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The New Liberty wrap regular season with Fan Appreciation Night (Credit: Brandon Todd/New York Liberty)
With an 87–71 win over the Washington Mystics on Tuesday night, the New York Liberty clinched the No. 1 overall seed and home court advantage in the 2024 WNBA Playoffs. The win raised their league best record to 32-7. It is the first time since 2015 that the Liberty go into the playoffs in this position.
They play their 40th and final game of the 2024 regular season tonight at the Barclays Center. As is an annual tradition, the game is billed as Fan Appreciation Night. Tonight marks the end of the WNBA regular season for all teams as the playoffs start on Sunday.
Every member of the team had minutes in the win over Washington and the bench was sterling, generating 40 points. Leonie Fiebich had 13 points and Nyara Sabally had 12. Liberty head coach Sandy Brondello said she’ll play the entire bench again tonight.
We talked about it all season long, how they’re going to help us have success,” she noted. “We can go to the bench and maintain a really high level. When we have balanced scoring, I think that’s when we’re most dangerous.”
As the team worked to maintain the top spot it also looked to assert their dominance over the league. That grip as top dogs was loosened by Minnesota Lynx, who defeated the Liberty 88–79 at Barclays Center on Sep 15. The Lynx also might have gained a mental edge over the Liberty. Including the Commissioner’s Cup final, New York is 1–3 against Minnesota this season. The Lynx have secured the No. 2 seed for the playoffs, capping it off with a 78-76 victory over the No. 3 seed Connecticut Sun on the road on Tuesday. The win moved them to 30-9 with one game remaining tonight against the Los Angeles Sparks.
Liberty forward Breanna Stewart had another amazing game versus the Lynx, with 38 points and 18 rebounds, but it was not enough to overcome the collective firepower of Minnesota. “I was happy for 10 minutes tonight; the rest of it wasn’t so good,” said Brondello after the loss.
We didn’t come out with the urgency I would have liked or had expected. This is a very disciplined team—the way they defend, but also the way they move the ball can be a really tough match up there. The only great thing about it is hopefully we meet them again and it should be fresh. We can learn a lot from that.”
On the positive side, Stewart said the Liberty could have just given up in the fourth quarter, but instead the team continued to fight until the final buzzer. “They’re a good team and they’re playing really, really well together,” she said. “They deserved this more than we did.”
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