The red-hot New York Liberty will play in their third Commissioner’s Cup final in four years at the end of the month.
And they insist Brooklyn basketball fanatics haven’t seen anything yet.
“Now we’re just feeling like a little bit more complete as far as having our full roster today for, I think, the first game,” New York forward Breanna Stewart said after Sunday’s 86-64 rout of Washington in front of 17,581 satisfied customers at Downtown’s Barclays Center.
“And knowing that now we’re starting to build, you know?,” she pondered. “(At the) beginning of the season, we were trying to kind of work through some things and just get the wins when we could. And now … this is like our day one.”
Stewart posted a double-double and Jonquel Jones scored a game-high 20 points as the Liberty (11-4) stretched their season-high winning streak to seven games and improved to 5-0 in Cup play to clinch the Eastern Conference spot in the June 30 title game.
New York won its first-ever Cup in 2023 on the way to the WNBA Finals.
Though they fell short of repeating the feat in 2024, losing to defending two-time league champion Vegas in the final, the Liberty avenged that defeat by blowing past the Aces in the postseason and grabbing the first crown in franchise history with a Game 5 Finals win over Minnesota.
Could a third Finals appearance in four years also be on the horizon for a team that hadn’t made it to the championship series since 2002 before Stewart and Jones joined fellow Big Three member Sabrina Ionescu?
“We would like to think that way, obviously, but I think, obviously, we still have a lot of growth, a lot of areas that we can grow as a team,” said Jones.
“And I think once we just keep stacking our days, we’ll be okay,” she added. “But I think it’s like a pretty high number of teams that go to the Commissioner’s championship, the teams (go to) the finals. So I think it’s a good place to start.”
After missing the previous seven contests due to back soreness and playing in only three games this year, Ionescu made her much-anticipated return to the hardwood against the Mystics (5-7).
She came off the bench midway through the opening period and logged 26 minutes in her first outing since a 91-76 home loss to Dallas on May 24.
The four-time All-Star guard scored five points, grabbed three rebounds and handed out three assists, impressing first-year coach Chris DeMarco, who was happy to welcome Ionescu back into the fold.
“I thought she was phenomenal,” he gushed. “I think you could feel her presence out there, but it’s hard sometimes when you’re out for a while, you come back, like trying to find your game, and I thought it was just really good decision-making from her.”
Stewart’s 100th career double-double saw her put up 14 points and 12 rebounds.
She flirted with reaching double figures in blocked shots with a career-high seven as New York established or matched season bests with 10 blocks and nine steals.
“I feel like I had a lot of blocks,” noted Jones, who added two of her own on a night she made 7-of-11 from the field, including a 3-of-6 performance from 3-point range.
Michaela Onyenwere poured in 17 points for the Mystics, who pushed New York to overtime before falling short in Washington on May 10.
This one wasn’t as competitive.
The Liberty ran out to a 20-13 start after 10 minutes and never looked back, using a 12-0 spurt spanning the third and fourth quarters to put the Mystics away.
While Jones and Stewart were the only scorers in double figures, the entire roster, save for Rebecca Allen, who sat due to a coach’s decision, participated in the win.
Satou Sabally came off the bench to score seven points and hand out a team-high six assists, matching starting point guard Pauline Astier in helpers.
The Liberty will try to extend their longest winning streak since beginning last year 9-0 when they visit Chicago on Wednesday.
New York is also out to go 6-0 in Cup play.
Tip-off at Wintrust Arena is slated for 8 p.m.
The game will air nationally on USA Network and locally on Fox 5.
All-Star guard Sabrina Ionescu played for the first time since May 24 on Sunday, helping the Liberty past the Mystics. Photo: Todd/New York Liberty
GIVE ME LIBERTY: Stewart passed Lisa Leslie (6,263) for 13th place on the WNBA’s all-time scoring list. She also moved ahead of Taj McWilliams-Franklin (443) for the 12th-most blocks in WNBA history. … By grabbing her 1,000th career rebound Sunday, Ionescu became the fastest player in league history to reach 3,000 points, 1,000 assists and 1,000 boards. … After visiting the Windy City, the Liberty will return to Barclays on Friday to shoot for a three-game season-series sweep of Washington.