How did the New York Liberty end up 0-5 in the WNBA Finals?

It feels like a now-or-never year for the New York Liberty.

They are back in the WNBA Finals and have the star power to win it with Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu and Jonquel Jones. They have the best record in the WNBA this season and the best net rating by 3.1 points per 100 possessions (and +3.6 over their finals opponents, the Minnesota Lynx). They have home court advantage in the Finals.

They also carry the weight of history — the Liberty are 0-5 in the WNBA Finals.

How did that happen? To use an NBA analogy, the Liberty have had some Karl Malone/John Stockton luck — they have been Finals worthy but kept running into dominant teams and players.

Let’s take a look at each loss by year.

1997: Houston beats New York, 65-61

It was the inaugural season of the WNBA, and the playoffs were the top two teams in the East, and the top two in the West were put into a single-elimination playoff bracket. New York, the No. 2 seed out of the East, knocked off the West No. 1 seed Phoenix 59-41 to advance to the Finals against another East team in Houston.

New York didn’t have an answer for Cynthia Cooper, the Finals MVP who scored 25 points, or Tina Thompson, who added 18. The Liberty were led by Kym Hampton, who scored 13 points.

1999: Houston beats New York, 2-1

New York’s second trip to the Finals ended in a loss to a familiar opponent in Houston.

This was a best-of-three series and New York took the second game with “The Shot.” Houston took a 67-65 lead when Tina Thompson banked in a spinning shot with 2.4 seconds left in the game. New York was out of timeouts and had to go the length of the court, Kym Hampton inbounded the ball to Teresa Weatherspoon who hit the greatest shot in Liberty history.

That forced a Game 3 but again Cooper was too much, she scored 24 points in the 59-47 Houston win and she was named Finals MVP.

2000: Houston beats New York 2-0

Sensing a pattern here? Once again New York was the best team and top seed in the East, once again they made it to the Finals knocking off Cleveland and Washington in the playoffs, only to run into Cooper and the Comets in the Finals and be overmatched. However,…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/did-york-liberty-end-0-143943855.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-10 14:39:43

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