The New York Liberty won this Sunday her first WNBA title and they also ended almost 50 years of drought for New York basketball. Considered the mecca of basketball, the Big Apple has not celebrated an NBA ring since 1973, when the New York Knicks won their last title. Including the defunct ABA, the now Brooklyn Nets (then New York Nets) won their last championship in 1976. The Liberty returned glory to professional basketball in New York after beating the Minnesota Lynx 3-2 in the WNBA Finals. The fifth and final match was won in overtime by 67-62.
The team of Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones (MVP of the Finals) also ended the curse that seemed to haunt this team, which in 28 years of history (it is one of the founding franchises of the WNBA) had reached five Finals and in all of them he had lost. The Liberty not only avenged their loss in the 2023 title series, when they lost against the Las Vegas Aces, but they also had redemption against the Lynx, who this year left them without the WNBA Commissioner’s Cup.
These exciting Finals, among the most exciting in the league’s memory, closed a historic WNBA season with records in television viewership and stadium attendance driven, to a large extent, for the landing of Caitlin Clarkthe top scorer in the history of college basketball and a star already in the US. Without going any further, these WNBA Finals broke the record for total spectators (92,599 fans) and average per game (18,520) after that this Sunday 18,090 people will enjoy a Barclays Center in Brooklyn with an extraordinary atmosphere.
The Liberty, with this fifth game, surpassed their record of spectators in a game in their stadium, while the Lynx did the same in the third game of the Finals with 19,521 fans. Jonquel Jones was chosen MVP of the Finals with averages of 17.8 points, 7.6 rebounds, 54.2% in field goals and 19 of 19 in free throws in total. The Bahamian center, league MVP in 2021 with the Connecticut Sun, is the third non-American player to win the Finals MVP after Belgian Emma Meesseman (Washington Mystics) in 2019 and Australian Lauren Jackson (Seattle Storm) in 2010. In addition, German Leonie Fiebich, double MVP of the Women’s League in Spain with Casademont Zaragoza (2023 and 2024), established a new scoring record by a rookie in the WNBA Finals with 65 points in total.
