NEW YORK — The melodrama that took place at Barclays Center on Tuesday night was like a great giant Time Warp, and not the one that’s done in Manhattan on 54th street. On Tuesday evening, some of the nostalgia from the New York Liberty’s last decade of history came creeping on back.
This began pre-game when Tina Charles, now an intern for CEO Keia Clarke on the business side who sat court side on Tuesday night, swirled around back of house and around the corner of the Liberty’s locker room to do an interview. Charles saw Marine Johannès, her rookie from the 2019 season, yes that one at the Westchester Country Center, and enthusiastically shouted “oui, oui” to the French guard before giving her a hug.
The callbacks continued when fans settled into their seats to play the Minnesota Lynx, the team that the Liberty beat in a historic 2024 five game WNBA Finals just under two years ago.
The melodrama simply continued to write itself like a television show from the USA Network back when their tagline was “Character’s Welcome.” Viewers knew the network for shows like “Royal Pains,” “White Collar” and “Suits.”
But now in the network’s sports centered era, it welcomed new characters on Tuesday night, although they weren’t new to their own story, but instead to just the network.
Breanna Stewart, Sabrina Ionescu, Jonquel Jones, Leonie Fiebich were back to battle it out with other returning main cast in Cheryl Reeve, Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride and Courtney Williams for season 2 of the Liberty vs. the Lynx. There were some new faces in season 2 including Lynx rookie of the year Olivia Miles, Minnesota veteran Natasha Howard, the Liberty’s French rookie Pauline Astier and New York’s rookie head coach Chris DeMarco.
The plot of season 2 was almost the inverse of season 1. Season 1 included the Liberty struggling against the Lynx during the regular season especially when Minnesota boasted Bridget Carlton’s exceptional defense on the perimeter in addition to McBride’s, in addition to Alanna Smith‘s defense on Jones that often rattled the Liberty’s center. The Liberty figured Minnesota out in playoffs but won in narrow and dramatic fashion.
Season 2? The Liberty figured out a different iteration of the Lynx during the regular season and that mostly carried over into two more games during the postseason. New York took advantage of Carlton and Smith not being on the team in addition to Miles’ lack of experience in the postseason. The Liberty beat the Lynx on Tuesday night, 87-71, in a second straight game to win the series and advance to the semifinals.
The Liberty reminded the 17,593 fans in Barclays Center of the team that they became to eventually win the 2024 WNBA Finals over the Lynx. That team had lost cast members of its own in Season 2 which has been well documented here at The IX Sports.
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There were multiple moments when media members on press row wondered out loud: where has this team, the one that triumphed over the Lynx in two straight games, been all season long? It’s a question that will continue to be asked when the semifinals tipoff on Sunday.
Every melodrama has its top moments, emotional and pivotal moments that in modern television that are clipped and pasted on social media and YouTube. The same goes in professional sports and especially for the WNBA playoffs. Let’s take a look at what moments popped for the Liberty in a game where they reminded their fans of who they took so long to become, and how they returned to form on Tuesday night.
Jones established her dominance
Jones scored the Liberty’s first 7 points on Tuesday night. She was aggressive on the glass, scoring on put backs and played like the player that fans have known her to be. She didn’t settle for too many three pointers, only taking three and making one.
She finished the game with 21 points on an efficient 9-14 shooting along with 13 rebounds, two assists and a block. Jones was demonstrative when plays she made meant more to her.
When Stewart was guarding Miles at the top of the key in the middle of the second quarter, Jones made sure to rotate off of Collier to recover and help Stewart at the left side of the paint. She made an empathic block that sent the ball to the Lynx’s bench. Jones pumped her right fist in celebration of the block, Fiebich gave her a high five and then Ionescu chest bumped with Jones and yelled with her chewing gum about to pop out of her mouth.
This was just the beginning of Jones’ passion hitting a fever pitch. With over six minutes left in regulation, Marine Johannés executed a pick-and-roll with Jones, which turned into a pass to Ionescu who saw Jones moving right into the paint. Ionescu timed the pass perfectly and Jones scored over the outstretched arms of Collier, Williams and Dorka Juhász. Once the whistle was sounded signaling the and-one, Ionescu flexed her right arm in celebration and Jones held both her hands down low before pumping her right arm once again and shouting “C’mon.”
Ionescu’s fire and joy roared back
There has been a lot of discussion about Ionescu’s season including her efficiency, scoring prowess and reputation as a star guard in the WNBA. But Ionescu was probably the most fired up, emotionally loud and joyful that she’s looked in a long time.
With just under two minutes left in the first half, she hit a three-pointer in the left corner pocket in transition. Ionescu screamed and looked at the patrons sitting court side including owner Clara Wu Tsai. Once the Lynx called a time out, Wu Tsai hopped up to applaud her star, and didn’t notice that her rally towel fell out of her lap.
And then in the second half, Ionescu flashed a wide smirk after hitting a 26-foot three over the outstretched arms of Collier, and then flexed both arms in the direction of where Ellie the Elephant was sitting in the fourth after driving and bumping Collier to get to the rim and score.
“You can feel the passion,” longtime teammate Rebecca Allen said about Ionescu’s approach in this game. “You can feel like the drive that she has to want to push everyone along with herself forwards. And so I think that it’s hard to not get you know excited and ramped up by that too. But you can tell that hey, she wanted this, and you saw that both offensively, defensively, but also the way that she communicated to us halftime, pregame, and at the end of the game too.”
Ionescu shot her most efficient game since August 11 on Tuesday night going 7-15 from the floor that yielded 18 points, seven assists, four rebounds and three steals.
Two-way moments stood out for Ionescu
Speaking of steals, Ionescu had multiple moments in the second half where she was making shots on offense and then immediately getting back on the defensive end. She laser focused on defending the Lynx. This isn’t always something that happens for Ionescu and has been even less of an occurrence during an injury plagued season.
Ionescu was putting her body on the line, taking charges and getting her hands in passing lanes and was physical, and aggressive which is something that’s at times been a challenge for her during this season coming off a back injury.
“I think what gets her very motivated for playing some defense is the crowd, right?,” Fiebich told reporters postgame. “When she’s emotional and the crowd gets involved, she loves that kind of environment, and you can tell then it gives you a little burst to maybe play a little bit better and more aggressive the next defensive position.”
Stewart got hit by Miles and made sure Barclays Center knew
It is not a secret that Stewart is playing at another level at this point of the 2026 WNBA campaign. While Stewart wasn’t as efficient as she was in game 1, that didn’t mean she was any less impactful. She had 21 points, five rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks in a complete 40 minute performance where she didn’t see the bench even for a moment.
“She’s just crushing them,” Allen said about how Stewart played against the Lynx’s defense. “I felt that Minnesota couldn’t come up with a defensive plan against her.”
Stewart wasn’t just playing hard, but she was also embracing the entertainer that she is in New York. It all came to a head less than seven minutes left in the second quarter when Ionescu got the ball to Stewart as she had a full head of steam driving to the basket. She blew by McBride and then Miles tried to block Stewart but instead slapped her hand right on Stewart’s face.
Stewart held her face as she fell to the ground as her teammates rushed to her. Moments later Liberty athletic trainer Nori Subero approached Stewart and helped her up. And then as Stewart walked over to the Liberty’s bench while the play was being reviewed, she slapped Subero’s hand away from her and then brought both of her arms up to get the crowd pumped up. Stewart was egging the crowd on and leaning into the drama the scene created.
“I mean, obviously, you don’t want to see anybody on our team going down, but to see her come get up and you know get the crowd involved like that, you know, was exciting, and I feel like that was the energy the entire night,” Jones said postgame. “It was that we just had the crowd behind us pushing us forward, and the energy was electric. I think we played with that sense of urgency, and I think the crowd and the fan base really appreciated that.”
Meek Mill headlined the celebrity guest stars that left Stewart and Jones geeked
Once the Liberty players did their postgame victory team huddle on the floor after the final buzzer beat, and once Stewart and Ionescu exchanged pleasantries and hugs with Reeve, Stewart and Jones rushed over to where Wu Tsai and the group of celebrities who attended the game were.
The celebrities at games are like the guest stars in the melodrama that either play someone else or themselves. It’s like when Serena Williams did a guest spot on Law and Order SVU or when Michelle Obama played herself on NCIS.
Anyway, Stewart and Jones eagerly awaited to take pictures and say hello to Robert “Meek Mill” Williams, Stewart’s favorite raper and an artist whose music she’s often using as inspiration. This wasn’t the first time he had come to a Liberty game, but it was most likely his first game of high consequence.
“He’s definitely inspiring,” Jones said of seeing Williams postgame and then in the locker room moments later. “He’s definitely played in the locker room before every game. So it was it was great to to go over there and and say hey to him. I didn’t even say his name because I just went up there and I was like, ‘hold on, wait a minute.‘”
“So like that was cool, but yeah, no, definitely inspiring. And I think that’s one of the great things about playing in New York, and you know, celebrity row and the fan base in the city, and and all the things that you know just make this place, a really special place.”
It wasn’t just Williams who was court side but a host of notable entertainers including Oscar nominated actress Stephanie Hsu, Emmy winner John Turturro and actress Lake Bell. But it was Williams that was the guest of honor and Stewart made sure he knew that.
After Stewart said her pleasantries and she and Jones took pictures with him, she decided to gift him her signed jersey from the game. She took her jersey off and was walking around the court wearing just a sports bra until director of basketball operations Micaela Reese handed Stewart her warm up jacket to throw on.
Does this melodrama end with just two seasons?
It very well could especially since there are questions that run ablaze about what’s next for the Lynx especially alongside the very fact that their star in Collier will be an unrestricted free agent in 2027. Our Terry Horstman will have more on that.
But Reeve had something introspective to say as she often does on Tuesday morning. A narrative that came up in conversation with Reeve was the fact that she, the now 5X WNBA coach of the year, was taking on DeMarco, a new head coach who needed to learn WNBA personnel and institutional knowledge quickly.
Reeve didn’t take the bait about this being a coaching battle, but what she did say was how a lot of the onus falls on the players, and how they show up and are able to show up through whatever adversity they face in some of the most meaningful moments.
“I think the experience that the players have ultimately––it’s about that,” she said. “This is the time when players make plays, as we saw in the first game. You know, their players were making plays, and hopefully, our players are ready to step up and we make some plays as well. So, coaching is a bit overrated when you get to a certain point. Yeah, we got to not screw it up with a couple of things here and there, but this is largely players.”
And for the Liberty, this was largely about the team’s three star players in Jones, Ionescu and Stewart making plays. According to ESPN insights, the Liberty’s big three scored or assisted on 70 of the Liberty’s 87 points on Tuesday. That’s a bit over 90%.
The nucleus of the 2020s New York Liberty found themselves on Tuesday night, and the team’s fans noticed as they left the arena, pulling out time warp-like tricks of their own.
They sang and chanted one of the Liberty’s oldest chants and original fight song, “Gotta Get Up” while they shuffled down the light grey Barclays Center staircases and bursted out the doors. They were in unison chanting “L-I-B-E-R-T-Y, New York Liberty.”
