota Lynx.
"I think we looked around and kind of realized we kind of been in that position before, with the majority of us just understanding how important overtime is and knowing we had another gear to get to," point guard Sabrina Ionescu noted. "I'm really just proud of the way that we stuck together, we weathered the runs that they went on and ultimately found a way to win."
Liberty reps would be the first to say that Sunday's showing was far from a championship effort: an onslaught of second half turnovers and missed offensive opportunities led to blank stretches on the scoreboard and an overtime session that saw Breanna Stewart once again bitten by the injury bug.
New York, however, found redemption through a fateful, working with a formula that led to last year's trophy hoist: shutdown defense, clutch rebounds, unexpected heroines, and Leonie Fiebich in the clutch.
From deep, Natasha Cloud hit the last of nine field goals at the top of the stage, echoing Fiebich's opening three at the onset of the Finals finale's first seconds. Following Stewart's painful score-and-foul, Fiebich scored via cut off a savvy feed from Ionescu after putting in just two shots from the field during regulation. When Phoenix finally got on the board, courtesy of doubles for Alyssa Thomas and DeWanna Bonner in the penultimate minute, Fiebich officially said "nein" with a silencing triple that allowed the Liberty to engage in a bittersweet celebration.
"She had missed some early on, and I knew she was going to hit the biggest one of the night. It's just what she does," lauded Ionescu. "She hit that baseline back cut for a layup right before and then came down and hit a three. She's one of the best three-point shooters in the world, and we know that we continue to believe in her. She continues to believe in herself, put in the work. But, I mean, that was the biggest shot of the night that she hit and kind of just solidified us winning this game."
The Liberty have certainly shown a sterling prowess in overtime: since the adoption of the current WNBA playoff format in 2022, New York owns three overtime wins, while the rest of the league has two combined.
But, knowing a Finals rematch with the League-leading Lynx (winners of a 29-point shellacking over shorthanded Golden State in their own opener) likely awaits, the Liberty showed no interest in making the cross-country flight back to the desert expressing a desire to handle business when Game 2 is staged on Wednesday night at Barclays Center (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
"We know what situation we're at," head coach Sandy Brondello, who makes her offseason home in Phoenix after coaching the Mercury for eight years, said. "We have the advantage. We went on a away game and we won on their home court. Now the advantage is for us to take care of it. This is an experienced team. We've been here before, and we know what our goal is and we want to keep playing."
Geoff Magliocchetti is a veteran sportswriter who contributes to a variety of sites on the "On SI" network. In addition to the Yankees/Mets, Geoff also covers the New York Knicks, New York Liberty, and New York Giants and has previously written about the New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Staten Island Yankees, and NASCAR.