{"id":823975,"date":"2026-08-24T07:32:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T07:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/823975\/"},"modified":"2026-08-24T07:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T07:32:20","slug":"liberty-clinch-playoff-berth-for-sixth-consecutive-season-after-fire-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/823975\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty clinch playoff berth for sixth consecutive season after Fire loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

Despite their shaky regular season, which has featured highs such as an eight-game winning streak and lows like a stretch of eight losses in 10 games, the Liberty are officially back in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

They clinched Sunday night \u2014 alongside the Mystics \u2014 when the Fire lost to Washington 105-100. <\/p>\n

That ensured the Liberty returned to the postseason tournament for a sixth consecutive season, though their seeding will still be determined over the final six games. <\/p>\n

\"BreannaBreanna Stewart of the New York Liberty reacts to a shot over Azura Stevens of the Chicago Sky during a regular season matchup on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at Barclays Center. Michelle Farsi for the NY Post<\/p>\n

They ended Sunday night as the No. 6 seed at 23-15, with the Fever occupying the No. 5 seed at 25-14 and the Dream at No. 4 with a 24-13 record.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

But the real quest for the Liberty \u2014 and what their 2026 campaign will ultimately be judged by \u2014 begins when their first-round series opens next month. <\/p>\n

They brought in Chris DeMarco as head coach last offseason to spark a trip back to the WNBA Finals, a stage where they lost in 2023 before winning the first title in franchise history one year later. <\/p>\n

\"JonquelJonquel Jones (35) of the New York Liberty makes a shot over Jordan Horston (23) of the Seattle Storm during a regular season matchup on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2026, at Barclays Center. Michelle Farsi for the NY Post<\/p>\n

Last season, the Liberty lost to the Mercury in the first round, which was followed by Sandy Brondello\u2019s firing.<\/p>\n

Their core remained intact. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCovering the Liberty like never before\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Madeline Kenney’s Inside the Liberty, a weekly Sports+ newsletter.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The presence of Breanna Stewart, Jonquel Jones and Sabrina Ionescu ensured that the Liberty would still be viewed as contenders, even as they dealt with injuries to Ionescu, Leonie Fiebich and Satou Sabally throughout the season.<\/p>\n

But as the stretch run continues, the Liberty have started to get healthy again \u2014 with the exception of Sabally, who remains away from the team with a head injury. <\/p>\n

They won for the seventh time in the past nine games with a statement win over the Fever at Barclays Center on Saturday, using 22 points from Stewart, 20 from Fiebich and a double-double from Jones to secure a seven-point win over a team they could pass in the standings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Despite their shaky regular season, which has featured highs such as an eight-game winning streak and lows like…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[435,14400,436,3675,99,434],"class_list":["post-823975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-breanna-stewart","tag-jonquel-jones","tag-new-york-liberty","tag-sabrina-ionescu","tag-sports","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=823975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823975\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}