New York City is finally headed to a basketball championship, but it won’t be with the New York Knicks. It’s the New York Liberty who are taking NY fans to the WNBA championship.
According to ESPN, the Liberty, the only original WNBA franchise that has not won a championship, will get the opportunity to win one after their impressive victory over the Connecticut Sun, 87-84. They won the series three games to one. This is the first time the New York team has advanced to the finals in over 20 years. Their last appearance took place in 2002.
The Sun has SET.
ON TO THE FINALS BABY 🤩 #SEAFOAMSZN | #LIGHTITUPNYL🗽 pic.twitter.com/UA72DJKD66
— New York Liberty (@nyliberty) October 1, 2023
The upcoming championship game, slated for Sunday, Oct. 8, will pit the Liberty against the Las Vegas Aces – the only team with a better record than the Liberty. Las Vegas is the current WNBA champion, trying to hold on to that title for another year.
“I think it’s good. That’s the narrative everyone wanted at the start,” Liberty coach Sandy Brondello said.
“I didn’t particularly like the superteam thing … [but] it’s going to be a great series and it’s a promotion for the WNBA, isn’t it? It’s New York, we haven’t done it for so long, but we’re playing the champions from last year. I think it’s going to be a really competitive series and hopefully, more and more people turn their eyes into the game and we can continue to grow it.”
In 2022, the New York team had a losing record. In fact, the team has had five consecutive losing seasons (2018-22) before this one. It has been a record-breaking season for the Liberty as they compiled a franchise-record 800 winning percentage. New York also finished the game with three of their players scoring at least 20 points. That was the first time this took place in franchise postseason history, and has only happened 13 other times in WNBA postseason history.
Turning the skies seafoam green for one hour tonight in honor of the @NYLiberty moving on to the WNBA finals! 🗽 pic.twitter.com/ATKD53dxPH
— Empire State Building (@EmpireStateBldg) October 1, 2023
The two teams will have a best-of-five series:
| Game | Date | Matchup | Time | Channel |
| Game 1 | Sunday, October 8 | New York at Las Vegas | 3 PM ET | ABC |
| Game 2 | Wednesday, October 11 | New York at Las Vegas | 9 PM ET | ESPN |
| Game 3 | Sunday, October 15 | Las Vegas at New York | 3 PM ET | ABC |
| Game 4* | Wednesday, October 18 | Las Vegas at New York | 8 PM ET | ESPN |
| Game 5* | Friday, October 20 | New York at Las Vegas | 9 PM ET | ESPN |
*If necessary
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