Breanna Stewart kept the verbal jab Las Vegas Aces head coach Becky Hammon sent her way last season after they defeated the New York Liberty in the 2023 WNBA Finals.
Losing by one point in Game 4 of that series to hand a second-straight championship to the Aces, Stewart — who was named league MVP that season — shot just 3-of-17 from the field with 10 points.
In the following days at the Aces’ championship celebration, Hammon leaned into the microphone around star guard Kelsey Plum and said, “3-for-17 is you need to talk about it.”
As it turns out, roughly two weeks earlier, on Oct. 5, Stewart’s father-in-law, Josep Zargay, had passed away after a year-long battle with cancer.
While wrestling those emotions, Stewart’s wife, Marta, gave birth to their second child — though the whirlwind of the month understandably leaked into her game.
“It definitely was emotional, and I’ll try not to be emotional,” Stewart began. “…No matter what, it’s a really tough time. Just the way that the series went last year, going through all that, and making sure this year was different. Marta and I talked about doing everything her dad would want us to do. We continue to do that.”
Sports has a way of providing an avenue for redemption, and on Sunday — one day after the anniversary of her father-in-law’s death — Stewart dropped a monster double-double of 19 points and 14 rebounds to pace the Liberty to a 76-62 victory in Game 4 of the WNBA semifinals to eliminate none other than Hammon and the Aces while punching their ticket to a second consecutive WNBA Finals.
“I have receipts on the things that were said,” Stewart said. “The entire team does. My mentality was today, to go in and get this win for my wife and her dad.”
So it was only fitting that when the buzzer sounded on New York’s Game 4 win, Stewart made her way over to her wife and wrapped her in a long embrace on the baseline — both of them with tears in their eyes.
The 2024 WNBA Finals begin on Thursday night in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center as the top-seeded Liberty have homecourt advantage throughout the series. They will face the winner of Tuesday’s Game 5 between the Minnesota Lynx and Connecticut Sun.
