NEW YORK — The New York Liberty are once again Commissioner’s Cup champions.
New York, the heavy favorites, bested the Las Vegas Aces 93-85 on Tuesday night to claim their second title in three years for the annual in-season tournament. With the game on the line and the Aces mounting a late 17-point comeback, two-time league MVP Breanna Stewart put on her cape, finishing the fourth period with 5 points, four rebounds and two assists to lead New York to victory.
The Aces fought back to take a 2-point lead in the fourth quarter against the Liberty’s second unit. Once Stewart and Sabrina Ionescu re-entered the game, New York went on a 12-0 run over the next three-plus minutes to regain control.
Stewart’s 25 points and 11 rebounds, paired with four assists, powered the Liberty over the Aces to make them the first WNBA team to win two Cup titles. It is Stewart’s second Cup MVP trophy and her third title, after also winning the inaugural Cup with the Seattle Storm in 2021.
Without A’ja Wilson, the league’s leading scorer who was ruled out with a right leg injury Tuesday morning, Las Vegas guard Jackie Young spearheaded the Aces’ surge, pouring in 10 third-quarter points and 15 more in the fourth. She finished with a game-high 31 points.
Besides Stewart’s championship-saving heroics, Ionescu’s team- and season-high 26 points fueled the Liberty.
The Liberty beat the Aces in the 2023 Cup final behind a 16-point, 15-rebound double-double from MVP Jonquel Jones. Jones. On Tuesday night, Jones finished with 9 points, nine rebounds and three assists.
The Aces needed a secondary scoring punch
Without Wilson, Las Vegas needed its other All-Stars to step up in the scoring department to keep pace with New York.
Young took a while to find her rhythm, scoring 6 points in the first half as the Liberty built a 14-point halftime lead. She eventually found her rhythm in transition in the third quarter, as New York’s offensive movement slowed and the Aces were able to get going in the open court. Young scored or assisted on 17 of 18 Las Vegas points to end the third quarter, and she started the fourth by accounting for the next 9, giving the Aces their first lead of the game at 71-69.
But when the well dried up for Young, the other scoring threats didn’t show up for Las Vegas.
It would have been too much to ask of Chelsea Gray, who was relied upon more heavily as a playmaker in the absence of Wilson’s isolation scoring and who also started as the primary defender on Stewart. Jewell Loyd couldn’t find her jumper, shooting 2 of 9 for the team’s worst plus-minus (minus-20) in her 31 minutes. Chennedy Carter was the Aces’ only other double-digit scorer besides Young, but Las Vegas couldn’t overcome getting a combined 21 points from four of its starters.
Las Vegas also struggled to get easy points. The Aces earned fewer than half as many free-throw attempts as the Liberty and scored only 9 second-chance points despite corralling as many offensive rebounds (10) as the home team.
The Liberty paint attacks scrambled Las Vegas’ defense
Ionescu was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to the Aces’ defensive struggles. Her early hot shooting from beyond the arc set the table for her drives as she shot 4 of 6 in the paint.
Liberty guard Pauline Astier got to the basket with regularity against Las Vegas’ perimeter defense, taking six shot attempts directly at the rim. Even Rebekah Gardner, who played 12 minutes off the bench, had four shot attempts in the restricted area and connected on three.
The Aces entered the game with the league’s eighth-best defense and were missing their best rim protector, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. Having trouble defending the paint wasn’t unexpected, but Las Vegas needed its guard defenders to keep their assignments in front and not overtax the reserve frontcourt of Brianna Turner and Cheyenne Parker-Tyus.
That didn’t happen.
When New York punctured the first line of defense, Las Vegas’ only recourse was to foul, sending the Liberty to the line 29 times. The 13-point gap in free throws was a deciding factor in New York’s victory.
This story will be updated.